Sorted by date Results 326 - 350 of 497
Wrangell Cooperative Association has created a new position for tourism development, hiring Rachel Moreno for the job. The move is one intended to better coordinate the Tribe’s participation in the visitor industry, a growing segment of the economy regionally despite declines in other sectors. According to state labor statistics, tourism accounted for nine percent of all employment earnings in Southeast for 2015. The sector made up about 17 percent of all jobs, and is currently the fastest-growing. About 500 average annual jobs were added last...
Last week Wrangell’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program office issued an alert regarding potentially dangerous shellfish. Readings for butter clam samples taken from the south side of Zarembo Island earlier this month came back surprisingly high for saxitoxin, the root cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in humans. The Food and Drug Administration sets a safety threshold for consuming saxitoxin at 80 micrograms (μg) per 100 grams of shellfish. The butter clams sampled at Zarembo came back at 884 μg. As a contrast, the IGA...
The environmental office of Wrangell Cooperative Association will be holding a collection drive for residents’ unwanted electronics this weekend. The drive involves the collection, transport and reclamation of an assortment of technological contraptions. It will be funded through an Indian Environmental General Assistance Program grant, a program run through the Environmental Protection Agency cooperatively with the Tribe. “We will be collecting anything with a cord or a brain,” explained Kim Wickman, Wrangell IGAP technician. “They can be fax...
The opening of a planned assisted living and senior housing center has been pushed back by a couple of weeks, its owners say. Shannon Bosdell said a Certification of Occupancy from the state is needed before Harbor House can open its doors to residents. First announcing the venture back in December, he and co-developer Daniel Blake were expecting an April 1 start date. “It got pushed out by a week, week and a half,” Bosdell said. Formerly the Sourdough Lodge, once certified, the Peninsula Avenue facility will be able to accommodate five assiste...
This year's annual Tent City Days celebration will start tomorrow, opening up with the dog show at 5 p.m. Celebrating the town of Wrangell's rustic beginnings, the annual late-winter festivity was held a bit later than usual this year due to scheduling conflicts. "I ain't competing with the Super Bowl," event organizer Kelly Gunderson joked. Involved with the festival in past years, she took organization of the celebration off the hands of Penny Allen, who in recent years has been working to...
The environmental office of Wrangell Cooperative Association will be conducting field surveys later this spring to gauge air quality in the community. In a presentation to the Healthy Wrangell Coalition at its monthly meeting last week, WCA it was reported will be acquiring an electronic monitoring device that will read for particulate content in the air. Readings will be taken to gauge air quality and measure how prevalent such material is in the air over certain timeframes. Run through the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP...
To the Editor: When it comes to a program that collects solid scientific data, and provides resources that lead to more sustainable approaches, look no further than Wrangell IGAP, administered by the Wrangell Cooperative Association. IGAP provides our community with services such as gill net recycling, and E-waste collection, which take a big bite out of our solid waste burden. The program networks with other tribes in Southeast, collaborates with the City and USFS, and presents to science classes in our schools. Wrangell IGAP works to provide...
Wrangell Cooperative Association held its annual election for the Tribal Council on February 22. Open to members, a total of 68 ballots were counted, including four absentee and eight question ballots. Turnout was down by about a dozen members from the previous year, possibly due to the election being rescheduled from the previous week. Every year, half of the eight-member council is up for re-election, with members serving two-year seats. The results shown here are preliminary, to be validated at Tuesday evening’s Tribal Council meeting. O...
Following the February 16 article on its new Knowledge Imaging Center, the Irene Ingle Public Library wanted to acknowledge Wrangell Cooperative Association as the lead organization for the IMLS Grant that provided funds for its purchase. The library apologizes that this information was inadvertently omitted from last week’s article....
For Wrangell, the past year was one mixed with successes and setbacks, shared tragedies and uplifting moments. Sales taxes collected over the spring and summer tour seasons neared all-time highs, with the visitor industry experiencing a good season overall. On the other end, fishermen experienced one of their worst harvests of the summer, which after a disappointing 2015 season has put the fiscal pinch on a number of local families, boat builders, and associated sectors. As 2017 dawns, concerns...
Wrangell's second-largest travel lodging has been sold, and will be repurposed as a senior housing and assisted living center this spring. The owners of the Sourdough Lodge sold the property to a group of buyers, who are currently renovating its rooms and preparing it for the new use. Once completed, by April 1 the lodge will be rechristened Harbor House Assisted Living Center and Senior Housing. One of the buyers, Shannon Bosdell, explained the facility will fill a need in the community for hou...
The Wrangell Public School Board will get a first look at its budget next month for the upcoming year, which begins July 1, 2017. At its December 14 meeting, school superintendent Patrick Mayer reported the year’s budget would be reflecting expected reductions to revenue sources. He explained the district will be putting together its draft budget operating under four assumptions, which may change as the new year unfolds. One of these is a student enrollment count of 273, which takes into consideration part-time students. Health coverage p...
