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Second and third budget workshops this month were held Monday and Tuesday night as the city moves closer to a final budget draft for the coming year. A fourth workshop has been scheduled for this evening, to deal with the Wrangell Public Schools budget. Afterward a public hearing of a draft completed budget is anticipated next Tuesday evening during the Wrangell Assembly's regular 7 p.m. meeting. During Monday's session, assembly members and city staff contemplated its revenue outlook for the...
The steering committee for an upcoming mariners’ memorial will be holding its first spring fundraiser this weekend. Taking advantage of the warmer weather, an outdoor fish fry event has been scheduled for 5 p.m. this Sunday at Heritage Harbor. The meal will also feature a silent auction for a number of submitted items. A monument dedicated to Wrangell’s seafaring traditions and its community members lost at sea has been a goal for a decade and a half. After financing designs for a memorial at Heritage Harbor, by early 2017 the Port Commission e...
At a public presentation at the Nolan Center on Monday, staff with the Department of Environmental Conservation and its contractors updated Wrangell on the status of a proposed monofill site on the island. A designated monofill to house around 18,500 cubic yards of contaminated earth from the former Byford junkyard is planned to be sited at a state-owned rock pit. Accessible by Forest Service roads along Pats Creek, the project’s nearness to the popular fishing stream has been a point of c...
In a draft plan outlining action on borough-wide nuisance abatement, Wrangell manager Lisa Von Bargen advised a cautious approach to the City and Borough Assembly. Since last September assembly members have had tidying up the stacked junk and discarded vehicles around the island in their sights. Municipal ordinance proscribes such eyesores, whether on public lands or private property, and enforcement was something members wanted to see done. Meanwhile, letters were issued to around 20 residents who were out of compliance, while the city waste...
As the city tries to contend with junk vehicles and collected waste (see Assembly story), other efforts to clean up Wrangell’s act have been underway. In April annual community-wide cleanup of parks and roadsides were undertaken by volunteers for Wrangell Pride, while running group Southeast Beasts encouraged people to collect and dispose of litter throughout the month while footing about the island. Some problems are greater than just the odd can or bottle. Surrounded by wilderness, out of convenience or simple habit some residents have t...
A regional nonprofit will be conducting a survey of Wrangell’s watersheds this summer in an attempt to encourage wetlands conservation. Angie Flickinger is the Wrangell area coordinator for Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, a regional consortium of community organizations interested in managing watersheds and resources. What the group would like to do is inspect streams, culverts and other aquatic habitats and identify opportunities for their improvement or restoration. Under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, wetlands and watersheds a...
Construction of a designated monofill site to store treated soil from a contaminated site cleanup will begin next week, after nine months’ delay. To be interred at a state-owned rock pit off Pats Creek Road, the site will house around 18,500 cubic yards of earth pulled from the former Byford junkyard property along Zimovia Highway’s 4-Mile stretch. During 2016 the Department of Environmental Conservation led efforts to remediate the disused junkyard, which had extensive contamination after decades of battery and junk vehicle storage. The sca...
Wrangell high schoolers participating in this year's Close Up trip to Washington D.C. and New York City returned on Monday, after spending more than a week on the East Coast. Taking off on the evening of April 21, nine students traveled with advisor Sarah Merritt to the nation's capital. The intent of the Close Up program is to educate young Americans on their political system, informing them of their rights and civic responsibilities in the process. As with previous years, the trip is...
The city is inching toward a planned purge of the island’s abandoned vehicles and assorted clutter. The unsightly problem has been a longstanding issue in public parking spaces such as at Shoemaker Bay Harbor, with unroadworthy vehicles left there to the elements. But under municipal code junk vehicles on private property are also not allowed, and the rule extends to other collections on display deemed to be a “nuisance” by authorities. This means disused vehicles like cars and boats, rusting piles of scrap or broken equipment, and other items...
At last week's 21st annual Stikine River Birding Festival, increasing public involvement in conservation efforts was a strong theme. The festival's focus always centers around the diverse bird species found around Wrangell and the Stikine River, highlighting different ways for residents and visitors alike to understand and enjoy them. From birdwatching to outdoor photography, using them thematic in the arts or enticing birds to backyards with self-built houses and feeders, the birding festival...
Three athletes from Wrangell Swim Club competed with 450 other swimmers from around the state last weekend, participating at the Alaska Junior Olympics in Anchorage. Coach Jamie Roberts reported it was the second time Nikolai Siekawitch and siblings Jack and Renee Roberts have participated at the event, among the state's premier annual swimming competitions. "All three swimmers had great races, got to see old friends and make a few new ones, spent time with family, and had some fun adventures in...
The Federal Subsistence Board announced on Monday it will be closing its Chinook salmon subsistence fishery in the Stikine River this year due to low expected returns. Under the authority delegated him by the board, Ranger Bob Dalrymple of Wrangell's Forest Service district made the decision to close down the fishery. Preseason forecasts made by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game informed the decision, with 6,900 king salmon greater than 28 inches in length expected to return. Management...
