Sorted by date Results 903 - 927 of 1297
Earlier this month the United States Forest Service finalized a sizable timber sale on Etolin Island. The Tongass National Forest's Navy timber sale will make available for commercial harvest 13.1 million board feet of sawlog and utility timber. The lands involved in the sale encompass 1,252 acres. "The project area used to be quite a bit larger," explained Austin O'Brien, timber staff officer for Wrangell Ranger District. Initiated nearly a decade ago, the sale was named for Navy Lake, to... Full story
The cruise ship Regatta's departure Tuesday evening marked the start of the end for Wrangell's tourist 2015 season. "I think it was a great season," said Cyni Waddington, with the Chamber of Commerce. "I feel we had just the right amount of cruise ships." The summer's high point came during Wrangell's annual July 4 celebrations, which benefitted from clear weather during an otherwise unusually rainy month. "It was probably one of the most well-attended," Waddington said. "I was happy with the...
Two of the three men presumed killed by landslides in Sitka on Aug. 18 had been located by Tuesday, as the search for a third continued. Six landslides and a sinkhole occurred in and around the Southeast Alaska community after it received heavy, sustained rains. The fatal slide struck the Kramer Avenue neighborhood, northwest of town. Search efforts were initially hampered by continued bad weather and safety concerns due to still-unstable terrain. Sitka Police Department confirmed the bodies of brothers Elmer and Ulises Diaz had both been...
Meeting in a special session Aug. 12, a full City and Borough Assembly unanimously approved setting aside $500,000 in funds for the Wrangell Medical Center. Interim CEO Marla Sanger approached the Assembly last month seeking permission to obtain a line of credit for that amount from a bank. While appreciative of the hospital’s concerns, Assembly members had not favored the idea of approving such a line through a private bank due to concerns about interest and accountability. Instead, they offered to provide a reserve from money in the G... Full story
At its regular monthly meeting Aug. 13, Wrangell’s Planning and Zoning Commission continued its evaluation of entitlement properties held near Thoms Place. The territory is part of 9,006 acres transferred to Wrangell in April by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. In addition to Thoms Place, these include parcels at St. Johns Harbor, Mill Creek, Olive Cove, Crittenden Creek, Earl West, and Sunny Bay, as well as other areas on Wrangell Island. Different options exist for how best to z... Full story
Wrangell's teachers, parents and students are schools are gearing up for a new year, with registration currently ongoing. While some programs have already started up, classes will begin on Aug 27. A number of changes will greet students when they walk through those doors, some more noticeable than others. Mondays will be a bit shorter for starters, at least for students. School will let out at 2 p.m. once a week to allow teachers time to develop "professional learning communities," which are... Full story
Whatever one might say about the year’s fishing harvests, it wouldn’t be fair to say the Southeast purse seining fleet is in the pink. The state forecast for 2015 anticipated a 58 million pink salmon harvest for Southeast, but so far harvests have not been living up to the expectation. “We are not even coming close,” explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. With the season already in its ninth week, only 22 million pink salmon have been reported harvested by seiners so far,...
After a rainy summer punctuated by four cancelled tournaments, Muskeg Meadows Golf Club decided to end its season early. Following the Sea Level Seafoods tournament last weekend, the course is now closed to regular play for the year. Course Manager Laurie Overbay Burrows said this season has been slower than most, following one of the wettest Julys on record for Southeast Alaska. Wrangell absorbed 9.81 inches over the month, with two-thirds of its days experiencing some precipitation. Muskeg...
As Alaska moves into its end-of-summer rain pattern, wildland fire activity across the state has moderated. But in the Lower 48, the fire season remains in full swing, with the National Preparedness Level moved to five, the highest level of planning and organizing of resources, in reaction to increasing fire danger. In a media release, the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) reported five Type-2 emergency firefighting crews departed last week from the base on Ladd Army Airfield at Fort Wainwright. Coming from Chevak, Fort...
Staff working for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski stopped into Wrangell on Aug. 14, during a string of visits this month to communities in Southeast. Setting up a mobile office outside the post office, Phillip Dodd and Ben Cotter caught up with constituents during the Friday lunch rush. “We do it every year, in different communities,” Cotter explained. “It’s kind of a good way to reach out.” The pair staffed one of several mobile offices deployed by Alaska’s congressional delegation this month, whil...
Test results for shellfish compiled by the local Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) office have been released. Working locally in partnership with Wrangell Cooperative Association, IGAP's primary mission is to undertake projects focused on addressing environmental and quality of life problems. On April 20, IGAP staff and volunteers collected littleneck and butterneck clams, cockles, horse clams and other commonly-consumed shellfish from three beach locations along Zimovia...
