CIRIosity

Alaska is facing a crime problem — on  the streets and in the halls of justices. As budgets shrink, the state’s ability to deal with rising crime rates and an opioid epidemic is being tested. Meanwhile, a state commission tackled the task of reviewing whether effective alternatives to mass incarceration could work in Alaska. CIRI shareholder and vice president Greg Razo had the job of leading the commission and ushering its recommendations through the Alaska Legislature. In this episode, he talks to us about the accomplishments and frustrations.

CIRI’s mission is to promote the economic and social well-being of shareholders. One tool used to gauge whether CIRI is meeting the challenge is the Shareholder Participation Committees – a chance for shareholders to hear from executives and give their opinions on the inner workings of the company. In this episode, shareholders describe the experience.

Back in 1982, the CIRI Board of Directors created The CIRI Foundation (TCF) to help shareholders and descendants achieve a college or vocational education. Since then, the foundation has tallied an impressive track record. On the 35th anniversary of the foundation, CIRIosity visits TCF and talks to the people that make it happen.

Part 2 of “North Wind Blows East” looks at how the North Wind family of companies has harnessed the expertise of handling radioactive contamination to fuel its growth. The company has expanded from its headquarters in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to sites in Tennessee and Ohio, working with the U.S. Department of Energy to help clean up and transform sites used by the government to enrich uranium. For more information about the North Wind family of companies, visit www.NorthWindGrp.com.

CIRIosity delves into the history of the Manhattan Project in part one of “North Wind Blows East.” When CIRI became engaged in the government contracting sector, it acquired a company called North Wind. The company is based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, but its expanding reach has led it to the hills of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge reservation that includes the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For more information about the History Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex, click here. For more information about North Wind, visit www.NorthWindGrp.com

Up in the hills above Anchorage, a volunteer organization is rescuing the rehabilitating young moose. Learn about the organization’s triumphs and challenges, and how CIRI land near the village of Tyonek could benefit from the group’s success.

CIRI Corporate Communications intern John Sallee takes over the CIRIosity podcast in this episode to talk about some of the cool things CIRI is doing for young shareholders and descendants, and the importance of youth becoming active in CIRI. To learn more about opportunities for youth, visit www.ciri.com/descendants/youth-programs.

Storme Webber describes herself as an in-between person. “Born into a crossing-over place where Indigenous met African met Texan met Alaska Native,” Webber writes in the introduction of her collection of poetry called Blues Divine. This African American, Native American and Alaska Native artist is being recognized for giving a voice to the marginalized. And it’s that voice that sets Storme apart. For more information about Storme Webber, visit www.StormeWebber.com and read about her in the Raven’s Circle Shareholder Spotlight.

“It seems to me the Park Service doesn’t have jurisdiction.“ Those were the last words Justice Antonin Scalia spoke from the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court before his death earlier this year. The case involved Alaska. And, indirectly, CIRI. The Sturgeon v. Frost case pitted Alaska moose hunter John Sturgeon against the National Park Service. It started back in 2007 when Sturgeon was prohibited from using his hovercraft on the Nation River in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Sturgeon didn’t have anything to do with CIRI and the hovercraft incident happened far from CIRI land, but CIRI’s interests became involved when the potentially precedent-setting decision out of the federal courts, if they had survived, would have authorized the National Park Service, and other agencies, to regulate private lands within conservation units. This episode of CIRIosity discusses why CIRI was drawn into the case and what it did to protect future access to its land. To listen to the actual oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, click here. To read the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Frost case click here.

Climate change isn’t a theoretical problem that affects strangers in locales far from where we live. In fact, Alaska is situated on the front line of climate change, where villages and people experience the impact of a swiftly warming planet on a daily basis. This episode of CIRIosity highlights the work being done by CIRI, its shareholders and its nonprofits to address climate change and become more environmentally friendly.

It’s road trip time as CIRIosity travels to Seward for a (literal) glance at President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska. Our hosts find out what happens when an army of Secret Service agents descend upon the Seward Windsong Lodge. To learn more about CIRI Alaska Tourism’s Seward Windsong Lodge, visit www.ciritourism.com.

Every year, the CIRI Golf Classic raises money to benefit local organizations that focus on youth and education. This year, CIRIosity explores the connection between coffee and golf to learn more about a nonprofit that’s helping homeless teens in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

We examine the history of CIRI’s land entitlements and how the company finessed what was originally worthless “mountaintops and glaciers” into income-producing lands that set CIRI on a path to prosperity.