Homer, Alaska ~ "The End Of the Road"

Up front, I was raised in Homer, Alaska and have considered it to be my hometown up to the time that I discovered Anchor Point, Alaska in 1959. A small "bedroom community" to the metropolitan area of Homer. I also do not intend this to be an article to "stir up emotions" or create any division of differences of opinions among the residents of Homer. Homer has always been a very united community.

A good number of years ago, a lady of seniority lived on the Homer Spit throughout the year. During the summer months, when Homer had a cannery row, she would gather fish scraps and freeze them for the upcoming winter months. As the winter winds blew across Kachemak Bay, the American Bald Eagles would return to the Homer Spit. Being the woman that she was, she would "thaw out" the collected fish scraps and disburse them to several feeding sites on the end of the Homer Spit on a daily basis.

Due in part to the "Eagle Feeding Project", on any given day you would see several hundred Bald Eagles on the Homer Spit. As time passed, a faction of the community complained that the great bird, that is the symbol of our country, was being made into a beggar for a few scarps of fish. A different faction complained that they could not go to the Homer Spit without getting splattered with the "waste product" created by the fish scraps. A third faction complained that with all the bald eagles in the area it was creating a "safety hazard" for aircraft utilizing the Homer International Airport. A fourth faction complained because they had nothing else to do at the time. The community was becoming "fragmented" due to the differences of opinions. At one time, even the acting Mayor of Homer was on national television carrying his "Eagle Bashing Stick"

Enough controversy was raised that in time the Federal Government intervened. It was their intention prior to deploying troops to "calm the atmosphere", they would hold a series public hearings on the issue. This aspect took a couple of years to resolve, meanwhile the lady continued to feed the eagles. The eagles were happy, the lady was happy, others that enjoyed seeing the birds were happy, and those that were unhappy remained that way.

In time, it was resolved that the "feeding program" would be permitted by the Federal Government, the program would be "Grand-mothered" in as long as the elderly lady could feed the birds. This created yet another controversy, as there were those that considered Homer as sovereign territory and not under the authority of the federal, state , or local government. Unfortunately the lady passed away and as the government agreed, the feeding program for eagles during the winter months was terminated. This is the second winter that the feeding program has not existed.

There is no doubt that the "feeding program" had a positive affect on the number of American Bald Eagles on the Homer Spit during the winter months. Enjoying the eagles, I traveled out to the Homer Spit to watch and photograph them. Although, I am not an authority on Bald Eagles, I can count and it would only be my uneducated guess that the winter population is approximately 11.3% of what it was during the feeding program. There are still enough eagles that you can enjoy doing a little bird watching.

In this weeks issue of one of the Homer news journals, in the "Things To Do and See In Homer" article was a picture and notation of the American Bald Eagle viewing opportunities that exist in Homer, at the Homer Landfill! Again, being uneducated, isn't that the same thing as garbage dump?

So, now instead of feeding the Eagles a supplement that is natural to them, we have them finding all kinds of neat things to eat at the "dump". I can just imagine what this foreign material is going to have on the digestive system of the eagle. Those that thought the eagles on the Homer Spit created a by-product mess on their cars, they have not seen anything yet.

It intrigue me why they would do an article advertising you could view and photograph the American Bald Eagles feeding at the "Sanitary Landfill". First, I visited the Homer Spit and got some beautiful pictures of the eagles. On my way home to my little "Shangri-La in Anchor Point, I pulled off the Sterling Highway at the "dump" to see how many eagles were hanging out.
I could not get a count, it is difficult to get all the eagles to stay in place while you get a head count. Perhaps, I should have had a "Eagle Bashing Stick". There was roughly twenty times the number of eagles at the dump than on the Homer Spit. They were double and triple parked in all of the trees, occupying them jointly with the crows.

Now, I do not know but did the City of Homer see the commercial potential of having "Eagle Viewing Area" within the city limits when the feeding program stopped on the Homer Spit. Their only alternative to get around the federal mandate was the "Sanitary Landfill" which was in place prior to the feeding restrictions but outside the City Limits of Homer. Could this be the reason the City of Homer annexed this area into the Incorporated City boundaries? Just a question, I do not know since I live in Anchor Point.

I would suggest that they close the dump to protect the American Bald Eagle, but then they would want to move it to Anchor Point and use some of our gravel pits to bury their trash. I do not know, but I bet they could lure some of those big birds away from the dump by opening up a "winter feeding station" on the Homer Spit.

One Tree At The Sanitary Landfill, Population At the Time Of The Photograph
Six American Bald Eagles and One Black Bird.

Two Trees, Four Bald Eagles Looking At Mt. Iliamna