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The Wrangell Assembly will be holding a workshop with its state representative Tuesday, ahead of its regularly scheduled meeting. Set for 6 p.m., Rep. Dan Ortiz (Unaffiliated – District 36) plans to present thoughts on the budget and fiscal plan put forward by Gov. Bill Walker last month, which will be making the Legislature's agenda when it convenes for its next session on January 16. "I just want to give the opportunity for the Assembly to give me some input with regards to what they would l...
The learning experience for Wrangell students continues to get more technological, with new devices and programs hitting local schools this year. Technology director Matt Gore gave the Sentinel a run-through of some of these developments Tuesday. It started with “tech time in the morning,” an informal zero-hour period where students are encouraged to undertake various technological projects. For instance, that morning found senior JD Barratt soldering together components for a lighting setup, while Kellan Eagle put together the frame for a hom...
Wrangell delegates returned from last month's annual conference for the Alaska Federation of Natives at Anchorage's Dena'ina Center. AFN is the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, representing 151 federally recognized tribes, 150 village corporations, 12 regional corporations, and various nonprofit and tribal consortiums. Its annual October conference, this year held between the 19th and 21st, provides AFN membership the opportunity to put forward resolutions as well as to discuss...
Members of the Wrangell Assembly commiserated with Wrangell Cooperative Association leadership Tuesday evening to discuss possible alternatives to a proposed monofill for the Byford cleanup. The Department of Environmental Conservation proposes interring 18,350 cubic yards of treated, lead-contaminated soils in a rock pit managed by the Department of Natural Resources. The material was removed during cleanup of acres of property at the former Byford junkyard, which the city had previously acquired through foreclosure. DEC stepped in to manage...
Options for finding an alternative site to a monofill selected by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation last year are limited, according to an exchange between it and the City and Borough last month. Around 18,350 cubic yards of treated, lead-contaminated soil removed from the former Byford junkyard property last year by contractors for DEC are to be interred indefinitely in a monofill site. Sixty containers of heavier-contaminated soil and debris were barged out for reprocessing, but as the unexpectedly large project had...
In its Tuesday evening meeting this week, the City and Borough Assembly decided to shift focus for block grant funding to remodeling the Public Safety Building. Sited centrally to town at the start of Zimovia Highway, the aging facility has already neared the top of the city’s capital improvement priorities. In its project outline, city staff recommended putting the building forward as a candidate for Community Development Block Grant funding, a competitive program sourcing $2.4 million of Housing and Urban Development funding each year into A...
The local Tribe has received a substantial grant from the Administration for Native Americans to address outmigration over much of the past several decades. Wrangell Cooperative Association began applying for the grant in April, putting forward a project proposal to the federal agency, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The two-year grant is for $200,000, with the first year’s allotment set at $110,916. With those funds, WCA will be hiring one full-time and one part-time staff member to handle the project. “They’re going...
Wrangell Cooperative Association’s environmental office this month began notifying the public of the presence of coliforms in a popular off-grid water source. The pipe just to the north of the Mile 10 marker on Zimovia Highway has supplied Wrangell residents with fresh water for decades, a fixture well before the logging road had been paved. For those living beyond municipal water sources, options for potable water are fairly limited, and for those without a water catchment or well system set up, the pipe provides relatively easy access to s...
The state environmental regulator last week announced it would be postponing a planned monofill project on Wrangell Island until next year. In a press release issued September 7, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced it will hold off on construction of a monofill site on the island. The department is currently engaged in the cleanup for the former Byford site, a property south of Wrangell that had for several decades been used as a junkyard. The first phase of this project had...
Last week, Alaska's lawmakers received word from the governor's office another session may be called for October. On August 31 emails were sent to members of the Alaska Legislature, letting them know a special session – the fourth of the year – will likely be called to discuss revenue. During the second special session in July an operating budget was passed, with a capital budget approved the following month in another session. The spending bills came with cuts and an overhaul of the state's oil tax credit system, but without new sources of...
The Wrangell Tribe’s environmental program office announced last week that most species of shellfish have been cleared for consumption at a pair of local beaches. On August 24 results from the week’s sampling had indicated levels of saxitoxin – the root cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning – evident in mussels at Pats Creek and Shoemaker Bay beaches had dropped below federal safety guidelines. Conducting the site testing, the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program had previously issued a warning for Pats in January and Shoemak...
For the first time, Wrangell will host the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s (CCTHITA) annual environmental conference. Hosted at the Nolan Center, the Southeast Environmental Conference will begin the afternoon of September 5, continuing through the middle of the 8th. Since its inception, the conference’s focus has been on building collaboration between the region’s tribes, corporations and other agencies. “This is something we have been doing since the early, mid-2000s,” said Ray Paddock, environmental coordinat...
