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Nick Varney

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: High tides and a little hope

Last week we reported that the Fishing Hole’s chinook run has been about as productive as trolling behind…

A guide from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge leads visitors on a hike of Centennial Trail near Soldotna on Saturday, June 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Refuge readies for another season of Guided Discovery Hikes

Guided Discovery Hikes are scheduled for every Friday and Saturday from June 21 to Aug. 30

If you teach a kid to fish, she will feed you a trout breakfast every morning of the campout. This proved true for this girl, who holds up a rainbow trout while sitting on a kayak. (Photo by Leah Eskelin)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Loon calls, campfire s’mores and prebooked campsites herald summer on refuge

There’s a buzz in the air. It’s the charged energy of early summertime in Alaska. It’s the murmur…

Me and my former coworker, reporter Camille Botello, goofing off in the Peninsula Clarion newsroom.

Sports

Out of the Office: Next chapter

Like a lot of people who do what they love, I can remember the moment I decided I…

A sign along a trail to Exit Glacier marks the spot to where the toe of the glacier reached in 2010, photographed on June 22, 2018. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Exit Glacier reopened for summer, snow and bears reported

Visitors should check the park website for updated conditions and ensure they are prepared before visiting the area

A lovage plant growing at Deep Creek State Recreation Area, July 7, 2017. (Photo by Matt Bowser/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: I love beach lovage

For my family, as for many people on the Kenai Peninsula, growing and harvesting food is a regular…

The World Cup cross-country ski races in Minneapolis on Feb. 17, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Remembrance

Sometimes I forget how I got to be this way.

The 2023 Marine trash cleanup crew. (Photo by Sarah Conlin/NPS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Collaboration on the high seas and other lessons learned on marine debris cleanup

“Cowboys use rope; you collected dock line.” Consider it another lesson learned onboard the R/V Island C. And…

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
A group of caribou mosey across Murwood Avenue near Soldotna, Alaska, on Sunday, April 14, 2024.

Sports

Out of the Office: ‘Let’s mosey’

Sunday, I photographed some caribou close to my home.

A pair of Trumpeter Swans break through the thin ice in search of emergent vegetation at the Kenai River Flats with Mt. Redoubt in the background. (Photo courtesy T. Eskelin/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Has spring sprung?

I have always found the arrival of spring to be championed by the first sightings of geese at…

Winter is the time for fuel break projects. (Photo by Jeff Bouschor/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: What do wildland firefighters do in the winter?

JEFF BOUSCHOR

Nick Varney

Sports

Unhinged Alaska: Sometimes they come back

I’m sure that most of you have memories that make you smile, scratch your grumpy side, or are…

Me working in the Alaska House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

Sports

Out of the Office: Juneau

It was kind of happenstance that I spent the last month living and working in Juneau.