Bretwood "High School" Higman is a geologist who lives in Seldovia. After graduating from high school there, he spent 13 years in college and grad school, studying glass art and walking from Seattle to the Aleutians before moving back to Seldovia. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology at Carleton College in Minnesota. Then, in 2007, he earned his PhD in geology at the University of Washington, studying the onshore effects of tsunamis while also studying physics and computer science. He has spent his career as a geologist studying tsunamis, earthquakes, and landslides. In addition to natural hazards, Hig has a passion for wilderness adventure, collaboration between stakeholder communities and scientists, trail building, natural resource policy, science communication, and chainsaw milling. Hig has also studied Yoshokai Aikido and invented the jewelry manufacturing method behind Sundrop Jewelry. He is the Executive Director of Ground Truth Alaska. This educational nonprofit seeks to advance public understanding and engagement in climate change, wilderness, energy, hazards, and natural resource issues in Alaska. He co-founded this organization, named initially Ground Truth Trekking, with Erin McKittrick. He and Erin now live in a yurt, near family, where they’ve raised their children.

https://groundtruthalaska.org/

Note that Hig's presentation included a LOT of computer graphics that are not easy to capture in a PDF slide show. We've decided to include a link to the video of Hig's presentation and all of the questions and his answers, along with the regular audio podcast. If you can view the video (it's in .mp4 format), I highly recommend that you do just that. While the audio format is very useable, the video is MUCH more helpful. The video starts after a 2-second tone, following John's introduction.

Link to presentation video -

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xddkkvsb28oate2t8ds47/Presentation.mp4?rlkey=3negusa8fgifq7dowh0034gac&dl=0

Bob Loeffler is a Research Professor of Public Policy at the UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research, where he teaches and completes research on Alaska's economy, fiscal issues, and natural resources. Along with Dr. Matt Berman, he teaches Econ 300, The Economy of Alaska, at UAA. It is an excerpt from this course that he is presenting at AUUF. He is also a partner in Jade North, a small Alaskan consulting firm, and specializes in working with mining and other natural resource issues. Bob Loeffler has a Master's degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and a Master's in Regional Planning from Harvard University. For seven years, ending in 2005, he was Director of the DNR Division of Mining, Land, and Water.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6wpfp0ilauccedj6l4put/AUUF.pdf?rlkey=0ugktfhuq86glmh7dvjxqrlpb&dl=0

This morning's scheduled speaker was unable to make it to the Forum and is looking forward to being rescheduled. John McKay (our regular host) miraculously rescued the Forum and turned it into an "open forum," allowing folks to participate physically or virtually (via the marvels of modern science—Zoom). We took the opportunity to discuss what was on people's minds.

Early on, John stated that this was the Forum for 6 October. It is indeed the 13 October Forum.