A step towards a new name for Talkeetna Ranger Station

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed Senator Murkowski’s Denali Park Improvement bill, which includes three separate measures to decrease the use of diesel fuel and improve energy access in Denali, as well as honor Athabascan climber Walter Harper. The bill was passed from the committee as part of a package of public lands bills approved on Thursday morning.

The bill would re-name the Talkeetna Ranger Station in honor of Walter Harper, the first person to reach the top of Mt. McKinley. The bill would also approve a land-swap between Denali National Park and Doyon, to allow a small hydropower dam to be built to help power the Kantishna Roadhouse. A third measure in the bill would allow a natural gas pipeline be routed through Park property adjacent to the Parks Highway.