The Exciting Wild and Scenic Film Festival is Less Than a Month Away.  Get Your Tickets Today!
If you are looking for a fun filled event to help transition from the darkness of winter into spring and to help motivate planning for your summer trips, you will not want to miss the exciting Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Palmer on April 26^th. Join Friends of Mat-Su, local businesses and a variety of non-profit partners for this fun and exciting family friendly community event.

About the Wild and Scenic Film Festival
The Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is one of the largest traveling environmental film festivals in North America. It is renown for leaving attendees feeling INSPIRED and MOTIVATED.  The Palmer event will do no less. We’ve included many award winning films that explore how community leaders and average citizens are working together to develop innovative solutions to current challenges facing their communities.  We guarantee those who attend will LEARN about new ideas from inspiring environmental and adventure based films, EXPERIENCE the adrenaline of trekking across the globe or skiing in the backcountry, and CELEBRATE the many splendors of the natural and wild world.

Event Details
In addition to the stellar selection of films the event will include:

• Bluegrass and old timey music from High Lonesome Sound
• Delicious local foods
• Cash bar
• Featured local artists
• Wild bird exhibit
• Educational Forum
• Great Door prizes

Space is limited so we encourage you to book your tickets today!  

WHEN: Thursday, April 26th, 6pm-10pm.  Reception begins at 6pm and Films begin at 7pm.
WHERE: Historic Train Depot in Downtown Palmer
COST: $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  KIDS UNDER 10 ARE FREE!

For more information, to book advance tickets, or to view some of the film trailers please visit the festival website at http://www.valleyfilmfestival.com/ or contact festival Director, Jeremiah Millen via email at: director@foms.net or by phone at (907) 746-0130.

To view a copy of the letter to DNR click here

Help us send a message  to Usibelli that coal mining in the Mat Su Valley will harm residents, lower property values, and destroy our way of life.

The Wishbone Hill coal strip mine in the Matanuska Valley has become increasingly controversial as Usibelli Coal Company takes steps to fully develop the mine in the middle of a residential community. On Tuesday, hundreds of citizens attended a public hearing hosted by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about Usibelli’s mining plan and permit renewal application to raise concerns about property values, coal dust issues, recreational access concerns and community impacts.

“Over the past year we have heard from thousands of Mat-Su residents who oppose the development of the Wishbone Hill strip coal mine and the negative impacts it will have on property values, air and water quality, wildlife, recreational access, and public safety. A residential neighborhood is simply no place for a coal mine and there are 128 residences within one mile of this project. The Governor and state agencies should take action and provide the leadership needed to protect our communities,” said Jeremiah Millen , Executive Director of Friends of Mat-Su, a local planning organization representing residents across the Mat-Su Borough.

The permit renewal application that Usibelli submitted contains out-of-date and inaccurate information, similar to their air quality permit application that the Department of Environmental

Conservation has asked them to resubmit twice. “As community members, we have a responsibility to speak up to protect our neighborhoods and quality of life,” said Kirby Spangler, local resident and president of Castle Mountain Coalition. “In this case, we’re looking at a mine plan that was designed in the late 1980’s. It does nothing to account for the changes in the community or protect all that we value about living here. ”

Members of the public raised major concerns about how Usibelli would keep the community safe with blasting at the mine site, increased traffic in residential areas, and air pollution related to coal mining. “If DNR approves this permit, they will approve a Valley-wide air quality problem and a serious health hazard. Health effects linked to breathing coal dust include increased asthma in children, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, lung disease, diabetes and cancer,” said Heidi Zimmer, Environmental Health Coordinator at Alaska Community Action on Toxics. “If DNR approves this permit, what will happen to our children? What will happen to our YaNeDahAh School?

If we do NOT have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, healthy salmon and moose to eat, how will we perpetuate our culture and traditional practices? How much longer do we have to endure the “Historical” traumas done to our peoples?” said Penny Westing, secretary on the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council.

The DNR has 60 days following the public meeting to make its decision on whether to approve

Usibelli’s permit renewal request.

Please consider contacting the Mat-Valley coalition to learn how you can be involved.

Protecting Property, Culture, Health and of the Future of the Mat-Su Valley-Tuesday, October 11 at 6pm at the Palmer Train Depot

Please join Friends of Mat-Su and other members of the Mat Valley Coalition for this free fun-filled event to learn about proposed coal mines in the Valley and how you can make a difference.

The event will feature a shortened version of the award-winning documentary Coal Country by Mari-Lynn Evans and presentations from Mat Valley Coalition members.   Food and refreshments will be served.

Please join us on Tuesday, October 11th from 6pm to 9pm at the Palmer Train Depot.

See you there,

Friends of Mat-Su

Hats off to the Mat Valley Frontiersman Newspaper for accurately reporting on the recent Assembly meeting on September 6^th at the Palmer Depot.   Where reporting from other media outlets totally missed the point, the Frontiersman got it right!

