Anchorage fills a watershed commission seat before its sunset date

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has appointed Kara Dunham to Anchorage's Watershed and Natural Resources Advisory Commission, filling one of three vacancies on the nine-member panel. The Assembly would confirm her Tuesday.

In her application, Dunham described herself as a certified wetland delineator through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and said she managed the state's Navigability Program at the Department of Natural Resources from 2019 to 2026. Habitat stewardship and natural resources management "are part of my professional background and personally important to me," she wrote.

Her term would run to 2028, which is longer than the commission itself currently has. The panel expires Oct. 14 unless the Assembly reauthorizes it, and three sitting members' terms end that same day. A separate ordinance introduced Tuesday would extend the commission to 2029, with its public hearing set for Oct. 6, eight days before the deadline.

A municipal sunset audit this summer found the commission operating with six of its nine seats filled and recommended keeping it. The audit also noted the commission did not produce an annual report for 2025.