A New Chapter on the Edge of the Continent: Welcoming the Kenai Peninsula
There are few places where ocean, community, and wildness converge as powerfully as Homer, Alaska. Perched at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, where Kachemak Bay opens into a vast and living seascape, the end of the road marks the beginning of a new chapter!
I had the privilege of visiting Alaska this March to join in the Kenai Peninsula Chapter’s first official annual planning retreat. While there, I presented them with their official charter, designating the Kenai Peninsula the newest chapter in our amazing network of ocean activists! It was a moment that felt both celebratory and grounded—less about a single milestone and more about the beginning of sustained, local action.
The KPC Executive Committee posing with their shiny new charter! What a dream team!
Temperatures were low but the stoke was high as we kicked off the visit with Ocean Trivia night at Alice’s Champagne Palace. Teams competed for a group prize of Surfrider swag. There were some solid team names, but I’d have to say the best was Limpet Bizkit. Over the course of the visit, we gathered with new chapter leaders for a full day of planning events, cleanups, and programs, and campaigns.
The Kenai Peninsula Chapter is stepping into a unique and critical role. Alaska’s coastal ecosystems are among the most intact in the world, but they are not immune to threats: marine debris, water quality concerns, and the accelerating impacts of climate change. With Surfrider’s network and resources now formally rooted in the region, this chapter will help amplify local voices and solutions. The energy, creativity, and commitment of this crew made it clear that this chapter will continue to grow, thrive, and impress.
The trip to Homer was full of ice, snow, sunshine, women's hockey, ocean trivia, event planning, fresh seafood, wolf and moose sightings, and stellar humans doing amazing things.
As we wrapped up the visit, looking out over Kachemak Bay, it felt fitting that this new chapter begins here—at the edge of the continent, where the land gives way to the ocean and everything feels both vast and connected.
Welcome to the Surfrider network, Kenai Peninsula. We’re stoked to have you.
I final glimpse of sunrise over Kachemak Bay as I bid Homer goodbye....for now...