A fair interpretation of a volatile topic

If you have a space you want to fill with people, your best bet nowadays is to announce some kind of decision about coal mining.  Tuesday’s borough assembly resolution was not binding in any way on any party. It was really just a piece of advice, the assembly giving its two-cents to state officials tasked with deciding whether to renew Usibelli Coal Mine’s permit to mine at Wishbone Hill between Palmer and Sutton.

If you weren’t at the meeting and just listened to the streaming audio of it online, you would be forgiven for thinking opinion on the matter is evenly split in the borough.

Whether by design or otherwise, the structure of the meeting necessarily left that impression. Attendees were asked to sign up to speak either for or against the mine and Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss took turns reading names from each list.

While we could give our opinion of the mine, we haven’t come here today to condemn or endorse it. We’ve come here to talk about what DeVilbiss said was an attempt at fairness.

In our younger days at journalism school we learned that in news reporting we are to give an equal airing to opposing viewpoints. Fairness in reporting requires giving an equal chance for all sides to be heard.

But our professors stressed that an equal chance does not mean an identical amount of news copy. You can give one side a sentence and another a paragraph and still have done justice to both sides.

Indeed, sometimes giving both sides equal space in a story is putting a thumb on the scale. Being fair to the reader means accurately reporting on meetings and events. If one person were to speak against a topic and 20 in favor, the notion of “equal space” would not be an accurate reflection of the meeting or event.

We believe that whether he put it there accidentally or otherwise, DeVilbiss’ thumb was on the scale Tuesday. In giving equal time to both sides he gave the impression that equal numbers showed up on both sides. That was not the case.

For better or worse, those opposed to the mine had a greater representation at Tuesday’s meeting.

That was apparent to anyone who attended and bothered to compare the number of orange anti-coal T-shirts to the number of yellow pro-coal hard hats. Or, to those who stayed long enough to see an informal show of hands in which anti-coal attendees easily outnumbered pro-coal attendees.

Assemblyman Warren Keogh said the number of emails he’d received on the issue was also weighted towards the anti-coal side. The anti-coal emails were more than double the pro-coal ones.

Of course, none of that is scientific. To get those responses require people attend meetings or send emails, and they are really only a gauge of passion. It could well be that many Valley residents favor mining but don’t have the time, inclination or passion to express that opinion publicly.

But knowing which side is more passionate is an important piece of information that DeVilbiss’ attempt at fairness obscured.

The Mat-Valley Coalition is a growing coalition of residents in the Mat-Su Valley and surrounding area, concerned about the  impacts of  coal mining in the Mat-Su Valley from the proposed  Wishbone Hill Coal Mine. To protect our quality of life,  we must take an active stand by saying “no” to large-scale coal development in the Valley.  Our  future health and that of our children are  are at stake if we do not speak out!

The coalition currently has a booth at the Alaska State Fair, starting August 27th. If you would like more information or would like to volunteer at our booth you will also get a FREE pass to the fair for that day! If interested, please contact Christiana at 775-7544 or 746-0128 for more information.

Hello Friends and Community members,
We are submitting this post as a reminder to let you know that August 31^st is the deadline for donating to your favorite local non-profit organizations through Pick Click Give.  We greatly appreciate all of your generous support and hope you will consider making an additional contribution to FoMS before the deadline. To make things simple the PFD Division homepage.
Prominently featured is an “Add or Change a Charitable Contribution” link.

For those of you who have been wondering what Friends of Mat-Su (FoMS) has been up to lately we continue to work hard everyday to provide important land use information, advocate for borough wide planning, promote effective citizen involvement and offer the tools needed to support healthy and vibrant communities throughout the Mat-Su.

Here is a snapshot of some of our accomplishments over the past year include:

New Director Hired
In January 2011, Friends of Mat-Su hired Jeremiah Millen to serve as our new Executive Director. His professional career has included work for a variety of national and local non-profit organizations working to address conservation and planning issues with communities all across the state. His expertise includes campaign development, conservation policy, grassroots organizing, effective lobby work and community education.  We are grateful to have Jeremiah on the FoMS team and have been pleased with the leadership and vision he brings to the organization.

New Board Members Added to the Organization
In March of 2011, FoMS welcomed Mark Masteller, Brian Winnestaffer, Dan Mccausland and Eddie Kessler to the board of directors.  We are thrilled to have their new energy, ideas, and the diverse experience and background each bring to the board.

New Sources of Funding for our Programs
FoMS has worked hard to receive a number of new grants geared toward capacity building, program development and strengthening the organization.  We are happy to share that Alaska Conservation Foundation, Mat-Su Heath Foundation, Brainerd Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have partnered with us to support our important work.

Organizational Sustainability Process Underway
With help from The Foraker Group, over the past few months, we have been working to  strengthen FoMS by developing a new strategic plan, providing board and staff trainings, refining our organizational purpose, values, goals and mission, creating  new programs, and working to diversify our funding sources.  We look forward to unveiling the new FoMS over the next few months.

