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The Wrangell Borough Assembly met in open session last week to take up a number of new agenda items and included discussion on the formation of a hiring committee to help in choosing a successor to current Borough Clerk Christie Jamieson. Jamieson, who has spent the past three decades in service to the borough, plans on retiring from her position in the beginning of July. The committee, which consists of Jamieson, Borough Manager Tim Rooney, Mayor Jeremy Maxand, and Assembly members Pam...
The City and Borough of Wrangell drafted a plan that aims to enhance local industry and boost economic development throughout the town and Southeast Alaska. The plan maps out six local projects that, with the help of additional funding and collaboration with state and federal agencies, can be improved and stimulate the economy. The Wrangell Economic Cluster Initiative Plan is a result of a process started by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last fall that aims to revitalize all of Southeast Alaska’s economy. According to Wrangell E...
It’s a mixed bag in America in terms of bankrolling ‘the best available science’ for our nation’s fisheries. Based on the preliminary federal budget released last week, funds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration went from $4.7 billion to $5.5 billion, an increase of about $750 million. Within the NOAA budget, funding for the National Marine Fisheries Service comes in at $1 billion - a drop of $15 million from its actual budget for the last fiscal year. Out of NMFS’ FY13 budget, $174 million will fund science and man...
Over half of all fishing fatalities are due to vessels going down, and most of the boats sink because of flooding. The sinkings of the Alaska Ranger and Katmai in 2008, for example, in which12 men died, both stemmed from flooding through open hatches. Those and other sinkings highlighted the need for an alert that provides immediate status of all openings aboard fishing boats. To the rescue: a simple electronic monitoring system on doors and hatches that sends signals to the...
January The Wrangell School Board found $128,451 in additional, unspent funding from a federal program. In passing their 2011 budget, the board also accepted an $8,300 grant for the Upward Bound program. Master carvers Steve Brown and Wayne Price visited Shakes Island to begin discussions on the renovation of the Tribal House and to propose a traditional tools class. The US Forest Service began a scoping project for an Environmental Impact Study regarding timber sales and road construction for...
The Wrangell Port Commission took a major step forward in a plan to build a Mariner’s Memorial at Heritage Harbor during their most recent meeting on Thursday, Dec. 1. After having been stalled as a project for a number of months, Harbormaster Greg Meissner and the commission set a Jan. 5, 2012 date for a special working session where, according to Meissner, public input will heard and used to determine the design of the memorial. “I think our site is quite designable, as is, once we put our...
With the seafood industry as the lifeblood of Southeast Alaska, staying up to date on the latest equipment, services, suppliers, gear and ideas is a must for any community in the region or an Alaskan commercial fishing endeavor. It is with those factors in mind that Wrangell Harbormaster Greg Meissner attended the 35th annual Pacific Marine Expo, otherwise known as “fish expo,” at Seattle’s Qwest Field last week. The expo, which included speakers on a range of topics including fishing safety, ma...
A local business that is heavily involved in marine repair is expanding its operation near Wrangell harbor. Randall Fordyce, the owner of Freeman and Sons machine and fabrication shop on Case Avenue, is adding additional space on his property to allow for a longer lathe and equipment that will provide service for larger vessels. After originally eyeing a property adjacent to his location, Fordyce had to go through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a permit for the filling and grading...
The Alaska Department of Transportation presented its 2011 scoping report update for the Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the James and Elsie Nolan Center in Wrangell. The purpose of the meeting, which has also been held in other communities across Southeast, was to inform the public about six possible outcomes of ADOT’s long-range planning for transportation issues in the region. The alternatives presented range from no change in the current plan to the d...