Matanuska-Susitna Valley

So I had plenty of experience with invasive species just in different ecosystems.

But yeah, I saw this job with Pike come up in the Mat-Su Valley and it instantly appealed to me, kind of just hit the ground running.

And it's been a whirlwind since I started in 18.

You've done a lot of work out here.

The blackfish is a good example because they pretty much have the same native distribution as pike, but they were introduced to South Central quite a while ago, I believe maybe in the 60s.

They're very prolific throughout Anchorage.

We're documenting them spreading through the Mat-Su Valley now.

We've caught quite a few over the years, always open up their stomachs.

But yeah, you're absolutely right.

It's in what's called the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

That's why the booth at the fair, it's called the Mat-Su Dems.

Mat-Su is short for Matanuska-Susitna.

A woman's voice filled the room, calm and clear.

This is an immediate shelter order for the upper Matanuska Valley, she said.

All residents must secure their homes and prepare for severe atmospheric disturbance.

Grandpa stopped with the bread knife halfway through a loaf.

That's when the battery radio clicked on by itself.

Edna's voice filled the room, calm and clear.

The shelter order for the upper Matanuska Valley is now ended.

All residents are to open their doors for emergency inspection.

But Matsu developer Max Sumner says homes in the Matsu are well-built.

Sumner says the lack of regulations in the Mat-Su means houses can go up fast.

Someone pays him to build a house, he can start tomorrow.

Time is money in construction, he says, and regulations in Anchorage just make things more expensive.

I'm Eva White.

Pest removal companies in Anchorage and the Mat-Su have been doing a brisk business this summer taking care of wasps' nests.

They say they're seeing way more than recent years.

But as Alaska Public Media's Hannah Flohr reports, some scientists say there's no evidence that numbers are unusually high.

And so we even have a heater in our little booth.

I'm working at the Mat-Su Democrats booth.

And, you know, it, it's, we wouldn't survive if we didn't have a heater, and that's just beginning of September.

So nor- a lot of times, um, we, we have seen what's called termination dust.

And so we're hoping she gets the Senate position.

I honestly don't know what's going on with my, with my local elections.

I could not talk anything about that except for I'm in the Mat-Su Borough, which is sort- short for Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and our, our mayor, Edna DeVries, is...

She's running for governor.

So Detective Glenn Flothe of the Alaska State Troopers had been part of the team investigating the discovery of several bodies in and around Anchorage.

Seward and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley area.

The, the first of the bodies were found by construction workers and the body dubbed Kultna Annie by investigators has never been identified.

Later that year, the body of Joanna Messina was discovered in a gravel pit near Seward.