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The port commission has recommended to the borough assembly approval of an ordinance that would require owners who moor their vessels at a reserved spot in Wrangell harbors to either provide proof of marine insurance or pay a monthly surcharge on their moorage fee. Officials have been considering since 2022 adding the new requirement to municipal code to help shield the borough from the cost of raising and disposing of boats that sink in the harbors. “The cost of recovering sunken vessels has significantly increased, and the community can no l...
Installation of security cameras at eight port and harbor sites has started. “Chatham just showed up today,” Harbormaster Steve Miller said on Jan. 2, referring to Juneau-based Chatham Electric, which has a $495,000 borough contract for the work. “We did all the site inspections for the camera locations. … We’ll be working on it, and we should be done by the end of March,” Miller said. Originally intended to be installed in late summer through fall of 2023, Miller said he was unsure of the reason for the postponement, although he believes it...
Otto Heinz Florschutz III, 65, a nearly 40-year resident of Wrangell, departed mortality on Nov. 20, 2023. A private service will be held for the family, with a public memorial to be announced at a later date. Otto was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on April 4, 1958. He graduated from Washington High School in North Carolina before attending Beaufort County Community College in North Carolina to become a machinist - work that he continued to enjoy throughout his life. Bitten by wanderlust, Otto...
A petition is being circulated, asking the state ferry system to change the name of the LeConte, the latest in a series of efforts around the country to strip the names of people who enslaved others from public spaces. The change.org petition, posted Nov. 12 by Petersburg resident Terrence Daignault, asks the Alaska Marine Highway System to add the topic to an upcoming meeting agenda. “Joseph LeConte was a slave-owning Georgian who believed in racial superiority,” the petition states. “He never once stepped foot in the state of Alaska and d...
I want to share my thoughts about the development of Wrangell’s waterfront properties. My opinions are based on the unique experience our family has enjoyed from residing in many Southeast communities. Raised and schooled in Ketchikan, serving in the U.S. Coast Guard in Sitka, banking and serving in my first elective office on the school board in Wrangell and living in Juneau as commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development and then later as governor have given us a terrific opportunity to see change throughout Southeast. F...
The borough assembly approved a $880,294 contract with Juneau-based Global Diving and Salvage to install corrosion-inhibiting anodes at Heritage Harbor and in two locations at the Marine Service Center. The project is funded through Port and Harbors reserves. Last March, the Port and Harbors Department discovered that anodes were never attached to the steel pilings at Heritage Harbor when it was completed in 2009. Anodes are pieces of oxidizing metal that prevent underwater corrosion — including them is the industry standard at harbors. The d...
As the downtown barge ramp nears the end of its useful life, the borough is weighing its options for replacing and possibly relocating this piece of critical infrastructure. Assembly members and borough staff discussed replacing the ramp in its present location or moving it to 6-Mile or the Marine Service Center. Alternative locations for the ramp could free up the downtown area for tourism development but might also inconvenience the shipping companies that prefer to deliver their freight directly to downtown businesses. The ramp’s life e...
Alaska has gotten more money per capita from the federal infrastructure law passed in 2021 than any other state, according to participants at a news conference where the latest injection of funds for the state was announced. Alaska’s member of the U.S. House, Rep. Mary Peltola, and officials from the Biden administration used the event at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage to announce awards totaling $100 million for broadband service in three rural areas. That brings Alaska broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment a...
Employers everywhere are finding it hard to recruit and retain employees. But it sure seems that the state of Alaska, under the disengaged leadership of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is sinking to new lows of high vacancies. The empty desks and undone work are degrading public services and hurting Alaskans. The administration’s reactions have been to express concern, provide excuses, talk about doing better and, in some offices, shuffle around available personnel to plug the biggest holes. And the governor proclaimed May 10 as State Employee A...
Age is a major issue behind the Alaska Marine Highway System’s pending master plan, which will go to state legislators this month. The state ferry Columbia, which turns 50 next year, had been sidelined at the Ketchikan ferry dock for about three years until February. Management’s decision to park the vessel was based on the large expense of operating the ship, the costliest of any ferry in the fleet. Things changed when it was discovered that the 60-year-old Matanuska, which had suffered a series of maintenance setbacks, had more serious iss...
Aug. 23, 1923 Mrs. Stephen Grant has resumed her duties as community nurse following a vacation which she took for the purpose of entering a summer class in community nursing given in Portland under the auspices of the Red Cross. Mrs. Grant finished the six-week course in five weeks by diligent work, and has been given a university credit for her efforts. Her work with the Junior Red Cross will begin with the opening of school activities and promises much for the good of Wrangell. Aug. 20, 1948 B. Frank Heintzelman, regional forester for...
The Sitka city assembly has given the go-ahead to a plan for building a boat haul-out and shipyard at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park by late 2024. The option calls for a 150-ton boat lift, haul-out piers, washdown pad and an EPA-certified wastewater treatment system. The haul-out would be located next to the old Alaska Pulp Corp. utility dock, with an adjacent work yard for about 20 vessels. “I think that this will be a crucial piece of infrastructure that is worth investing in,” Assembly Member Kevin Mosher said at the July 27 meeting. “Ev...
