News Briefs

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center participates in making of Sean Penn movie “Into the Wild”

The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center assisted on the Sean Penn directed film, “Into the Wild” about the life of Christopher McCandless, the 22-year-old from Annandale, Virginia, who, in the spring of 1992, walked into the Alaska wilderness and starved to death in an abandoned Fairbanks city bus.
Some of the staff at AWCC, who worked on the film were invited and attended the first showing of “Into the Wild” in Fairbanks, Sept. 3. AWCC was congratulated before the film showed for providing the animal talent (bull moose, caribou, spruce hens, porcupine and eagle). Penn rejected the five wolves that were driven all the way up from Hollywood because they didn’t look wild enough.
Also last August, the AWCC staff was helicoptered out to the real bus on the Stampede Trail to pay respects to Chris McCandless. Chris’s Mother left a sweater, map and bible in the bus and written in the book. It all was still there and should remain there forever. Penn left a note in the bus asking passers-by to be respectful.
The moose hunters that found Chris’s body found 5 rolls of undeveloped film that was given to the parents. Two more rolls were mailed to the parents anonymously after the book came out. Apparently someone found the body prior to the moose hunters grabbed two rolls and did not report it.
Monday, Sept. 10 Animal Planet filmed a show with AWCC’s bull moose called “After the Attack”. An 11-year-old old girl who was trampled in Anchorage three years ago will visit a moose for the first time since the trampling. AWCC recreated the trampling using a dummy double.
National Geographic is producing a documentary film on moose and has been spending time in Portage at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. National Geographic has captured AWCC moose standing, running and splashing in the water. They also used an underwater camera to film moose eating and searching for aquatic plants. Up next, will be the filming of a moose swimming in a pond. National Geographic, known for its award winning photography and unique views, is placing a camera man in SCUBA gear 10 feet under water. Then, while lying on his back, the moose will swim over the photographer.

Sun outages in the month of October could cause disruptions in telephone and cable service

Customers of all cable television, Internet and long-distance telephone companies utilizing satellites could experience brief disruptions in service Oct. 3-21, 2007 due to a seasonal solar occurrence known as a “sun outage.” The outages could disrupt telephone calls to and from locations within Alaska, the Lower 49 states and international locations.
Each outage could last up to 15 minutes, although the length of the outage will vary. Land-based services such as fiber optics and microwave are not affected by sun outages.
If a cable TV outage occurs, viewers will notice a slow degradation of picture for up to 10 minutes, followed by several minutes of total disruption. The picture then slowly clears.
These semi-annual interruptions, called sun outages or transits, affect all satellite-based communications and occur when the sun is located directly behind the satellite and in line with the antenna on the ground. At that point, the noise energy from the sun is often greater than the communication signal level and may result in loss of signal.

Jennifer Overcast joins Alyeska Real Estate

Alyeska Real Estate has a new Associate Broker, bringing their combined experience in real estate sales to over 65 years. Jennifer Overcast has joined George McCoy and Skip Minder, both owners and long time Brokers.
“Jennifer brings a background of experience from resort sales at Jackson Hole that will compliment and enhance the considerable experience of Skip and I in Alyeska and Anchorage Real Estate,” said McCoy.
Overcast has lived in Alaska for three years and has been a licensed Real Estate Broker and a member of the National Association of Realtors for 15 years. She will be working specifically in the Girdwood area real estate market.
As a graduate of Baylor University, Overcast grew a service organization called “Stepping Out” that matched volunteer students to needed jobs within the community. Jennifer is excited to be involved and give service to the community through a non- political organization. She has chosen to do so through Girdwood Rotary, due to the positive and effective approach of the organization both locally and worldwide.
Her husband, Mike Overcast, has served on numerous boards in the Girdwood community over the years. Mike is an owner of Chugach Adventure Guides and has lived in the Girdwood Valley and Anchorage for over 20 years.