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The mayor convened the public workshop, inviting Washington state-based entrepreneur Dale Borgford to lay out for borough officials his plans to build biomass boilers that would burn trash from around Southeast to heat large commercial greenhouses at the site of the former 6-Mile mill. He also wants to build a plant capable of filling large plastic bottles with 40,000 gallons a day of clean water from a creek at the north end of the property, or from rainwater if the creek flow is insufficient. And his list includes a plant to turn fish waste...
No New Year’s resolution can possibly improve the condition of St. Michaels Street. After seven water main breaks in the past two years, the borough plans to give some much-needed love to St. Michaels in the spring. The road connects Front Street with Church Street and its surface resembles something of a wide-woven quilt — thanks to the numerous times that repair crews have needed to dig up the asphalt for repairs. Police Chief Gene Meek has even suggested that folks avoid the street during winter months due to ice hazards. Underground, thi...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has added Wi-Fi service for passengers aboard the state ferry Columbia - with other ships in the fleet to follow. The service, which initially will be free on the Columbia, started last month when the ship came out of a yearlong layup to take over the weekly run between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska when the Kennicott was pulled for its own yearlong layup for new generators. The Columbia is the only state ferry serving Wrangell, with a northbound...
The borough has until 2030 to meet tighter state and federal water quality standards for its wastewater treatment plant discharge, and will use this year to determine the best way to kill more of the bacteria in the outflow. The Environmental Protection Agency renewed Wrangell’s wastewater discharge permit in November — along with permits for Haines, Skagway, Sitka, Ketchikan and Petersburg. The communities must make improvements to their treatment systems to reduce the levels of bacteria discharged into marine waters. In Wrangell, that lik...
Nothing unlucky about the number 13 for Kim Lane, who is in her 13th year as borough clerk. She was honored as Clerk of the Year by her colleagues in the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks. Lane was at the association's annual conference and dinner in Anchorage on Dec. 10 when the announcer started talking about the 2024 award winner, without spilling the name and spoiling the surprise. "And then I realized, it's me," she said in an interview after returning to Wrangell. "It makes you feel...
The Irene Ingle Public Library, which has run a summer reading program for children for years, is turning a new page for 2025 — it is running a similar program for adults. There will be prizes for adults who fill in their book bingo card. The idea started with parents asking during the annual summer activity for children, “I wish you had an adult reading program,” said Sarah Scambler, library director. She talked with other librarians around the state, including the Anchorage public library which has run a bingo-card style reading chall...
After missing last year, the chamber of commerce has resumed the decades-old tradition of assembling, printing and selling a calendar of community members’ birthdays and anniversaries. The calendar, which started in the 1950s, is a fundraiser for scholarships for high school seniors. People who preordered a calendar should come by the chamber office in the Stikine Inn to pick up their copy, said Tracey Martin, the chamber’s executive director. Copies also are available for people who did not preorder — the cost is $15. The calendars are a lim...
The Wrangell Athletic Club succeeded in raising enough money in its first full year to repay the school district for the cost of sending students to state competition in the 2023-2024 school year. The all-volunteer nonprofit organization was created in late 2023 after the school district determined it could not afford to pay the expenses of students traveling to state competition and needed community fundraising to cover the bills. The costs totaled $25,042 for the 2023-2024 school year, which...
Buyers picked up five of the eight lots in the borough-developed Industrial Park Subdivision land sale last month, with the three remaining parcels listed for sale online at minimum bids. The borough is putting in street access to the parcels, extending Fifth and Sixth avenues to serve the lots just off Airport Loop Road, a little past the turnoff to Ishiyama Drive. If the three remaining lots sell at the minimum prices of $31,400 for each for the two 16,500-square-foot parcels and $51,700 for the 25,849-square-foot lot, the borough will have...
The borough has contracted to finish the design work so that it can go out for bid to stabilize the earthen dams that hold back the community’s two water reservoirs. A $5 million state grant will pay for the project. The assembly last month approved spending an additional $114,450 to finish the design and engineering work for the project. Borough officials have been meeting with representatives of the engineering firm Shannon & Wilson and the state’s dam safety office to advance toward the final design plans. The design and engineering wor...
The Alaska Marine Highway System is now accepting summer travel bookings. The summer season for the state ferries runs from May 1 to Sept. 30. The schedule, which was released on Dec. 23 and opened that same day for online reservations, shows the same level of service to Wrangell as in recent years: A northbound stop in the afternoon or early evening every Sunday and a southbound morning stop every Wednesday. Wrangell will be served on the weekly run by the Columbia between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. Fares are the same as...
It was 1869 and smoke filled the winter air. Cannon balls ripped through Tlingit homes while U.S. Army shells shrieked across the sky. The same type of artillery used against the Confederates just four years prior was now turned on the Tlingit people of Wrangell, in their homeland which they called Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw. One hundred and fifty-five years later, the U.S. Army is apologizing. The apology is scheduled to take place in Wrangell on Jan. 11, 2025. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Army repr...
