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January 30, 1919 In a letter from The National Red Cross to Wrangell Chapter: “Dear Madam, It is a pleasure to acknowledge the contribution of $1,344.69. The amount will endow two beds for a year in the American Hospital No. 1 at Neuilly, and we have asked our Commissioner to have a placard placed on the beds bearing the inscription, “Donated by the Wrangell, Alaska chapter, American Red Cross,” that those who enjoy the comfort of these beds may be aware of the donors. Though hostilities have ceased there are thousands of American boys sick...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Water levels have receded on Mendenhall Lake in Alaska’s capital city following a glacial dam outburst. National Weather Service Meteorologist Jessica Voveris in Juneau says water levels crested at 10.92 feet late Thursday afternoon. As of 5:15 a.m. Friday, they had dropped to about 7.5 feet. The release of water from a glacially dammed lake this week created flooding concerns for some residents along the Mendenhall River. The lake feeds into the river. Forecasters had thought the crest could end up just below 12 feet but...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Parts of southeast Alaska are experiencing drought conditions following a winter and spring with lackluster snowfall and rain, according to the National Weather Service. Ketchikan received 11.2 inches (28.5 centimeters) of precipitation in October and 7.6 inches (19.3 centimeters) in November, less than half the normal amounts expected for the rainiest months of the year, the Juneau Empire reported Wednesday. “This was the most significant drought in the wet season in Southeast Alaska in 40-plus years,’’ said Aaron Jacobs,...
A pair of Australian kayakers navigated their way to Wrangell over the weekend, part of a three-month excursion down the Pacific Ocean's northeastern coastline. Starting in Glacier Bay National Park a couple of weeks ago and terminating in southern British Columbia, their trip is one with two purposes: to raise funds for marine conservation and to raise awareness about the impact of plastics on the world's oceans. Lucy Graham and Mathilde Gordon come from Cairns, a seaside city in Australia's...
April 4, 1918 The long awaited Alaska draft will come on June 30, or very near to that date, according to word received by the Governor’s office from Provost Marshal General E. H. Crowder. The Alaska selective service men will not go to Camp Lewis for their training, but will, as intimated in The Dispatch several months ago, be trained at Ft. Seward. The telegram from Gen. Crowder reads as follows: “The Secretary of War has directed that Alaska quota will be called to colors about June 30, 1918, and that they will not be sent to the United Sta...
Alaska Crossings is gearing up for its 2018 season, with guide training formally starting last week. The youth-oriented behavioral health program has operated out of Wrangell since its inception, back in 2001. Originally a program of Alaska Island Community Services, Crossings is now under the Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium umbrella since it acquired AICS last year. Designed to help people between the ages of 12 and 18 years, Crossings combines therapeutic interventions with outdoor...
The Forest Service held a public input session with Wrangell residents last week, as it puts together ideas for a 10- to 15-year project to benefit the Wrangell and Petersburg districts of the Tongass National Forest. The Central Tongass Landscape Level Analysis would plan for a major project on a large scale that would increase the number of activities authorized in a single analysis and decision. It reflects a larger effort nationwide to improve the USFS environmental analysis process, and...
The Trump Administration’s $4.4 trillion federal budget for next year takes some mean whacks to programs that affect fisheries. Off the top, the spending plan unveiled on February 12 cuts the budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by 20 percent to $4.6 billion. Among other things, NOAA manages the nation’s fisheries in waters from three to 200 miles offshore, which produce the bulk of Alaska’s seafood landings. It’s the cuts within the cuts that reveal the most. NOAA Fisheries is facing a $110.4 million drop to $8...
Wrangell residents were among those in communities ringing the Gulf of Alaska who were alerted to a tsunami warning just after midnight Tuesday, following reports of an 8.2 magnitude earthquake occurring 175 miles offshore from Kodiak city. Issued at 12:35 a.m. local time, the Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer had forecast tsunami activity after registering the quake, which had occurred at a depth of 12 miles. Part of the National Weather Service, the center projected the rippling effect to...
10 was a cooler, wetter year than usual for Southeast Alaska, according to National Weather Service data. Looking back on the weather for 2017, Juneau meteorologist Rick Fritsch summed things up on Tuesday with his annual climatological report. The year began on a blustery note, with high wind warnings issued five times during the month of January. Though the month had started at or below average temperatures, by its end a warm spell presaged a return of rainfall to the region. This carried into February and the climatological end of winter,...
A final decision on the Wrangell Island timber sale is expected out next week, wrapping up years of deliberation and planning. Citing objections to the economics and ecological impacts of its preferred plan, the United States Forest Service has indicated it will be reducing total harvest for the proposed sale on Wrangell Island to around 428 acres, or 5- to 7-million board feet (mmbf) of timber. These would be sold piecemeal over the course of several years. Of five alternatives put forward, Alternative 2 had proposed around 55.8 mmbf...
