In a concerted effort to prevent further unnecessary loss of life on mudflats in the Turnagain Arm Area, warning signs are being installed in key locations on Kenai Peninsula Borough and Alaska Railroad Properties thanks to the effort of Soldotna High School senior, Luci Micciche. The first warning signs will be installed on August 13 at 4:00 PM at the Bird Creek bridge at mile 101.5 of the Seward Highway.
The mudflats are notoriously dangerous and have been the scene of some of the most heartbreaking tragedies on the Kenai Peninsula. The danger of the mudflats is due to highly saturated glacial silt which acts as interlocking quicksand. People can and do get trapped on the mudflats, and if emergency personal is unable to get to them on time, will sink into the mud and either drown or perish from hypothermia in the quickly rising Cook Inlet tide. Luci Micciche was motivated by the gut-wrenching stories of people who have perished on the mudflats and took action to prevent future tragedies.
Luci first started this project as part of the annual Caring for the Kenai Program, in which she won 2nd place. When asked, “What is a problem that needs solving on the Kenai?” she thought back to when she was a child and she and some friends were in Hope. They started to venture out onto the flats until her father called them back, warning them that it was very dangerous. She said she remembers how her dad told them stories of unsuspecting people who had perished on the mudflats.
“The stories were genuinely terrifying and made a deep impression on me. When 20-year-old Zachary Porter drowned on the flats in 2023, I felt like it was time to act,” Luci said. People getting into these emergency situations was a problem that Luci believed was completely preventable. People needed to be informed. She designed unique warning signs to be placed at various access points of the mudflats.
Luci Micciche said, “A sign that just says do not enter doesn’t give enough information. These signs that I designed show the consequence of not heeding the warning. They make it painfully obvious that you are putting yourself in real danger if you step out onto the mudflats.”
Warning signs are just one part of a broader public service campaign that Luci has designed to save lives and keep people out of dangerous situations on the mudflats. For nearly a year, she has been broadcasting radio messages over six local radio stations and there are plans for presenting to students in the Kenai Peninsula School District of the dangers of walking out into the mudflats.
In partnership with the Alaska Railroad Corporation, signs have been purchased and will be initially installed at various points of entry on the mudflats on the Seward Highway and along the Hope Highway. On the Kenai Peninsula, the most accessible mudflats that pose a danger to locals and tourists are approximately 30 miles of North Cook Inlet / Turn again Arm coastland. Luci plans to continue working with other organizations until there are adequate warning signs along the coast where people are most likely to enter the mudflats. She also plans to work with local hotels to get this critical warning information to visitors.
Luci Micciche said, “When I considered doing this project, it seemed almost too simple but that is what drew me to this. This is an obvious problem with a doable solution. People need to know that mud kills. I’m advocating these new warning signs because I genuinely believe it will save lives and ensure that lost individuals in the past will be honored and remembered by saving others today and in the future.”
Press release provided by Caring for the Kenai.