Advocacy and Education:

The Mat Valley Coal Campaign

FoMS, staff, board and members continue to play active role with the Mat Valley Coal campaign to prevent coal development from occurring in the Mat-Su.  FoMS has partnered with a number of other organizations to create the Mat Valley Coalition.  As part of this effort, FoMS houses the Mat Valley Coal Coordinator position, the summer coal organizer program and our Director serves as a Steering Committee Member for the campaign.   For more information please visithttp://matvalley.org/

Mat-Su Borough Activities

FoMS staff, board and members effectively advocated in favor of the borough providing match funding to establish the newly created Mat-Su Parks Foundation.

FoMS staff, board and members have been working to prevent the Assembly from rolling back the current ethics board and subdivision codes to ensure that the public process, transparency and thoughtful development is maintained.

FoMS staff, board and members worked to prevent a mayoral veto of the recent road bond package that included several important road projects in every Assembly district and paved pathways for the communities of Sutton and Butte.  Due to this success, the road bond package will now be included on the October ballot for voters to weigh in on.  If passed, the package will provide many benefits to increase public safety and provide countless health benefits for local residents through the creation of new bike trails.

You can help the Mat-Su see it’s true potential by supporting our work!
Join Friends of Mat-Su today!
Renew your membership!
Talk to your neighbors about us -The larger our collective voice, the more effect we will have on creating positive changes in the Mat-Su.
Consider making an additional financial contribution.
It’s all tax deductible!

To donate to FoMS today please contact us by using the information provided below:

Website Membership Page

Pick Click Give- PFD

By Mail:
Friends of Mat-Su
P.O. Box 116
Palmer, AK.  99654

Thank you for supporting Friends of Mat-Su!

Your are invited to Join Friends of Mat-Su for our Annual Spring Meeting on March 4th, at the Agate Inn in Wasilla.  Please bring along all of your friends and neighbors to celebrate our past accomplishments and help us chart the course for a productive future.

When: Friday, March 4, 6-9PM

What: Friends of Mat-Su -Annual Meeting

Where: Agate Inn 4724 Begich Circle, Wasilla, AK

Meeting Highlights

• Participate in an interactive panel exploring planning activities throughout the Borough
• Meet our new Executive Director
• Meet our current board members
• Elect new board members
• Help us focus our  future work
• Connect with your community

Enjoy delicious Foods, Drinks  and good Friends

The Beautiful Matanuska Valley- Alaska Coal.org

Last week The Alaska Public Radio Network ran a story on the Wishbome hill Coal Mine development.(Summary of the story via aprn.org listed below)The Chickaloon tribe is taking its concern over a proposed mine in the Mat Su Valley to an international audience. The Athabascan community near Palmer is opposed to a coal mine project being developed by the Usibelli Company that would access coal at a site called Wishbone Hill. The tribe filed a document presenting their concerns to the United Nations Independent Expert on water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, a Portuguese human rights expert appointed by the U.N Human Rights Council who will be taking testimony in the U.S and meeting with State department officials.

To listen to the full story click here.

To read the Chickaloon press release click here

For more information on Matanuska coal development click here

We are happy to announce that we have hired Jeremiah Millen to serve as the new Executive Director, of Friends of Mat-Su.

Jeremiah has lived in the Mat-Su for the past 6 years and has been interested   in transitioning to work in the region for some time. When the opportunity presented itself for him to lead FoMS, he took the leap.  Professionally, his career over the past 11 years has taken him all over the state to work on various conservation issues.

Upon arriving in Alaska, in 2000, he first worked as a wilderness guide in the Southeast just outside of Haines.   After his two-season stint as a guide he knew, Alaska would become his home. While working for the Ocean Conservancy, he founded the Annual Alaska Oceans Festival, an educational event designed to educate the public about ocean issues and bring Alaskans together to celebrate the beauty and bounty of Alaska’s Oceans.

As a Field Representative for the National Parks Conservation Association he spent summers in the community of McCarthy serving as a bridge between National Park Service staff and local residents in and around Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve; and during the winter he helped create programs like the Alaska Discovery Series that offered a community forum to celebrate the wonders Alaska’s Public Lands. He also served as the Outreach Coordinator for the Alaska Wilderness League, on their BLM program, educating communities about the potential impacts to water quality, subsistence resources and local economies as new oil, gas, and mining developments were proposed in previously protected areas.

The diversity of Jeremiah’s experience and his proven ability to build relationships with diverse constituencies made him a logical choice during the interview process.  We look forward working with Jeremiah and learning how he will bring his experiences with campaign development, conservation policy, grassroots organizing and community education to the important work FoMS is doing to strengthen communities throughout Mat-Su Borough.

Contact Information for Jeremiah Millen
Phone (907) 746-0130
Email: director@foms.net