Migrating birds have returned to Alaska, and so has the highly pathogenic avian influenza that began to sweep through global bird populations in 2020. That means Alaskans should continue to be vigilant about the strains that have arrived in the state from across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, experts said during a webinar June 6 hosted by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Symposium’s Local Environmental Observer Network. Alaska’s geographic position, at a point on the globe where different avian flyways converge, makes it a transmission zo...
After an uptick in thefts at Wrangell harbors in recent years, the borough is moving to install security cameras and improve lighting at all the facilities to help keep users’ property safe. At its June 13 meeting, the borough assembly unanimously approved a nearly $500,000 contract with Juneau-based Chatham Electric to install security cameras at the eight port and harbor sites around Wrangell. Starting around 2020 and 2021, there has been an increase in theft at the harbors, explained Harbormaster Steve Miller. About five boats were hit d...
One of the world’s largest sea stars is on track to receive Endangered Species Act protections. Federal regulators are proposing a threatened listing for the sunflower sea star, a creature that has been killed off in much of its Pacific habitat by disease. While the effect of a listing on Alaska and its fisheries is not certain, scientists say they don’t expect significant changes in the state in the near term. The public comment period has ended on the proposal for the threatened listing published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adm...
To optimists, the plants that grow in the sea promise to diversify Alaska’s economy, revitalize small coastal towns struggling with undependable fisheries and help communities adapt to climate change — and even mitigate it by absorbing atmospheric carbon. Cultivation of seaweed, largely varieties of kelp, promises to buffer against ocean acidification and coastal pollution, promoters say. Seaweed farms can produce ultra-nutritious crops to boost food security in Alaska and combat hunger everywhere, and not just for human beings. “Kelp is good...
Wrangell’s economy has been in decline since long before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted three years ago. But the economy — meaning jobs, businesses and families — would be a lot worse off if not for federal assistance. Oppose federal spending if you want, but the $30 million or so in pandemic relief aid that the U.S. Treasury poured into Wrangell the past few years for the borough, schools, businesses, individuals and the tribal government made a huge difference in people’s lives. Criticize the IRS and income taxes if it makes you feel better,...
Southeast trollers and communities are awaiting a federal judge's decision on a lawsuit that could close down the region's chinook troll fishery. If the lawsuit prevails, Southeast trollers would be denied access to the highest-priced salmon available to the commercial fleet. The lawsuit seeks to ensure more of the salmon make it to an endangered population of killer whales in Washington state. The Southeast winter troll fishery is underway and will close March 15; the summer season is slated to...
Thanks to its aging infrastructure and pricey upcoming projects, Port and Harbors is the least financially sustainable of all the borough’s enterprise funds. Last Thursday, the Port Commission met with Finance Director Mason Villarma and Susan Erickson of P-W Insurance to come up with a plan to improve the fund’s finances while minimizing the impacts on cash-strapped Wrangell residents. One major takeaway from the 2021 audit, Villarma explained, was that many of the borough’s self-supporting funds — particularly the Port and Harbors account...
The high school shop class shapes more than wood, metal and other materials for a myriad of uses. It also shapes young minds and abilities to invest in the future. Kyle Hommel is a good example of that. Hommel, 17, took what he has learned in shop and from his father to complete his senior project, which used his skills to raise money for his favorite class. The idea for his project came from his father, Kyle Hommel Sr., when he created metal fish-themed sculptures using a plasma cutter to sell...
Feb. 1, 1923 When Charles Gearing and party came down the Stikine last week, they reached the government cabin at the head of the trail, tired and worn out from the trip. It was at night and the weather was cold. Upon entering the cabin they found to their disappointment that there was no stove, so they had to build a fire outside. This week the Wrangell Commercial Club bought a stove for the cabin which will be installed by Mr. Gearing. The Commercial Club will send the bill to the Forest Service and will no doubt be reimbursed for their...
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A nonprofit group that aims to protect endangered species has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce sea otters to a stretch of the West Coast from Northern California to Oregon. Threatened southern sea otters occupy only 13% of their historic range, with a small population of the mammals currently living on California’s central coast, the Center for Biological Diversity said. “Bringing the sea otter back to the broader West Coast would be an unparalleled conservation success story,” said Kristin Carden,...
WASHINGTON — The $1.7 trillion federal spending package includes hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations for projects specific to Alaska and enacts legislation that will directly affect the state. “There is literally no part of our state that this legislation doesn’t benefit,” said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee that helped negotiate the legislation. Congress passed the bill on its last day of work Dec. 23, funding the government through September 2023. President Joe Biden signed the...
Readers can find both an optimistic view and gloomy numbers in the borough’s annual economic conditions report, issued last month. “With some of the lowest electrical rates in Alaska, the highest school district test scores, the potential to grow its visitor industry, the lowest unemployment rate on record, and a high level of entrepreneurship (more than a quarter of all workers are self-employed), Wrangell has potential to improve its prospects,” says the report, prepared by Juneau-based consulting firm Rain Coast Data. However, the repor...
Soon after Carol Rushmore stepped into her role as economic development director in 1993, Wrangell’s economic landscape changed forever. The sawmill, which had been the borough’s economic mainstay since the mid-1950s, shut down, setting off a chain reaction of job losses and business closures that affected the entire community. “We lost 20% of our workforce overnight,” Rushmore said. “It was extremely bad for a good 10 years.” But 29 years and countless grant applications, public forums and infrastructure projects later, Rushmore is planning...