By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
A Sitka couple is hoping to have a body of water named after a pet that was killed in a 2013 landslide at Redoubt Lake that nearly took their lives as well.
Kevin Knox and his wife Maggie Gallin are applying to have the U.S. Board of Geographic Names designate the one-acre body of water as “Luna Lake,” but the naming process must first clear a number of hurdles.
The proposal is on the agenda of tonight’s meeting of the Sitka Historic Preservation Commission at the request of the Alaska Historical Commission, which considers geographical names or name changes for forwarding to the federal authorities.
Knox, Gallin and their 11-year-old border collie Luna were camping at the U.S. Forest Service cabin at the east end of Redoubt Lake on May 12, 2013. Kevin was outside the cabin when he heard the rumble and saw the landslide start on the mountainside above.
A small lake is pictured at the head of Redoubt Lake in this file photo taken shortly after a landslide created the new feature in May 2013. A proposal to name the lake after a dog killed in the slide is being considered. (Sentinel Photo)
Knox yelled for Maggie to run, and the last time he saw Luna she was nipping at his heels as he ran from the path of the slide, he said. Knox and Gallin ended up in the lake under a pile of trees.
After the slide the couple searched for three hours without finding any sign of Luna. In the days and weeks after, they returned several times, once with a search and rescue dog and handler. They found a number of their items from the destroyed cabin, but no Luna.
Luna had been with Knox since she was 9 months old, and had seen him through the loss of his dad in 2006, and illness and death of his wife Beth Peterman in 2009.
“For a long time Luna was the hub of my family,” Knox said. “I’d been through a lot with her.”
Gallin met Knox when he needed a dogsitter, and Gallin volunteered. About a year after they started dating, they went to the Redoubt cabin on one of their camping trips. It had been a beautiful weekend, when the slide occurred on May 12, 2013.
The landslide debris blocked a small stream, creating a one-acre lake, and after revisiting the scene Knox and Gallin thought naming it after Luna would be a fitting tribute.
“It’s not as big as it was when it first formed but it’s still there,” Knox said.
Knox and Gallin were worried the debris might have blocked the stream for fish, but it has not, and it may have enhanced the habitat for sockeye, Knox said.
“The fish can get through,” he said.
Knox said he has been told that the name “Luna Lake” is used by U.S. Forest Service staff who maintain the weir at Redoubt.
Knox originally submitted a naming application six months after Luna disappeared, but was told they would have to wait at least five years. He reactivated the application as soon as he could, on May 14 of this year.
The Sitka Historic Preservation Commission is only one of several organizations or agencies that will review the name proposal. Others are the U.S. Forest Service, Sealaska Heritage and Sealaska Corp. The state historical commission is also seeking comments from the general public.
The standard for naming a geographical location is high, but it is allowed in the categories of “local usage,” “descriptive names,” “Alaska native names,” “commemorative names,” “historical names” “name changes,” “names in wilderness areas: and “associative names.”
Knox and Gallin said the 2013 landslide is still with them. They said the sound of the hillside coming down is like the roar of a jet engine.
“It’s still fresh in our minds,” Gallin said. “It’s not something you ever forget. It changes your relationship with the earth, and your sense of stability.”
“For us (naming the lake) is part of the healing process,” Knox said.
The two said they believe they have support for naming this small body of water after Luna, whose name is a reference to her patch of white fur on her forehead shaped like a moon. (“Luna” is the Spanish word for moon.)
“She was a smart little dog,” Knox said. “She loved the outdoors, she loved hiking, swimming, camping and being cozy at home. She was very, very smart.”
“Very loyal,” Gallin said.
The Sitka Historic Preservation Commission meets at 6 p.m. tonight at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
