Sorted by date Results 276 - 300 of 497
The Wrangell Cooperative Association recently received a $50,000 grant from SEARHC. According to WCA Tribal Administrator Esther Ashton, several other communities with First Nations entities also received similar grants. The "Healthy is Here" grant is meant to help promote public health within their community. "The way that it was defined was really left up to the tribal board to determine how they wanted to promote health and culture within our community," Ashton said. "So the board went...
1-mile pipe is an important fixture for many in Wrangell. Located along Zimovia Highway, just before the 10-mile marker, a metal pipe continuously allows groundwater to flow to the surface. As the city's water services do not extend very far south on the island, for those living outside city limits it is an important source of water. That is why Wrangell Cooperative Association's IGAP office has done monthly testing on water from 10-mile pipe, and why this month they announced the discovery of...
Chief Shakes Tribal House was filled with curious visitors looking to learn about the Tlingits, a Native Alaskan people indigenous to Southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Wrangell is home to many people of Tlingit descent, some of whom came together Saturday afternoon to share stories and pieces of their culture. John Martin, who organized the event, said that he and several other participants wanted to share part of their native heritage. Tlingit culture is filled with stories, some of which can be found in people’s names. Martin’s Tli...
During Sealaska Corporation's annual shareholder's meeting, held this year in Wrangell late last month, the Native organization bestowed ownership of an important local landmark to its hosts. In remarks made during the meeting, corporation director Richard Rinehart explained he had recently put forward a proposal to the board to transfer ownership of Kiks.ádi Totem Park to Wrangell Cooperative Association, the community's federally-recognized tribal government. The Totem Park lies at the...
A group of visiting AmeriCorps volunteers have been leaving their mark around Wrangell the past month, with the community being their last stop in a 10-month tour of service. Ten volunteers coming from all corners of the country have already been doing an assortment of projects for the community. They are part of a wider program which operates one of its five campuses out of Sacramento, California. "The program that we are in is the National Civilian Community Corps," explained Kara Riley, the...
A group of Tlingit residents had a unique opportunity for an historical site visit with state archaeologists last week at Anan Creek, revisiting a traditional fishing ground. Now known best for its bear observatory, what draws those bears is the creek's yearly run of salmon. This salmon run at Anan has long been a source of food for the nearby population as well, as attested to by the remnants of a tidal fish trap still near the creek on Sealaska Corporation lands. The United States Forest...
Money appears to be available for Wrangell’s Byford yard cleanup that would allow remaining contaminated soil to be shipped off-island rather than disposed of in a local monofill. At the behest of Gov. Bill Walker, the Alaska Legislature approved $5 million of additional funding to be allotted to the project in its FY19 capital budget. A capital and operating budget had both been passed by the Alaska House and Senate on Sunday, bringing to an end their extended session. Sen. Bert Stedman (R-Sitka) noted it was the first year in a while the r...
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...
Carol Alice Feller-Brady, Koodeilgé, 91, passed away surrounded by those she loved in Juneau on May 2, 2018. She was born on Jan. 1, 1927, the youngest of twelve, born to Elizabeth Kadashan of Wrangell Naanya.ayíi,who was the first ANS Grand Camp President and Raymond James Sr. of the Sitka Kiks'.adí. Her grandfather was Chief Kadashan of the Wrangell Kasqwa.kweidi and her grandmother was the sister of Chief Shakes VI. As a child, she lived in Sitka. By the age of twelve both of her parents, as...
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...
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...
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....
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 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...
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...
An important roundtable discussion on the future of public health care provision in Wrangell is set for this weekend, followed by a community meeting Monday night. At the behest of the City and Borough Assembly, a steering committee made up of representatives of a half-dozen stakeholder groups is in the process of being formed. From the assembly itself, Roland Howell and Patty Gilbert will be joined by Dan Neumeister of Southeast Rural Health Consortium and Mark Walker from its Alaska Island Community Services clinic; Jennifer Bates and Olinda...
The second phase of site reclamation work at the former Byford junkyard has been put on another hold, as the state’s environmental agency responds to a new project report prepared on behalf of Wrangell’s tribal government. Wrangell Cooperative Association has taken an opposing stance to a monofill the Department of Environmental Conservation has been preparing to construct at a state rock pit, which will situate 18,500 cubic yards of treated soil removed from the Byford yard. Privately run for decades as a repository of junked vehicles, bat...
Three big issues weighed heavily upon the Wrangell Assembly’s agenda Tuesday; impending crises with the city’s water supply, its hospital’s financial stability, and the state’s site selection for a monofill to house treated lead-contaminated soil extracted from the former Byford junkyard. • Water crisis The city entered its highest watch level for water conservation Tuesday, after learning that its two reservoirs only have about 30 or so days’ worth of raw reserves. (see adjoining story) Reservoir levels have reached a low point after an un...
With a month left before work is scheduled to resume, discussions continue on the future of a stockpile of contaminated soil excavated from the former Byford junkyard. Heading the cleanup effort that began in 2016, the Department of Environmental Conservation removed over 60 shipping containers of debris and heavily contaminated soils from the yard, which for years had been a privately-run repository for automotive and marine junk. The City of Wrangell had assumed responsibility for the property...
For the second year running, residents will have an opportunity next week to dispose of their antiquated electronics with a collection drive put on by the Tribe. Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program will be working with residents and businesses both to gather together e-waste, items ranging from fax machines and scanners to tube televisions, charger cords, adapters, cellular phones and computer towers. The drive will accept all video and music players, cameras and other monitors. Basically a...
A community development grant obtained by Wrangell Cooperative Association last fall will be putting $600,000 back into local homes. The funds come from Housing and Urban Development, through its Community Development Block Grant program. The federal program provides resources to communities for addressing a wide range of unique development needs. The goal of the Wrangell project will be to increase energy efficiency for around 20 residences, specifically for Native homeowners. “The Tribe was very excited to receive this grant,” WCA administrat...
Another year begins this week, and 2018 both holds promise and poses challenges to Wrangell residents. Economic trials will perhaps be of the greatest concern as state coffers seem set to dry up and fishing forecasts continue to disappoint. Limits to funding sources will be of particular bother as the borough continues to address an aging infrastructure, though securing state funding for the Shoemaker Bay Harbor refurbishment and an expected start to the belated Evergreen Road repaving should...
