Posts Near Nanwalek Map Timeline

High-fire danger prompts burn ban this week, A burn suspension is in effect for the Kenai Peninsula due to high fire danger, high fire activity and limited firefighting resources, according to a special notice from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Little rainfall during this year’s warm, dry summer left Seldovia and Nanwalek scrambling to conserve water.

A Kenai Peninsula village is rapidly running out of water. Low snowpack and little rainfall has led Nanwalek to declare a water emergency.

"Nanwalek was in an emergency drought, we had to have water flown in for 60 households."

"Jakolof Creek is dry almost all the way up to the switchbacks and continues to recede. The early run of red salmon may have made it to the lake, but that is probably the only run that has."

It’s official: the Kenai Peninsula is in a moderate drought. After months of warm weather and little rain, the United States Drought Monitor designated the region abnormally dry. The drought is creating a crisis for farmers who are having to water their crops more often while at the same time their wells are drying up. There are roughly 260 farms on the peninsula.

As lower Kenai Peninsula temperatures have soared recently, local farmers and gardeners have concerns about how June’s lack of rain and steady warm temperatures will affect their businesses in the weeks ahead.

Drought and high temperatures have dried the creek and caused thousands of pink salmon and Dolly Varden to die before they could spawn. The event raises questions about vulnerability of area salmon streams to climate change, and for local residents food security.