The special committee tasked with pursuing development of a residential high school in Wrangell is currently courting support from a major consortium of tribal villages in Interior Alaska. The school would be the first year-round residential facility to be operated under the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP), a supplementary learning program which earlier this fall opened its first full-time accelerated high school in the Matanuska-Susitna area. The program is part of the University of Alaska system, and was founded to impro...
The special committee tasked with pursuing development of a residential high school in Wrangell is currently courting support from a major consortium of tribal villages in Interior Alaska. The school would be the first year-round residential facility to be operated under the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP), a supplementary learning program which earlier this fall opened its first full-time accelerated high school in the Matanuska-Susitna area. The program is part of the Uni...
Latest samples of butter clams from Shoemaker Bay beaches show levels of saxitoxin have halved since this summer, when specimens were found to be a health hazard. The clams are still considered a health risk, albeit at a lower level. Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) staff have been collecting samples of mussels and other bivalves from the beach on a weekly basis, which then get tested at a Sitka lab for several different toxins. In August the program reported elevated levels of s...
Wrangell Senior Center is conducting a survey this month tracking Native elder health and social issues. The local surveying is a cooperative effort between Southeast Senior Services and Wrangell Cooperative Association. The results go to the National Resource Center on Native American Aging, which assesses the quality of life for elders across the United States. NRCNAA helps compile and prepare the results of the assessment, as well as provide assistance on how to best use that data. The survey focuses on individuals aged 55 and older, and...
A new bus has been added to the fleet serving Wrangell, the Public School Board learned Monday. Etolin Bus Company has acquired a new Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 model bus, which will be used for transporting middle and high school students on daily routes. Etolin operator Greg McCormack brought it and the previous Blue Bird model down to Evergreen Elementary to demonstrate the differences. “The new bus we have is what I consider the world’s most modern school bus,” he commented. Compared to the older vehicles, the Thomas sports a number of added...
Wrangell Cooperative Association added its voice to the chorus of people concerned about Canadian mining concerns developing upstream of shared rivers. The forum was a hearing held by the Alaska House Fisheries Special Committee in Juneau on October 12. Testimony was collected from around the state, with speakers calling in even from as far away as Arizona. The issue at hand is a collection of large scale mines either operating or in development, located in the watersheds of the Stikine, Unuk and Taku rivers. For Wrangell, the Red Chris mine...
Following up on a warning issued this summer, the risk of poisoning from area shellfish has been revised. Shellfish specimens found around Shoemaker Bay in August had tested positive for saxitoxin, which causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Severe cases of PSP can cause nausea, vomiting, neurological effects, respiratory failure and ultimately death. First signs tend to be a numbness of the mouth after eating tainted shellfish. The Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research website at www.seator.org/data maintains a page laying out updated...
Last month Wrangell's Senior Apartments formally went smoke-free, asking its residents to instead head outdoors if they feel the need to have a cigarette. "It was mostly for the health and well-being of our tenants," explained Gail Rilatos, manager of the facility for the past four years. The decision was made by the apartment complex's five-member governing board, which sought input on a new policy from Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. SEARHC facilitates an Alaska Tobacco...
Local shellfish gatherers are advised to steer clear of the beach near Shoemaker Bay, after specimens tested positive for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The alert was posted to the Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research website at www.seator.org/data on Monday. A sampling of butterclams collected by the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) staff and sent in to Sitka for testing turned out to have more than twice the state’s threshold for saxitoxin, the cause of PSP. The sample mea...
Wrangell’s Borough Assembly revisited its local contractors list, which it had adopted last year in order to streamline hiring for small projects. An idea was first put forward to the Assembly by Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch in December 2014, drafting a list of licensed local contractors who could be called upon for small-scale jobs under $25,000 on a rotating on-call basis. A pool of qualified local contractors hirable by the city was created, ensuring those contacted for jobs were qualified for the work and that all those qualifying would b...
A survey to gauge the housing needs of Wrangell’s Native population launched last week. Wrangell Cooperative Association is conducting a housing needs assessment, following up on a community needs survey completed last year and the results of a special stakeholders meeting held in December. As housing issues ranged high among the identified community needs, this recent survey gathers demographic data and residential information from participants. “We’re trying to get every tribal household in Wrangell to take the survey,” explained WCA tribal...
Summer hikers have gotten a leg up on the Rainbow Falls trail, after resurfacing work was completed there in early May. Earlier this spring the United States Forest Service reached a cost-sharing agreement with the Transportation Office of Wrangell Cooperative Association, to resurface and brush along trails for maintenance over the summer. Under the agreement, the USFS is to provide materials and tools while WCAT provides the labor. This summer will be the fourth the two governmental...
Margaret June DeWitt Gross-Hope, 88, "walked into the forest" on June 3, 2016, in Sitka, Alaska. She was born to Forrest and Martha (James) DeWitt on June 3, 1928, in Wrangell, Alaska, the first of seven children. Her Tlingit name is Koodeina.át. She was raised in a traditional native house and her first language was Tlingit. She was from the S'iknaxh.ádi clan from Wrangell. She was a child of the Yaxht'etaan through Forrest DeWitt, Sr. (Héenak'w Taax') who was from the Big Dipper House in Ju...
