DONN LISTON

I am an Independent Journalist and retired teacher. I have resided over 60 consecutive winters socially, academically and politically as an active Alaska participant. I write on the wondrous people, scoundrals and events I have witnessed since statehood in 1959. The theme is: How did we get here and where we are going as a state? I invite your respectful participation in the discussion.

Steps to Food Security for Alaska: Are Alaska Agriculture Efforts Working?

Do more farms mean more production for Alaskans? In his self-satisfied memoir—written after serving two terms as Alaska’s fifth governor–Jay Hammond, in his book Tales of Alaska’s Bushrat Governor, reflects on …major disappointments in my second term. One, deemed by many the biggest blunder of my administration, was an attempt to promote Alaska agriculture. [1]

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Please Vote for Me for MEA Board!

MEA Serves Eagle River Well (2021©donnliston.co)   When Chugach/Eagle River wanted electrical power, at a time when the community was sleepy but growing, Municipal Light and Power (ML&P) didn’t want the bother of hooking us up from Anchorage. A Chugiak area activist, Justine Parks took the steps to involve Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) in delivering

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Our ASD Public Education Challenge: Parents in Eagle River/Chugiak Deserve Local Control

The Anchorage School District is too big, with a top-down Command-and-Control system accountable to a school board governed by members elected at-large, but ultimately accountable to no one to assure Local Control, according to former ASD teacher and principal, Sean Murphy. This is the dimension of the Anchorage School District: 46,115 students, of which more

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Challenges from Anchorage

Matanuska Brewing Company Innovates  (2021©donnliston.co) Dining in our own bubble; Waneta Borden, Bill Borden, Brenda Borden and this writer, recently had a wonderful meal at Matanuska Brewing Company in Eagle River. Matanuska Brewing Company owner Matt Tomter believes his business absorbed the pandemic shutdown better than some other area businesses because of innovation to safely

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The Sorry State of Alaska Agriculture: Kodiak Island Area Beef Production

Opportunity Lost The State of Alaska has a high opinion of the value of Agriculture Land, which includes Agricultural Homesteads with Agricultural Rights Only, and Fee Simple land with Agricultural Covenants. Perhaps that is why so little ag land is in production in Alaska. It is just too valuable to allow much of it to

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The Big Picture of EaglExit

 Looking Back, And A Vision for the Future (2021©donnliston.co) Anyone who has lived here any length of time knows the region of the state that includes Eagle River/Chugiak/Peters Creek is a unique part of Alaska. Dan Kendall once represented this area on the Anchorage Municipal Assembly and has experienced the effort to preserve the qualities

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Alaska has Food Security Options

Addressing Alaska’s Hierarchy of Needs This is an update of a story that first appeared February 10, 2021. Alaskans are generally stuck at the bottom of the 5-level pyramid of human needs defined in Abraham Maslow’s 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation. His 1954 book “Motivation and Personality” expanded on this theory and remains a

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Alaska Chalet Bed & Breakfast: What Happened to Anchorage Hospitality?

  It has often been said that the best thing about being in Anchorage is that it isn’t too far from Alaska. Anchorage hasthe largest airport, the most used dock, the most medical providers, the tallest buildings, the most traffic, and unfortunately attracts more social problems than anyplace in the state. As Alaska’s transportation hub

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