Area golfers teed off for cancer treatment last weekend, during Wrangell Medical Center's tenth annual Rally For Cancer Care Tournament at Muskeg Meadows. The yearly tournaments raise funds for the WMC Foundation's cancer care program, which assists patients with travel and lodging expenses as they seek treatment for various forms of cancer. Fifty-nine women took part in Saturday's tournament, which featured noncompetitive, fun challenges on the course. Twenty-one of the participants came from... Full story
Wrangell's former head librarian recently received an appointment by Gov. Bill Walker to sit on his Advisory Council on Libraries. Kay Jabusch will serve on the 12-person council through the end of 2016. She will help coordinate the state's five-year plan to implement the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) slated to take effect after the current one expires in 2017. The LSTA provides over $150 million to state systems across the nation, with Alaska State Libraries receiving $2.4 million... Full story
The Wrangell Medical Center Board last week announced it had narrowed the field for the hospital’s future executive officer from ten candidates to three. After meeting Wednesday morning, board members wanted to see more of Jeffery Lyle, Aaron McPherson and Robert Rang. Coming from Belton, Texas, and Kodiak, Alaska, respectively, Lyle and Rang will be brought to Wrangell for site visits next week, from Tuesday through Friday. Along with Wrangell resident McPherson, they will meet with hospital staff, Alaska Island Community Services p... Full story
Wrangell’s Port Commission decided it didn’t “have a dog in the fight” over a tidelands purchase proposal submitted to it for review. Meeting Thursday, it had to consider an application by BW Enterprises to purchase 6,240 square feet of city tidelands adjacent to its property near the state ferry terminal. With tidelands purchase proposals, both the Port and Planning and Zoning commissions have the opportunity to make assessments and forward their recommendations to the Assembly, which has ultimate say in such matters. Speaking at the meeting...
A region-wide campaign is kicking off, so to speak, with opponents of British Columbia mining projects collecting as many pairs of Alaska’s ubiquitous rubber boots as it can. Once assembled, the mountain of footwear will be deposited on Gov. Bill Walker’s lawn later this month. Collection locations have been set up in Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau, and in Wrangell donation boxes have been set up at Marine Artist Brenda Schwartz-Yeager’s shop and other local stores. The campaign is being driven by Inside Passage Waterkeeper, a Juneau-based affil...
If you've ever recycled a can in Wrangell, you probably have the Lions Club to thank. Since July 2014, the club has collected four full van-loads of the stuff. Since 1968, the local chapter has been doing good in the community, supporting projects ranging from childhood eyecare to the annual Gold Medal basketball tournament held each March. A steady source of its fundraising comes from collecting discarded aluminum, which gets redeemed for cash when turned in for recycling. "It doesn't have to b...
The City and Borough of Wrangell is taking applications for this year’s borough-wide regular election, set for Oct. 6. Up for contest this year are two 3-year seats on the Assembly, currently held by Daniel Blake and Julie Decker. The two three-year Port Commission seats of John Martin and Clay Hammer will expire in October, as will the four-year terms of Dorothy Hunt-Sweat and Woody Wilson on the Wrangell Medical Center Board. Tammy Groshong’s three-year seat on the School Board expires in October, and there will be two other vacant sea...
Anan Wildlife Observatory is apparently the place to be in Wrangell, according to a recent survey. A study commissioned in June and released earlier this month by the Wrangell Convention and Visitors Bureau found Anan to be the city's most popular visitor destination. Travelers migrate to the area each year from early July to late August to view Anan's bears, which themselves have arrived to take advantage of what is Southeast Alaska's largest pink salmon spawning event. According to United...
As several major mining projects continue to develop upstream of the Stikine River, Wrangell's Native community formally observed the first anniversary of the tailings dam failure at Mount Polley mine on Sunday afternoon. A water blessing ceremony was held outside of the Chief Shakes Island tribal house, with those in attendance including members of the Tlingit and Haida tribes, a delegation of First Nations activists from Canada, and other concerned community members. The visitors included... Full story
Various members of the Wrangell community were invited to the high school library Monday afternoon to meet with technical preparation program staff for the University of Alaska Southeast. Earlier in the summer the program’s regional coordinator, Kim Szczatko, set up a permanent office at Wrangell High School, which will expand its scope in Wrangell and other island communities. Presenting with her was the associate dean for UAS Career Education Programs, Pete Traxler. The tech prep program is a partnership program between UAS and local s... Full story
Deer hunting season began for Alaska residents and nonresidents in much of the Unit 3 management area last Saturday, lasting through Nov. 30. Bow hunting on Mitkof Island and the Petersburg Management Area, hunting on the remainder of the Mitkof, Woewodski and Butterworth islands, and residential hunting on the Lindenberg Peninsula portion of Kupreanof Island all begin on Oct. 15, and are subject to other limitations. Outlooks for this year’s season for Sitka black-tailed deer are much the same as last year, with smaller harvests expected t... Full story
Members of the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly were given some positive news about the community’s visitor industry at its meeting July 28, as the Convention and Visitors Bureau presented results of a recently-completed study of that economic sector. Representing the CVB, Brenda Schwartz-Yeager delivered a short presentation on the data compiled by Rain Coast Data, an analytic firm in Juneau which has run similar assessments for Wrangell and Southeast Conference. “It’s kind of a snapshot of our visitor industry,” she explained. The study f...
A special meeting will be held on Aug. 12 to allow the public to discuss and review a proposed ordinance relating to the new property tax payment due date. In May the Wrangell Assembly passed an ordinance amending the Municipal Code to establish a single due date for payment of property taxes to Sept. 15, rather than dividing it between two dates. Under the ordinance, interest on late payments was set to 10 percent annually. Mayor David Jack requested the Assembly revisit the matter at its meeting Tuesday, after some residents expressed... Full story
The jury in the trial of Greg Salard found the former family physician guilty of two child pornography charges, for receipt and distribution. A lesser, third count was not deliberated by jurors. Judge Anthony Burgess presided over the proceedings, which lasted seven days. Jury selection began last week, and the trial included five days of testimony. Prosecutors finally rested their case on Monday, after the court heard from a federal investigator, arresting officers and a computer specialist. Evidence shown during the trial included screenshots... Full story
