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Wrangell's 64th Annual King Salmon Derby wound to a close on Sunday, with the winning fish snagged only two days before. Fishing with her family near Found Island on Friday, Malia McIntyre reeled in a 46.7 pound Chinook. Her catch not only wins her the $6,000 grand prize, but also the $500 weekly prize and $350 silver bracelet, awarded to the woman with the largest entered fish. She will join other prize winners tonight at the Nolan Center to collect their awards. The Wrangell Chamber of...
A new collection of masks and art pieces were put on display inside the Nolan Center lobby on Saturday. Created by award winning artist Eleanor Carlisle, the collection is the latest the center has displayed in an effort to showcase the work of local artists. "We're still always looking for more artwork," Nolan director Terri Henson said. Anyone interested in showcasing their work or a collection of locally significant art can contact her at the museum office....
A consultancy returned with its draft findings for a feasibility study of developing Wrangell’s former mill site. A public presentation was given at the Nolan Center yesterday evening, following up on one given on Feb. 17. Washington-based firm Maul Foster & Alongi has spent the past several months assessing the Silver Bay Logging Company mill site at 6-Mile Zimovia Highway, a 110-acre property which the City and Borough of Wrangell has expressed interest in acquiring for future industrial development. “Overall it went positively,” said Micha...
Nearly $30,000 was raised by the hospital's foundation dinner and golf tournament on May 28. After covering costs, proceeds from the Wrangell Medical Center Foundation's annual fundraiser will go toward its cancer care and scholarship fund. "We did better than last year on the auction," explained WMC's development coordinator Kris Reed. At the Nolan Center on Saturday evening, auctioneer Steven Talbot led the proceedings, which included both a silent and live component. Guests bid on a number...
On May 12 the Planning and Zoning Commission presided over a lengthy workshop and meeting meant to iron out which cannabis-related businesses would be appropriate for nonresidential zones in Wrangell. In particular, commissioners looked at the community's only such business being proposed, a mainly retail shop with small-scale cultivation and manufacturing capabilities to be opened in the old hotel behind the Diamond C Cafe. Restaurateur Kelsey Martinsen is already going through the state...
Community members were given a first peek at the budget being proposed for the next fiscal year, in the first of several planned workshops held on Monday. “This is a draft budget. It's certainly the starting point,” Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch pointed out. “The budget here is balanced up to this point,” finance director Lee Burgess summarized, presenting the draft. While the budget draft presented Monday is currently balanced, Burgess pointed out there are still several looming concerns. Rent revenues from the state for use of the local j...
Representatives of Alaskan, Canadian, tribal and local agencies all gathered together in Wrangell on Tuesday to pay tribute to two members of the North West Mounted Police who had died during a storm more than a century ago. Constable Spence Heathcote and Constable Norman Campbell had both drowned while crossing by boat from the Stikine River to Wrangell Island in late December 1901. Though acknowledged as having died in service to their country, it was not until 2006 that Royal Canadian...
Last weekend's 19th Annual Stikine River Birding Festival proceeded despite unhelpful weather conditions, with heavy rains and whipping winds keeping most of Wrangell's feathered denizens and their admirers close to home. Three events planned for the festival ended up being cancelled as a result, including a morning breakfast and bird walk on April 30, and a special songbird banding demonstration scheduled for Sunday. Forest Service interpreter Corree Delabrue explained the weather made...
It was a full ballroom in the Nolan Center Friday for the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce's 26th Annual Fundraising Dinner. The theme for this year was "Good as Gold," highlighting the partnership the Chamber has with its community members. "It just stuck in my mind that Wrangell really needs to be proud of itself," explained Tracy Churchill, who had chaired the evening's planning committee. Despite its economic downturn following the closure of its mills, she said the community had made some wise...
The Nolan Center was the site of a four-day workshop on tribal transportation last week, held collaboratively by the Alaska Tribal Technical Assistance Program Center (AKTTAP) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The Transportation office of Wrangell Cooperative Association (WCAT) hosted the event, which drew state, federal, tribal and municipal personnel. "Each of them presented a different opportunity for collaborative work," said Bill Willard, WCAT manager. Held previously in Juneau...
The community’s dialogue on how it wants to proceed with regulated cannabis continued on April 14, with a public workshop held before the monthly Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. While members of the public were invited to attend and provide input, the commissioners themselves were encouraged to start deciding what they want to see from the nascent industry. Adopted by ballot initiative during the 2014 elections, Alaska’s marijuana legalization process began taking effect in February. Licenses to sell, cultivate, test and man...
Results from last summer's citizen science bat tracking program were presented at the Nolan Center on Monday. Since 2004 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) has been tracking the region's bat population. One component of this research has been the trapping and radiotagging of little brown bats, one of the state's seven identified species. The department also makes use of year-round acoustic monitoring stations and has begun to enlist volunteers to use acoustic driving transects. This...
