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Summer may be at its peak, but for students it’s quickly beginning to wind down. The new year begins for them on August 28, and several new things are in store. At Evergreen Elementary School, Gail Taylor will be settling in as its new principal. Offered the job in June and starting later this month, she was previously the elementary principal at Haworth School District in Haworth, Oklahoma. For students at Stikine Middle and Wrangell High schools, secondary principal Bill Schwan explained a new guidance counselor will be starting soon. The r...
Social media was astir Monday as word spread about the second stage of a project being undertaken to mitigate contamination at the former Byford junkyard. Notice of a proposed use of Pats Creek Road was submitted to the United States Forest Service late last week, informing Wrangell Ranger District trucks would be making extensive use of the road to shift around 18,500 cubic yards of lead-contaminated soil from the former Byford property near 4 Mile Zimovia to a rock pit just two miles down the...
More than just focusing on the local wildlife, Wrangell's annual Bearfest is also an opportunity to focus on the creative arts. Whether it is judging photographs and paintings at the Nolan Center, a "Bear-oque" classical concert and fundraiser lunch for the Wrangell Chorale, local girls playing their violins during the Saturday market, or judges selecting their favorite pies, there were varied ways last week to highlight the beauty and inspiration that comes from living in rural Alaska....
For the first time since last winter, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) risk factors for butter clams sampled on beaches near Pats Creek have dropped back to normal. Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program office made the announcement last week, after samples taken July 24 showed decreased levels of saxitoxin. The cause behind PSP, elevated saxitoxin traces were first discovered at the site in January. Saxitoxin is a deadly neurotoxin produced by phytoplankton of the genus Alexandrium. When a...
Candidates are being sought for Wrangell’s various municipal committees and elected seats. Beginning August 1 and extending through the remainder of the month, the city clerk’s office will be accepting declarations of candidacy and signature petitions for the October 3 ballot. Two three-year terms on the Borough Assembly are coming up for election, with the seats of Stephen Prysunka and Mark Mitchell both expiring. Two seats on the Public School Board – one a full three-year and the other an unexpired two-year term – are likewise up for ele...
The symposium at last week's Bearfest was an opportunity for experts in bear-related research to share some of their knowledge about the different species, as well as highlight the work they have done in their different fields. Lance Craighead of Montana's Craighead Institute has been a longtime supporter of Wrangell's annual festival, which celebrates the area's robust bear population. Speaking last Wednesday, the environmental advocate sought to convey how people directly affect and often thre...
On Monday Gov. Bill Walker signed into law a capital budget for the 2018 Fiscal Year, which had been adopted by the Legislature in a brief special session on July 27. The new budget includes $5,000,000 in the Municipal Harbor Facility Grant Fund, precisely what will be needed for Wrangell’s Harbor Department to proceed with an overhaul of the facilities at Shoemaker Bay Harbor. “We’re excited,” said Wrangell harbormaster Greg Meissner. The aging facility has about passed its useful life, with a portion already closed off to moorage. The project...
Wrangell’s new city manager sat in on her first meeting of the City and Borough Assembly Tuesday evening. Starting work last week, Lisa Von Bargen gave her first report to council members on the state of city departments. Offered the job back in April, the former Valdez economic director reported she has been getting to know the departments under her since her arrival. She has been getting together with staff at City Hall, the Harbor Department and Public Works this past week to visit sites. She further plans to meet with Parks and R...
Intermittent rains and wind on Saturday prompted Muskeg Meadows Golf Course to cancel one of its two days scheduled for the First Bank Golf Tournament. Twenty-six golfers from Wrangell and Petersburg still hit the links on a sunny Sunday morning for the best-ball, team play competition. Players vied for a number of prizes and for First Bank-related raffle items during the lunch to follow. Golfing with a handicap of 16, Eric Koding, Faye and Keene Kohrt, and Tyler Eagle took first place overall w...
A new officer has joined Wrangell Police Department, bringing its staffing levels closer to optimal. Recently retired from the United States Coast Guard, Eric Wolf began work in Wrangell as an officer at the end of June. After 12 years of active service, he explained a medical condition he had developed prevented him from continuing as an aviation mechanical technician. Originally from Washington, he was drawn back to the northwest by an interest in law enforcement. Previously Wolf had worked for just over a year and a half as a reserve police...
Wrapping up a visit to Wrangell over the weekend, cruise ship The World was on its way to Petersburg late Monday when a medical emergency took precedence. Wrangell Fire Chief Tim Buness received a call from the local emergency dispatcher at around 8:15 p.m., relaying that the vessel required assistance. He contacted the United States Coast Guard about the situation. At 644 feet, The World is the largest private residential ship on earth. During its several-day stay in Wrangell it remained...
In a joint news release on Monday, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon (D-Dillingham) and Senate President Pete Kelly (R-Fairbanks) announced that the Alaska Legislature will call itself into another session in Juneau today at 11 a.m. The special session – the 30th Legislature’s third called for 2017 – follows extensive wrangling over the state’s fiscal deficit. A compromise operating budget was approved late last month and signed by Gov. Bill Walker on June 30. The $4.9 billion budget for the new fiscal year, which started July 1, came with a $2.5 bill...