Ahead of local kids starting school this week, a regional program wanted to make sure students started prepared. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) department for Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska distributed more than 2,000 backpacks and athletic bags to communities across Southeast Alaska. Working with Wrangell Cooperative Association, several CCTHITA employees were in town last week with 102 bags, each filled with age-appropriate school supplies to start the year off right. “It’s a great pro...
By Dan Rudy Sentinel writer Project leads for a contaminated site reclamation met with townspeople Monday evening to address concerns with a proposed monofill. The monofill – a landfill meant for only one substance, in this case treated, lead-contaminated soil – would be the second phase of the Byford junkyard cleanup, an operation which was undertaken last year by Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Protection Agency and various contractors. In use as a private landfi...
A group of Wrangell residents joined together for peace and solidarity near Front Street last Saturday. A community peace vigil was organized in response to violence a week earlier during a rally and counter-protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. A gathering of white supremacists, members of the "alt-right" movement and neo-Nazis in the college town was planned for August 12, called "Unite the Right." The rally was intended to protest the planned removal of a statue commemorating Confederate...
Overshadowing other agenda items for Tuesday evening’s Borough Assembly meeting, voices were raised and the rare gavel was used during the persons to be heard segment as several residents and representatives of the Wrangell Tribe aired concerns over proposed placement of a monofill site near Pats Creek. (see Monofill article) Under ceremonial matters, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) environmental program manager John Halverson updated the Assembly on the cleanup at the 4-Mile former junkyard site, which had been extensively c...
For the first time since last winter, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) risk factors for butter clams sampled on beaches near Pats Creek have dropped back to normal. Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program office made the announcement last week, after samples taken July 24 showed decreased levels of saxitoxin. The cause behind PSP, elevated saxitoxin traces were first discovered at the site in January. Saxitoxin is a deadly neurotoxin produced by phytoplankton of the genus Alexandrium. When a...
A full complement of events is being arranged for next week's Bearfest, the eighth held since the festival's inception. It was started in 2010 by Alaska Vistas operator Sylvia Ettefagh, in order to highlight Wrangell's robust bear population. One of the prime places to see the area's brown and black bears together in one place is at Anan Wildlife Observatory, a short jump south of the island on the mainland. Several thousand visitors come to the island each summer in order to visit the Forest...
A new administrator has been hired by Wrangell Cooperative Association, assuming the role last week. Esther Ashton was hired to the position, which had been created in 2015 in order to implement Wrangell Tribal Council’s long-range strategic plans and economic development initiatives, as well as manage its various grants and projects. Ashton has been a Wrangell resident for 13 years, having previously worked for Wachovia Securities in Elizabeth City, North Carolina as a financial advisor and business manager. She has worked for the Tribe s...
While more commonly Wrangell leaves a lasting impression on its visitors, one thought to leave his mark on Wrangell instead. With the aid of two chainsaws and assorted carving equipment, Denny Leak spent most of last week outside Wrangell Cooperative Association's Cultural Center as he worked on fashioning out part of one of the tribe's stored totems. Hailing from Kansas, Leak was up for a visit with his daughter, who in March began work at Wrangell Medical Center as a physical therapy...
Mountains of metal are in the middle of being moved this week from the island's landfill and storage spaces. The city is working with Channel Construction to remove as much of the miscellaneous waste as it has on hand. Since Tuesday the company's barge has been busy at the loading yard piling on assorted scrap, discarded autos and bulky items. It has been at least five years since the city was last able to offload a consignment of scrap, after depressed metals prices made transport an expensive...
Summer officially began this week, with the solstice marking the year’s longest day on Wednesday. For hundreds of Wrangell children, the months-long break between school years began at the end of May, and programming to keep them active and socially engaged started up soon afterward. Wrangell Parks and Recreation kicked off its summer activities at the start of June. The library’s summer reading program began June 1, and young residents have already begun taking lessons in horseback riding and swimming. A fee structure is in place for par...
A recent reading on shellfish taken from around the Shoemaker Bay helipad has shown elevated risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning. Blue mussel samples from the site were taken by the local Indian Environmental General Assistance Program office on June 12, and sent to the laboratory maintained by Sitka Tribe of Alaska the next day. The readings came back positive for saxitoxin, the underlying agent responsible for PSP in humans. As a result, residents are advised to avoid eating shellfish from that area for the time being. Since last year...
A big batch of old gillnets is being shipped south for reprocessing. The Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) offices in Wrangell and Petersburg planned to send several container loads this week to a Seattle-area processor for reuse. In all, the work of preparing the nets for transport took about two weeks. Wrangell's IGAP hired on temporary laborers this spring to help move, clip and sort through the collected nets. Weed, cork and lead lines were removed from them, with some...
Wrangell Cooperative Association administrator Aaron Angerman announced his resignation from the position, finishing last week. Handling front office, project management and grant administration duties for the Tribe, Angerman served in the position since its creation in the spring of 2015. In leaving, he explained he and his family will remain in Wrangell, but will be taking time to focus on other projects. WCA Board president Richard Oliver said council members will need to address the future of the position, what its continued parameters...