The Nolan Center and Wrangell Ranger District wrapped up its Chautauqua season last week, a recurring talking circuit they have cosponsored for 11 years. Community members are invited to spend an hour sharing a valued hobby or favorite subject with their neighbors, blending education with entertainment. Speaking on March 31, Bonnie Demerjian laid out the history of local rock art, which includes paintings and petroglyphs. Having published a book on the subject last year, “Rock Art of Southeast Alaska,” she began with an overview of the art...
Wrangell will temporarily be without a residential nurse at its Public Health Center for the foreseeable future. Public health nurse Ty Esposito retired from her position last week, departing from Wrangell on March 22. In the interim, nurse manager Sue Bergmann from the Ketchikan PHC will be making visits a couple times each month. “Wrangell will be covered through Ketchikan as of right now,” Bergmann confirmed. Appointments can be scheduled in advance through either the Wrangell or Ketchikan offices, for testing, immunization or family plannin...
Visitors to the Wrangell Museum this year will have the chance to see its exhibits in a new light, after some 200 of the old four-foot fluorescent tubes were uninstalled and replaced with LED bulbs. One aspect of the replacement is efficiency, with the new bulbs lasting longer and consuming only a fraction of the power a traditional bulb does. Each bulb is expected to have 50,000 hours of life, or almost six years of continuous use. Aesthetically, the light shines brighter as well with a...
Wrangell Medical Center’s board of directors will be seeking some organizational changes. At its March 16 meeting the board moved to recommend that the Borough Assembly reduce its size from nine members to seven when terms end in October. Hospital head Robert Rang noted the board’s size was traditionally seven, and pointed out there have been challenges finding a quorum for meetings. The board has also had difficulty in filling out its positions, with an unexpired term currently open for appointment. Board treasurer Barb Conine opined it did...
Use of Wrangell's former Institute property continues to take shape after a pair of town meetings last week. Acquired by the city in 1995, the 134-acre property has potential for residential development, and the city last year commissioned a team of architects, statisticians and engineers to begin looking into a master plan. The public meetings on Feb. 29 and March 2 were the first step in that process, "I think they went really well," economic director Carol Rushmore said of the sessions. "Ther...
With a lot to learn about the state’s new marijuana regulations, residents met at the Nolan Center on Tuesday to hear what some of these entail from Cynthia Franklin, director of the Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office (AMCO). Because of a travel freeze at the state level, the city covered the costs for Franklin to come down. “I figured it would be good to have the person who knows the most to come down and explain it,” explained City Clerk Kim Lane, who invited her. Wrangell’s council had not formally formed a committee to approach the new leg...
Continuing the next step in its development of the former Wrangell Institute property, the city brought up the master plan design team for a series of town meetings this week. Originally built by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1932 as a boarding school, by 1978 the site was only intermittently used. The property was transferred to the City of Wrangell in 1995. The majority of the 134-acre property is undeveloped, forested wetlands, with potential for future residential use. The Borough Assembly...
The Borough Assembly received a disappointing update that plans to pave Evergreen Road this year have been delayed until at least 2017. The news came while the Assembly considered a proposal to amend the design contract for Wood Street improvements, which was previously expected to be bid ahead of the Alaska Department of Transportation’s Evergreen project. The city had hoped for efficiencies in equipment costs by having both projects undertaken at around the same time. First expected complete in 2013, the Evergreen paving project would r...
For the next month and a half the United States Forest Service is coordinating with the Nolan Center to put on their annual community Chautauqua presentations. Named after the town in New York where the practice originated, the Chautauqua harkens back to a brand of entertainment widely popular in rural America through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. How the Chautauqua is presented can vary, but generally it emphasizes community building through education and entertainment. The Wrangell Ranger District and museum have sponsored theirs...
Between Midnight Madness in December and the King Salmon Derby in April, Wrangell's annual Tent City Days celebration gives residents a reason to shake away the winter blues and have a little fun on the town. Put on by volunteers and area businesses, the four-day series of events will try to feature activities fit for kids and adults alike. The celebration kicks off tonight at the Elks Lodge with its second-ever chowder cook off, starting at 5 p.m. Whether corn, crab, clam or something else...
Wrangell residents gave their input about what they would like to see happen to the former Silver Bay Logging Company mill site, which the City and Borough is interested in acquiring and eventually developing for maritime and industrial use. One of the borough's first steps was to initiate a feasibility study of the 110-acre site, with a bid going to Maul Foster & Alongi of Bellingham, Wash. The bid was approved by the Borough Assembly in early November, funded through a $90,000 Department of Co...
