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10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Donovan,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Yea right, meanwhile we can complete the railroad to <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>....<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>BTW, I am more than willing to defend Steven's appropriations
requests and use of public dollars, the man is not an idiot.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Bush, on the other hand.... <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Enjoy the weekend,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Donovan Arnold
[mailto:donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Friday, March 10, 2006 11:51
AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Chris Storhok; 'J Ford';
vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [Vision2020] Alaskan
Birds At Risk?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Chris,<br>
<br>
Maybe Ted Stevens can propose we put all the infected birds on an island; build
a bridge to the island, then destroy the bridge so the infection does not
spread to other birds and people. This policy would fit well with past policies
and legislation proposed by President Bush and Senator Stevens as well as their
use of public dollars.<br>
<br>
Take Care,<br>
<br>
_DJA<br>
<br>
<b><i><span style='font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>Chris Storhok
<cstorhok@co.fairbanks.ak.us></span></i></b> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>J,<br>
The spread of the avian flu has been on our platter since the disease began<br>
to spread throughout <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Fairbanks</st1:place></st1:City> is central to major migration
routes<br>
between Asia to <st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place> and we fully
expect that sometime in the next<br>
couple of months that avian flu will strike here. Over 1 million ducks,<br>
geese, and swans land on the north edge of town at Creamer's field each<br>
spring. Naturally our concern is not only for the health of the birds but<br>
for the health of the 20,000 humans who live within a mile of the site.<br>
Senator Stevens has tried to convince the federal government to establish a<br>
testing facility in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>,
unfortunately the political game of "anything<br>
but <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>"
that started with the "bridges to nowhere" controversy has<br>
really diminished the chance for such a facility to open here; the ultimate<br>
cost of this really stupid game is the nation's inability to stop this<br>
disease in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>.
We continue to ask for help but we are not getting it.<br>
The reality of this situation is that if H5N1 were to mutate in birds in<br>
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State> and
really hit humans hard, our federal government's response will be<br>
similar to Hurricane Katrina - way too little and way too late. <br>
My employer is working on independent plans to stop the disease<br>
since we know that the feds cannot be counted on to help; hopefully,<br>
measures that we are developing will help, but who knows. <br>
I will keep you informed as this situation develops.<br>
Chris <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com]<br>
On Behalf Of J Ford<br>
Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 9:44 PM<br>
To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>
Subject: [Vision2020] Alaskan Birds At Risk?<br>
<br>
Anyone else see this? Chirs? Kinda close to home.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Hunters watch for sick birds<br>
Remote <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>
villages are on the frontlines in tracking avian flu virus<br>
<br>
By ANNE SUTTON<br>
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS<br>
<br>
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Fish and Wildlife Service<br>
Watching the flock: <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
Fish and Wildlife Service bird biologist Brian <br>
McCaffery conducts shore bird research in southwest <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>. The federal <br>
government is enlisting Alaskans in remote villages to help watch for signs <br>
of a deadly flu virus in migratory birds .<br>
<br>
James Active Jr. may live in one of the more remote areas of <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place>, <br>
but that hasn't kept him from tracking the path of the avian flu virus on <br>
its march across the globe.<br>
<br>
A Yupik Eskimo from Kipnuk, a Native village of 600 people on the edge of <br>
the Bering Sea, he follows the news on satellite television: reports of <br>
poultry killed or culled en masse in Asia, a scattering of human deaths <br>
among poultry workers, fallen swans and ducks in <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>
and, most recently, <br>
a dead cat in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<br>
<br>
Thousands of miles from these outbreaks, he sounds resigned to the eventual <br>
appearance of the disease on his turf.<br>
<br>
"We hear about it being overseas in different countries but somewhere down
<br>
the line, I'm sure it will end up this way too," he said.<br>
<br>
A subsistence hunter, Active depends on birds to feed his family through the<br>
<br>
spring until salmon return to local rivers in June. Like many others, he <br>
shrugs off his nagging worries about the virus.<br>
<br>
He can't afford to give up hunting birds, he said, even as a massive effort <br>
gears up to find out if the disease has gained entry into <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place> <br>
through his vast backyard.<br>