A Wrangell student is currently in Anchorage getting a full month’s worth of science, math and engineering lessons. On July 8 future sophomore Tasha Massin left for Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program’s (ANSEP) five-week acceleration academy, one of two such sessions it holds each summer. She joins 138 students from 30 different communities around the state, to be immersed in a university setting while exploring opportunities in scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical (STEM) fields. “The goal of Acceleration Acade...
With activities for Alaska Bearfest 2017 already underway, running enthusiasts are gearing up for its finale on Sunday. This year’s Bearfest Marathon-1/2-5K will be featuring three separate but concurrently run events, with participants taking on either the five-kilometer (3.1 miles), 13.1-mile or 26.2-mile runs. The start time is at 8 a.m., outside the Nolan Center, but day-of registration opens up at 7 a.m. Becca Rice has been organizing this year’s event, which has been a component of Wrangell’s bear-related celebration for its past eight...
A state seafood industry think tank is seeking value-added products for competitive entry. Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation will be holding its call for product for the 2018 Alaska Symphony of Seafood on October 6. The annual competition searches for new products for Alaskan seafood, hoping to encourage innovation in the multibillion-dollar industry. AFDF executive director Julie Decker explained that when the competition first started a quarter century ago it focused exclusively on salmon, in three different categories. In the years...
Venturing into Southeast waters this summer, Dr. Victor Stime of Spokane, Washington, plotted out a working retirement for himself. "I've been doing dentistry for 31 years," he explained. "I've been planning this for 20 years. It hasn't been too far from my mind for all of those years." He was inspired by Dr. Fred Bache, an Aberdeen, Washington dentist who has been visiting rural Alaskan communities in the Jenny-B since 1969. "We thought we'd maybe get the mantle passed on to us," said Stime....
Wrangell's City and Borough Assembly and the city's public employees union finally reached a settlement over a collective bargaining agreement last week, bringing to a close three years of negotiations. On July 13 Assembly members voted to implement a proposed amendment to the contract terms it had imposed the previous month, which had taken effect at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. The amendment was the product of negotiations between International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers...
The Tongass National Forest supervisor's office announced last week the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) and draft record of decision (ROD) for a prospective timber sale are now available for public review. Put together by United States Forest Service staff over the past decade, the Wrangell Island Project would open up federal forest for largely selective harvest. Five alternative plans were ultimately presented during the course of its design, with the one selected including the...
A full complement of events is being arranged for next week's Bearfest, the eighth held since the festival's inception. It was started in 2010 by Alaska Vistas operator Sylvia Ettefagh, in order to highlight Wrangell's robust bear population. One of the prime places to see the area's brown and black bears together in one place is at Anan Wildlife Observatory, a short jump south of the island on the mainland. Several thousand visitors come to the island each summer in order to visit the Forest...
A new administrator has been hired by Wrangell Cooperative Association, assuming the role last week. Esther Ashton was hired to the position, which had been created in 2015 in order to implement Wrangell Tribal Council’s long-range strategic plans and economic development initiatives, as well as manage its various grants and projects. Ashton has been a Wrangell resident for 13 years, having previously worked for Wachovia Securities in Elizabeth City, North Carolina as a financial advisor and business manager. She has worked for the Tribe s...
Wrangell’s utility users were advised last week to start being more conservative with their water usage, with the city going into the first phase of its emergency response plan. The plant which has treated the city’s municipal water supply for most of the past two decades has in recent years been having trouble keeping up with peak demand, which locally is during the summer. Ongoing problems with the aging facility came to a head last year, with a shortage prompting a declaration of disaster by the mayor in July and emergency conservation measu...
The Nolan Center is giving inquisitive locals someplace quiet to research, with Wrangell Museum staff setting up a station inside its office. Speaking Tuesday, Nolan Center director Terri Henson said the nook is now open to the public. It includes a cozy desk, a laptop computer, bookshelves and filing cabinets. It was set up by museum staff, and makes it easier for people to access their still-expanding digitized collection. "What we did was created a little research center," Henson explained....
Two weeks after the end of a public workers’ strike, a settlement may potentially be reached between the city and its employees. Unionized staff of the City and Borough of Wrangell on Monday voted to approve a package that would amend their current contract, potentially bringing to a close negotiations that have gone on for more than three years. Interim borough manager Carol Rushmore confirmed management at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 had forwarded the wage and benefits proposal, which would amend the contrac...
While Wrangell was preparing for its July 4 festivities last week, 17 miles away a fishing vessel had run aground in Stikine Strait. On the evening of July 3 the grounding of Deceptive C on some rocks was reported to the United States Coast Guard command center in Juneau. Cutter Bailey Barco was dispatched to the scene, confirming the vessel had run aground but reporting no injuries. Minimal sheening from three gallons of oily bilge water was present at the time, and the USCG worked with the...
It’s been a fairly good start to the summer for king salmon fishermen. The first opening of that troll season started on July 1, abruptly ending by emergency order just before midnight on July 4. The order was based on preliminary catch rate and effort data. “It looks like we did take the target harvest,” reported Grant Hagerman, ADFG’s region troll management biologist in Sitka. That target is 63,000 non-Alaska hatchery fish, as laid out by the Pacific Salmon Treaty signed with Canada. A total of approximately 26,000 Chinook and 550 landings h...
