interests own the remaining land, totaling about one percent of the state. This is also the only region in Alaska in which the average daytime high temperature is above freezing during the winter months. Numerous indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples to the area. It was here they stole a small canoe left by the Australian Aborigines of the region. As Brisbane grew, the condition of the river worsened until at its worst it was no more than an open sewer and waste dump. 1987 was proclaimed the "Year of the River" by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane at the time, Sallyanne Atkinson. Sand and dust storms are natural events that occur in arid regions where the land is not