<br>
While no roads link Kipnuk and dozens of neighboring villages to the rest of<br>
<br>
the world, the skies are thoroughfares for migrating waterfowl and <br>
shorebirds. Come spring, they nest by the millions in the surrounding delta <br>
of the mighty <st1:State w:st="on">Yukon</st1:State> and <st1:place w:st="on">Kuskokwim</st1:place>
rivers - a broad flat plain covering <br>
millions of acres that is crisscrossed by rivers and streams and dotted with<br>
<br>
countless lakes and sloughs and ponds.<br>
<br>
It's considered the crossroads for birds migrating between Asia and <st1:place
w:st="on">North <br>
America</st1:place>.<br>
<br>
So far, the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, found in migratory birds in <br>
other parts of the world, has not been detected in <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place>. And in an <br>
effort to make sure the virus has not arrived, the federal government plans <br>
to spend $7.4 million this year to test wild birds, focusing on the vast <br>
tundra and small isolated villages of <st1:place w:st="on">Western Alaska</st1:place>.<br>
<br>
"If all goes according to plan, we'll have tested well over 15,000
birds" in<br>
<br>
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>, said
Deborah Rocque, avian influenza coordinator for the region's <br>
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We feel pretty confident that if it is <br>
here, our sampling plan will be able to detect it."<br>
<br>
While most birds will be tested live, several thousand hunter-killed birds <br>
also will be tested.<br>
<br>
That will require enlisting the help of local subsistence hunters. They'll <br>
be asked to bring their catch to a check station where technicians will swab<br>
<br>
the bird for a sample of fecal matter.<br>
<br>
Even though test results won't be available for another two weeks to two <br>
months, Active is willing to help. He and other residents of the delta's <br>
cash-poor villages depend on the spring migration - birds like cackling <br>
geese, king eiders, sandhill cranes, green and blue-winged teal - to add a <br>
boost of protein to their diet.<br>
<br>
"Without (subsistence) we'd have to depend on chicken and turkey. That's <br>
expensive," said Active. Food prices in remote villages are 2 1/2 to three
<br>
times what they are in urban areas.<br>
<br>
"And wild bird is better than chicken and turkey," Active added.<br>
<br>
Michael Rearden, manager of the Yukon-Delta National Wildlife Refuge, said <br>
the benefits of good fresh food far outweigh the more uncertain risks of <br>
bird flu.<br>
<br>
"People need to be cautious and reasonable about (handling the birds) but <br>
this is an important food source out here and I'd hate to see people <br>
avoiding them," he said.<br>
<br>
Still, the news from abroad is making some people nervous. Radio station <br>
KYUK in the hub <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">village</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bethel</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> recently aired
a call-in show on avian <br>
flu, and heard from villagers around the region. For example, they wanted to<br>
<br>
know if boiling the birds would kill the virus, and if they should worry <br>
about bird droppings on the wild berries they pick.<br>
<br>
Wildlife and health experts hammered home home the point that humans have <br>
little to fear. So far the only cases of human sickness have occured among <br>
those in very close daily contact with infected poultry. Callers were told <br>
their chances of picking up the virus from contaminated berries are next to <br>
nil and their food is safe as long as it's properly cooked, even if the <br>
virus is present.<br>
<br>
Yet the jitters are not surprising. Elders remember the stories of the flu <br>
pandemic of 1918 that wiped out entire households in some villages. The <br>
virus, believed to have been carried to <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:State>
by soldiers returning from <br>
World War I, was a bird flu that mutated into a virus that spread easily <br>
among humans.<br>
<br>
Whether today's virus will follow the same mutations is still unknown and <br>
while experts seek to allay local concerns, most hunters plan to head out <br>
this spring and harvest their subsistence foods.<br>
<br>
Myron Naneng, president of the Association of Village Council Presidents, <br>
said his organization will work with state and federal agencies on the <br>
sampling program and keep villagers informed about the relative risks of <br>
avian flu.<br>
<br>
And while he says it will be discussed at the association's mid-year <br>
conference in March, it won't be the main topic. He said people are more <br>
worried about two large mine projects planned for the area.<br>
<br>
Bird flu "is just another major issue that needs to be worked on," he
said.<br>
<br>
J :]<br>
<br>
_________________________________________________________________<br>
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_____________________________________________________<br>
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serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br>
http://www.fsr.net <br>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Yahoo! Mail<br>
Bring photos to life! <a
href="http://pa.yahoo.com/*http:/us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=39174/*http:/photomail.mail.yahoo.com">New
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Yahoo! Mail<br>
Bring photos to life! <a
href="http://pa.yahoo.com/*http:/us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=39174/*http:/photomail.mail.yahoo.com">New
PhotoMail </a>makes sharing a breeze. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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