Alaska aims to get in on the growing popularity of Home Meal kits that will deliver seafood directly to American kitchens. The kits typically offer a subscription based service where customers order weekly meals based on how many people they plan to feed and their food preferences. The kits include portioned, high quality ingredients with foolproof cooking instructions and can be delivered within hours or overnight to nearly all locations. Many grocery stores also are providing in-store options that don’t involve delivery. The kits typically c...
Boats and trailers lined the launch ramps, residents thronged the beaches, plastic ducks bobbed in Twin Lakes, and Juneau basked under the sun on a record-breaking weekend. The capital city has had a full week of temperatures at or above 70 degrees, and the weekend brought the warmest days of the year so far. Saturday’s high temperature of 81 degrees beat the old record of 80, set in 2009, and is the hottest day of the year to date. Sunday’s high was 78, beating the 1999 record of 75. Those temperatures were recorded at the airport, Jun...
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...
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...
May 10, 1917: At the repeated requests of numerous friends who have been entertained again and again with Mrs. Burnet’s reading she has consented to give a whole evening of entertainment at the Redmen’s Hall May 17. Her entertainment should be considered one of the events of the year. The entertainment will be under the auspices and for the benefit of the Red Cross. The Red Cross needs money, more money, most money. There are field hospitals to be equipped, hospital ships to be furnished, and it must all be done quickly. May 8, 1942: Com...
Wrapping up the spring Chautauqua season at the Nolan Center this year, a Wrangell school senior presented the findings by her classmates and herself mapping the movements of Shakes Glacier. Located about 30 miles northeast of Wrangell up the Stikine River, the glacier is an oft-visited site by residents and visitors touring the river system. Its meltoff feeding into Shakes Lake, the glacier is part of the wider Stikine Ice Field, of which LeConte Glacier is included. Reyn Hutten this year was...
The Department of Fish and Game announced late last week its opening for the directed lingcod fishery will be starting next month. For the outside waters of Southeast District, east of 144° W., the fishery opens May 16 just after midnight. Lingcod management areas will remain open to directed lingcod fishing until November 30 or when harvest allocations are taken, whichever occurs first. In round pounds, the largest allocation will be for the East Yakutat section between 137° and 140° W., at 11...
The required permits are not yet in hand, but the U.S. Navy is moving full steam ahead on its plans to conduct war training exercises in the Gulf of Alaska for two weeks in early May. Meanwhile, nine coastal communities have so far signed resolutions asking the Navy to instead conduct its training between September and mid-March, times that are less sensitive to migrating salmon, birds and marine mammals. Several more communities have indicated they will do the same by month's end. "It's not tha...
Massive cuts could be in store for the agencies and people who provide the science and stewardship to preserve and protect our planet. The budget proposed by Donald Trump that starts in October puts on the chopping block the agencies and staff in charge of fisheries research and management, weather forecasting, satellite data tracking and the U.S. Coast Guard. Trump called the cuts a tradeoff to “prioritize rebuilding the military” and to help fund the border wall with Mexico. The Washington Post broke down a White House memo to the Office of...
Contractors measure a window needing replacement at a Lynch Street storefront, after high winds dislodged a hanging sign between Monday night and early Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service out of Juneau reported gusts neared but had not topped 60 miles per hour during the wind storm, which was accompanied by a fair amount of rain. The low pressure system hit the Panhandle's islands over the weekend, and temperatures actually warmed Wrangell thermometers through Monday evening, hitting...
For Wrangell, the past year was one mixed with successes and setbacks, shared tragedies and uplifting moments. Sales taxes collected over the spring and summer tour seasons neared all-time highs, with the visitor industry experiencing a good season overall. On the other end, fishermen experienced one of their worst harvests of the summer, which after a disappointing 2015 season has put the fiscal pinch on a number of local families, boat builders, and associated sectors. As 2017 dawns, concerns...
Temperatures in Southeast Alaska were for many communities the warmest on record, according to weather data collected by the National Weather Service. Maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NWS data showed records were broken for Juneau, Petersburg, Annette and Haines, while Ketchikan had its second-warmest year on record. In Petersburg, the average temperature for the year was 46.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 2.9 degrees higher than normal. Its previous warmest year was in 2015, when the average temperature was...
A number of Petersburg and Wrangell residents have been receiving letters from the state, informing them their float houses anchored along the Stikine River need to be permitted or moved. Since the late 1970s, the placement of float houses and temporary cabins along the river have made it convenient for locals making use of the river basin, be it for subsistence fishing, hunting, trapping, work or recreational purposes. While a number are there on a seasonal basis, this year some 18 have been...