Next week the Wrangell Assembly is scheduled to parse over its line items and budget figures for the coming fiscal year. Bound drafts were handed out to members at their Tuesday evening meeting, to digest before a pair of sessions set for May 1 and 2. As it stands now, the biggest change to come from the upcoming budget effective July 1 will be consolidation of maintenance and facilities services under a new capital facilities department. Separated from Public Works, the new department would also manage major projects and grant implementation....
A five-kilometer run will be held later next month to benefit participants in this year's Special Olympics. Special Olympics Alaska is a state chapter of the wider program that provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympian sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Its calendar centers around two main tournaments, the Winter Olympics in March and the Summer games in June. The organization also holds a fall tournament in September and a...
A directory aimed at assisting the community’s seniors has recently been put out by Hospice of Wrangell. Finished last month, the 2018 Wrangell Senior Resource Directory identifies various support services that could be of use to members of that demographic, running a full gamut of state, tribal, federal, municipal and private programming. The 32-page guide is exhaustive, covering subjects from emergency and safety to adult education, financial services, housing assistance, medical cost resources, nutritional aid, ecumenical counseling and l...
There's a new face behind the big desk at Wrangell Senior Center. Leeann Martin took over management at the local center on March 19, having previously worked IT for the school system. Originally from the Seattle area, Martin has lived and worked in Wrangell for five years. "It was mostly because I can use more of my skills in one place," she said of the recent transition. A certified nutritionist with a background in healthcare, Martin's duties at the center include handling its paperwork and...
Wrangell Public School District learned last week its secondary school principal, Bill Schwan, will be departing after the current academic year ends. His departure is the latest among the district’s top administrators. At Evergreen Elementary, school principal Gail Taylor tendered notice in January. She took off for Oklahoma earlier than expected, departing this week on Tuesday. Faculty member Therese Pempek will helm the school through the year’s end. After a search for Taylor’s replacement, the district announced it will be hiring Virgi...
Wrangell was last week granted a special economic designation by the state along with 24 other Alaskan communities. The Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development named the community as one of its new "opportunity zones," part of a federal program designed to drive long-term capital investment to economically distressed communities. According to the federal Treasury Department, Alaska has 60 low-income communities eligible for the designation. With the creation of the Opportunity...
The City and Borough Assembly met with a delegation of the state’s project leads and contractors associated with the former Byford yard cleanup. The purpose of the session was for the Department of Environmental Conservation to update the council about the ongoing project, the first phase of which had been completed in 2016. Sixty containers of the most heavily contaminated soil and debris – plus two containers of lead battery plates – were shipped off-island for disposal. Around 18,300 cubic...
A work session on the Byford monofill between the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and City and Borough of Wrangell has been scheduled for next week. Around 18,500 cubic yards of treated, lead-contaminated soil is slated to be interred in a designated monofill as the second stage of site reclamation for a former privately-run junkyard along Zimovia Highway. The former Byford yard had passed to the City of Wrangell through foreclosure in 2009. Already on the Environmental Protection Agency’s radar as a contaminated site, after pla...
Wrangell's emergency services were the recipients of the first-ever grant from the Walker Foundation, a benevolent fund established after the acquisition of Alaska Island Community Services last year by Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium. Governed by an appointed board, the Foundation supports activities that promote health and the welfare of the Wrangell community. "It's on a project by project basis. We currently have about $3.75M," explained Mark Walker, formerly CEO for AICS and...
Wrangell Cooperative Association began work on renovating new office space last week. Workers began knocking down walls and pulling up old materials from a multiplex apartment at the corner of Wood Street and Zimovia Highway last Tuesday. Sale of the two-acre lot had been finalized in December 2016, and architects have since designed what will be about 2,500 square feet of office space for the Wrangell tribe. President Richard Oliver of the WCA Council explained offices will be provided for the...
Wrangell’s annual birding festival is gearing up for a week of activities late next week. This year’s Stikine River Birding Festival will be the 21st, put on cooperatively each year by Wrangell’s Convention and Visitor Bureau and the United States Forest Service. Highlighting birding opportunities on the Stikine River, the event also encourages wildlife conservation and is an opportunity to hone new skills. “This year we’ve brought back more of the art and photo aspects of the festival,” said Corree Delabrue, an interpreter with the USFS Wr...
Sen. Dan Sullivan stopped into Wrangell for a lightning tour Friday, arriving on the morning jet and taking off that afternoon for Ketchikan. His visit to Wrangell was the first since being sworn in, making the community one of his campaign stops in October 2014 while running on the Republican ticket. On a brief break in the session, he had earlier in the week attended training for the Marine Corps Reserves before heading back to Southeast. "I really just wanted to get back to the community and...
The presses were on hold early Wednesday morning as Wrangell Public School District announced its decision regarding the next superintendent. The WPSD Board has selected candidate Debbe Lancaster for the position, who will begin July 1. The board arrived at its decision after a series of interviews and consultation with a selection committee. That committee, representing district staff, a parent and student, also had the opportunity to meet and interview the candidates. Lancaster has reportedly accepted the district’s offer, agreeing to a t...