Sorted by date Results 2183 - 2207 of 8063
Wildlife officials in Metlakatla continue to trap record-setting numbers of the invasive crab species that threaten local subsistence food sources and fish habitat. The tribe's Department of Fish and Wildlife has trapped hundreds of European green crabs - but the numbers keep growing. Months after the first green crab shell was found on the beach in Metlakatla, the community is still trying to figure out how to handle the arrival of a species that officials call one of the most invasive around....
Natalie Bennett was walking surveying a beach on Annette Island as part of a team trying to defend Southeast Alaska from marine invaders when she made a major but ominous discovery: the state’s first documented shell of an invasive European green crab. Bennett, a summer intern with the nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute who was working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, noticed the tell-tale spines on the side of the eye areas. Right away, she notified one of her internship advisers, Barb Lake of NOAA Fisheries. ...
SEATTLE (AP) — Alaska officials have canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest, and for the first time have also scrapped the winter harvest of smaller snow crab. The move is a double whammy to a fleet from Alaska, Washington and Oregon chasing Bering Sea crab in harvests that in 2016 grossed $280 million, The Seattle Times reported. The closures reflect conservation concerns about both crab species following bleak summer populations surveys. The decisions to shut down the snow crab and fall king crab harvests came after days of d...
An Anchorage man pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of illegally trafficking in walrus ivory and was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and sentenced to two years on probation. Uzi Levi, 71, of Anchorage, purchased six Pacific walrus tusks and one three-tusked Pacific walrus head mount from an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent, all of which is in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is unlawful for a non-Alaska Native to transport, purchase, sell, export or offer...
The stakes in Alaska are high in the search for a solution to the problem of bycatch, the unintended at-sea harvest of non-target species, such as hundreds of thousands of salmon a year, by commercial fishermen that are going after pollock or other fish. A special task force is nearing the end of a year-long process to find solutions that satisfy competing interests to the problem of bycatch. Many of the mostly Indigenous residents of western Alaska who depend on now-faltering salmon runs in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers have said strict rules...
The Alaska Quakers apologized to Alaska Native communities for the boarding schools it ran in Alaska and the United States, which forcibly assimilated and abused Indigenous children, separated them from their families and caused intergenerational trauma. In the 1800s and 1900s, the Quakers ran about 30 boarding schools for Native American and Alaska Native youth in the U.S. and its territories, including one in Alaska — the Douglas Island Friends Mission School in Juneau. Members of the Alaska Friends Conference of the Religious Society of F...
Liz Landes found a 30-pound puffball mushroom while on a bike ride on the Haines Highway. She said she was enjoying her bike ride when she spotted something unusual. "I looked up from the highway and saw what initially looked like a river rock," Landes said. "I turned back and hiked up the hill and was totally amazed. I didn't necessarily have the intention of taking it, but it broke off the ground more easily than I thought." Landes had found a giant puffball mushroom, a fungi typically found...
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican Museums are home to some of the most magnificent artworks in the world, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to ancient Egyptian antiquities and a pavilion full of papal chariots. But one of the museum’s least-visited collections became its most contested one ahead of Pope Francis’ trip to Canada in late July. The Vatican’s Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum, located near the food court and right before the main exit, houses tens of thousands of artifacts and art created by Indigenous peoples from around the world...
When Ukrainian Arsen Tatizian arrived in Petersburg in February he did not think he would be staying in Alaska beyond the end of his contract with OBI Seafoods, much less with his wife and his daughter at his side. It was his second year working for OBI, though he spent his first summer at its other plants in Alaska. He was only in Petersburg for two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. While he continued with work, his mind was on the safety of his wife Snizhana and their 2-year-old daughter...
JUNEAU (AP) — Ben Stevens, a former Alaska Senate president and son of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, has died. He was 63. The state troopers said they responded to a report last Thursday evening of a hiker — later identified as Stevens — having a medical emergency on the Lost Lake Trail near Seward. The troopers’ statement said a medical service team reached the scene around 6:40 p.m. and that lifesaving measures were unsuccessful. A Republican women’s group posted on Facebook that Stevens died of a heart attack after collapsing on the trail...
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP)— The benefits provided by four giant hydroelectric dams on the Snake River must be replaced before the dams can be breached to save endangered salmon runs, according to a final report issued by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. That is especially true regarding the reliable and carbon-free electricity the dams generate, the report concluded. If the four Snake River dams were ultimately removed, it would be the largest such project in U.S. history. In 2012 the Elwha Dam on Washington state's O...
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A five-year review by U.S. officials has determined that Endangered Species Act protections for oceangoing salmon and steelhead that reproduce in the Snake River and its Idaho tributaries must stay in effect. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries division review found that steelhead, spring and summer chinook, sockeye and fall chinook that return to Idaho in rivers from the Pacific Ocean still need their federal protections. The protections include limits on fishing, restrictions on how much w...
