The Nome Nugget

VISITING— U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier visited Nome October 2 during a trip around the state of Alaska. He sat down with The Nome Nugget to discuss current USCG operations.

US Coast Guard Vice Admiral discusses geopolitical tensions

During his short tour around Alaska, U.S.

EAR TUFTS – An adult great horned owl perches in a cottonwood at Pilgrim Hot Springs. Great horned owls are named for their “horns” or "ears” that are tufts of long feathers, unrelated to hearing. Only some forest owls have these prominent tufts. The tufts are thought to break up the owl’s silhouette and help camouflage it in its branchy forest environment. Raising and lowering the tufts may also aid in nonvocal communication.

Birder’s Notebook: Great Horned Owl –– A top predator of the forest

Recently I visited the cottonwood groves at Pilgrim Hot Springs and Council’s spruce forest, hoping to get better acquainted with a magnificent forest predator––the great horned owl.

CHAIRMAN— Tony Haugen was reelected as chairman of the Norton Sound Health Corporation Board of Directors during their full board meeting in Nome, September 17-19.

NSHC board votes to approve housing stipend for employees

NOME HARBOR – A juvenile Sabine’s gull is circling past boats in the Nome harbor, looking for fish. After spotting small fish, the gull dropped daintily to snatch its prey from the water’s surface.

Sabine’s Gull––A distinctive and unusual tern-like gull

On a recent evening drive along Safety Sound, I was excited to spot four small, black-headed Sabine’s gulls flitting daintily up and down in the wind and waves along the Norton Sound beach.

GRAPHITE ONE CAMP— The Graphite One exploration camp is located at the base of the Kigluaik Mountains.

A tour of Graphite One’s camp

This summer, Graphite One continued another season of exploration at the Graphite Creek deposit on the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains, as the December 2024 feasibility study deadline for the proposed graphite mine nears.

NEST DEFENSE— A defensive semipalmated plover parent spreads its wings before luring me away with a broken-wing display. The parents respond to human intruders by crouching and running or feigning injury. Note the partial webbing at the base of the plover’s toes, for which the semipalmated plover is named.

Birder’s Notebook: Semipalmated Plover––the shorebird in a tuxedo

Semipalmated plovers are plump little shorebirds sporting a black-and-white face mask and a distinctive black band across the white chest––eye catching, one would think.

Permit issued to explore uranium properties near Elim

On October 2, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, authorized a permit to Canadian mining company Panther Minerals for hardrock exploration on state and federal mining claims 30 miles north of Elim. The purpose of the project is to...

US Coast Guard Vice Admiral discusses geopolitical tensions

During his short tour around Alaska, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier made a stop in Nome last Wednesday to meet with local leaders with the goal to better understand the enormity of the state and the local challenges faced by a community...

SENTENCING— Martin Saccheus and his defense attorney Elvina Rose Meyer during the sentencing hearing on Oct. 2, 2024. The sentencing was streamed on Zoom.

Judge delays sentencing of man who murdered girlfriend in 2019

A Palmer judge last week asked for more time to consider a sentence for convicted murderer Martin Luther Saccheus, 40, after hearing from the prosecution, the defense, and from the family of Bobbi Mingnuna Miller, who was strangled to death in a...

VACATED— A federal judge vacated the critical habitat boundaries for bearded and ringed seals.

Judge vacates ringed, bearded seal habitat designation

Last week, a federal judge in Anchorage vacated a protected bearded and ringed seal habitat along the entire coastline from the Canadian border in the north along the entire western Alaska coastline down to Nunivak Island, including St. Lawrence...

LEADING THE PACK— Unalakleet’s Ourea Busk leads the pack at the start of the cross country state championship race in Anchorage, with teammate Isabella Eller at her shoulder. Busk went on to win her second consecutive state title in the Division III

Ourea Busk wins Division III at XC championships

This past weekend cross country state championships were held in Anchorage at Bartlett High School and Western Alaska showed up and showed out, with four students placing in the top ten for their division. Overcast sky and a cool fall breeze...

DEC to issue permit for IPOP

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is set to approve an Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to IPOP LLC, according to an email sent out on September 30 by the DEC. The DEC issued the notification as courtesy,...

TANK FARM–The Bonanza fuel tank farm from on top of one of the nine tanks.

Bonanza tank farm stabilized with thermosiphons

Bonanza fuel tanks will stay on solid ground for years to come with the help of a $4.5 million U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant that will support the installation of thermosiphons under the tank farm, currently...

Nome Common Council canvasses election results

In a meeting on Thursday evening, the Nome Common Council canvassed the municipal election results. The official results are as follows: Council Seat C: Scot Henderson, 304 votes, 21 write-ins Council Seat D: Kohren Green, 255 votes; Miranda Musich...

A Russian Coast Guard vessel is observed by the U.S. Coast Guard traversing the Bering Sea in formation with Chinese Coast Guard vessels, on Sept. 28.

Chinese and Russian coast guard vessels traversing the eastern Bering Sea

The U.S. Coast Guard observed four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard conducting a joint patrol in the Bering Sea on Saturday. By Tuesday of this week, the ships were seen on a vessel tracking site traveling northwest of...