SEATTLE (AP) — By the time you read this story, what it describes will probably have disappeared beneath the waves. That’s how it was meant to be — and how it used to be. Since time immemorial, as the saying goes, people in what is now Washington and British Columbia farmed the sea with a type of environmental engineering called clam gardening. Around the time Europeans showed up here, the practice was lost. “It was stolen from us,” Swinomish Tribal Senator Alana Quintasket said. “All of our teachings, all of our practices, our connections to t...
Child care has been a pressing need in the community for some time, and the Wrangell Cooperative Association is hoping to address the issue at least in some part. Starting last week, the WCA distributed surveys on bulletin boards around town, on its website and on Facebook. The survey will help the organization assess how great the need is. “We’re looking to assess the need in our community as a whole,” said Esther Reese, tribal administrator for WCA. The organization is asking how many families need child care, what days of the week are neede...
In a relatively short season, the Wrangell High School boys cross country team went from training to champions. The team won the Division III state title last Saturday at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Cross Country Running Championships in Anchorage, making it the first in the program's history. Assistant coach Mason Villarma predicted the runners had the potential to make history for the school after only a couple of meets earlier in the season. That prediction came true with the team...
The U.S. Forest Service spent last week showing that the wildlife at Anan Creek aren't your average bears. From the chilliest to the chunkiest, the inaugural Anan Bear Awards were posted via Facebook from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, honoring nine bears for their unique personalities. Paul Robbins, public affairs officer for the Tongass National Forest, said the awards are modeled after the Katmai National Park and Preserve's Fat Bear Week held at the same time. In that event, National Park Service...
Several thousand people needed help after communities in Western Alaska were ravaged by the tail end of a typhoon in mid-September. Though the affected region is more than 1,200 miles away from Wrangell, residents here wanted to help however they could. With icier months fast approaching places like Hooper Bay and Nome, cold-weather gear will be necessary. "People called me and asked if we were going to do anything," said Jana Wright, Wrangell Cooperative Association staff member. Wright said...
When the days get chilly and the nights get longer, nothing says fall like curling up with a good book. Last Friday, for the first time in three years, Wrangell children were able to enjoy story time together at the Irene Ingle Public Library, instead of at home through Zoom rectangles. Sarah Merritt, library services support and designated storybook reader, shared four autumn tales filled with pictures of colorful leaves and plentiful harvests as kids and their parents listened. Near the end...
Wrangell’s Native community is critical of last month’s chamber-sponsored economic forum for its lack of tribal presentations on the agenda and the offensive comment of a speaker. The chamber of commerce organized the five-hour session to spark a discussion about Wrangell’s economic future and create a space for business leaders to share their perspectives. However, key players in Wrangell’s economic landscape — particularly representatives of the tribal government — were not offered the opportunity to present. Esther Aaltséen Reese, triba...
Patty Gilbert was sworn in as mayor last Thursday, and in her first days in office plans to “(continue) the heavy work.” She hopes to revitalize the borough’s economic development committee, support local businesses and promote new ones. “It’ll be a full agenda,” she said. The borough assembly certified the election results last Thursday. The ballot proposition to issue $8.5 million in bonds for Public Safety Building repairs failed 259 to 324 in the Oct. 4 election. Since the building is still in need of costly repairs, the assembly wi...
From the slate-gray shores of petroglyph beach to the splash of the community pool's chlorine-filled waters, the sights and sounds of Wrangell star in Maryann Landers' most recent novel, "Alaskan Escape." Landers' readers and friends gathered at the Stikine Inn last Friday for a book signing. "Alaskan Escape" is the fourth novel in Landers' Alaska Women of Caliber series, which follows Christian women's experiences with faith and family in Alaska. Landers based each of her "women of caliber" on...
Joint locks and compression locks might sound like the perils of getting old, but they are among hundreds of moves that are incorporated into Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighting. Though the sport can seem intimidating to first-time students, a group in Wrangell is working to welcome newcomers and highlight the many benefits. Jiu-jitsu was created over 100 years ago, originating from judo. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was created in the 1920s and has become one of, if not the fastest-growing martial arts in the...
The public can now provide comments on more than 50 cabin projects proposed by the U.S. Forest Service in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests. The comment period is open until Oct. 31. A page on the Forest Service website found at bit.ly/3Cc8PPr allows visitors to review options where new cabins could be built, existing cabins fixed up and sites where existing cabins could be moved. “We want to hear from the public about what they want to see,” said James King, Alaska Region director of recreation, lands and minerals, in a statement. “Kn...
Doctors may get all the attention, hefty salaries and steamy medical TV shows, but they are not the only health care professionals who play essential roles in the real-life drama of a hospital. Laboratory teams work with pipettes and samples behind the scenes, performing the tests that doctors use to diagnose illness. Patients at the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium's Wrangell Medical Center can rest assured that their test results are being processed with precision. The center's...
In what is apparently a first for Alaska, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly passed an ordinance last week that will prohibit the use of voting tabulation machines for borough elections, starting next year. The new Mat-Su ordinance, approved Oct. 4, caps off a months-long effort from a group of residents determined to ban the use of voting machines spurred on by false claims of election fraud. Last month, the assembly unanimously voted to use a hand-count to verify the results of the Nov. 8 borough election, but voting machines will still...