Southeast Alaska’s population is expected to drop 17% between 2023 and 2050, far more than any other region of the state, according to the latest projections, with Wrangell showing the steepest decline at 33%, from 2,039 residents in 2023 to 1,988 in July 2025, 1,845 in 2030 and down to 1,349 in 2050. Wrangell’s population has been in a steady decline since the timber industry started cutting back in the 1990s and the mill closed down permanently in 2008, and with deaths outnumbering births. The state’s latest projections are not based on an...
The community theater team is gearing up for their spring production, the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Auditions will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 and 7 at the Nolan Center. Everyone who tries out for the cast is encouraged to come prepared with a song to sing and to read lines for the auditions. First performed on Broadway in 1982, the musical tells the biblical story of Joseph, whose dreams of destiny and his father’s favoritism inspires jealousy among his 11 brothers. Set in Canaan and Egypt, it follo...
Heavy winds earlier this month caused several trees to fall near Zarembo Island’s popular public access point. One tree tore through the causeway that connects the dock to the island. Another barricaded a dirt ramp often used to load and offload vehicles at the beach landing. The nearby island is a hot spot for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District Ranger Tory Houser hopes to have the causeway repaired ahead of the 2025 deer hunting season, which begins Aug. 1. She said the Forest Service is actively working to...
The 18-year-old Marine Service Center, a mainstay of Wrangell’s waterfront economy, collects enough money in fees to cover its expenses — but there is nothing set aside to replace equipment, such as the boatlifts and hydraulic trailer that are essential to the operation. A 2022 economic analysis pointed out that if equipment replacement and other capital expenses were included in the math, the borough loses money on the service center. The port commission has started discussing possible rate increases to ensure there is sufficient money in a r...
The port commission is considering whether it can attract more boat owners to keep their vessels in the water during the winter if the monthly moorage rates were discounted. The idea is to generate revenue from unused moorage spaces. Even with a discount, the monthly short-term moorage rates would still be more expensive per month than the rate for boat owners who reserve a space for a full year. A seasonal discount to entice more owners to keep their boats in the water in the winter might work, said Winston J. Davies, port commission chair....
Ketchikan Rep.-elect Jeremy Bynum has decided to join the House Republican minority caucus. A narrow 21-member coalition of Democrats, independents and two Republicans are set to govern the 40-member House when lawmakers convene next month in Juneau. The majority coalition has been hoping to entice a couple more Republicans, including Bynum, to join their ranks. Bynum opted to stay with the Republicans, according to last week’s announcement by the minority caucus. The freshman legislator, who also will represent Wrangell, Metlakatla and C...
A Washington state-based bioenergy company is exploring potential development of the borough’s 6-Mile mill property. Next week, Dale Borgford and other members of Borgford BioEnergy will fly to Wrangell ahead of a Wednesday, Dec. 18, public workshop with borough officials. The workshop will explore whether Borgford is a good fit for the property and vice versa. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Since purchasing the mill site for $2.5 million in 2022, the borough has wanted to cater the property toward economic development. Bo...
Five, four, three, two, one - wooooooooooo. And just like that, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was alit. Adorned with 10,000 Alaskan-made ornaments and glistening with the power of 5,000 LED bulbs, the 80-foot-tall spruce will remain lit from dusk to 11 p.m. through Jan. 1. While the tree obviously headlined its own lighting ceremony, the Dec. 3 event was equally a celebration of Wrangell and the state. Members of Alaska's congressional delegation, Rep. Mary Peltola and Sens. Lisa Murkowski...
For the first time since it shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wrangell's indoor shooting range is up and running. One might even say it's ready to go - lock, stock and barrel. The range's first day of operation was Dec. 3, and it will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m. (dependent on the availability of range safety officers). Eventually, the range, located in the basement of the Public Safety Building, will open on Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., but that will not begin until...
After more than five years of work, Wrangell's newspapers going back to the Fort Wrangel News in June 1898 (when the town was spelled with one l) are now available in a searchable online database. And it's free. The website, which went live on Wednesday, Dec. 11, is owned and managed by the Irene Ingle Public Library. "This incredible resource brings over 6,000 issues together in one convenient location, providing a powerful tool for researchers, families and anyone curious about Wrangell's...
Alaska Airlines has received a federal subsidy since 1976 to provide Wrangell with twice-daily jet service, and the mayor and chamber of commerce are rounding up community support to urge the government to issue a new contract after the current agreement expires in 2025. “I want to ensure it stays around,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said of her petition drive to show community support for Alaska Airlines under the U.S. Department of Transportation Essential Air Service program. Wrangell is one of 65 communities in Alaska — which includes 10 more...
This fall, social studies teacher Jack Carney hosted a mock election for his junior and senior students. The kids learned about the issues, ballot measures and candidates, asked questions and eventually cast mock ballots of their own. A newly updated school board policy will ensure such classroom efforts can continue in the future. “In social studies classes, for example, we want things about the election and about political parties,” Superintendent Bill Burr said. “We wanted to make sure that was allowed.” The new policy ensures this. Though...
Now concluding its third year, the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial at Heritage Harbor has 71 plaques honoring people who were part of the community’s maritime industry. The nonprofit organization is accepting applications through Jan. 31 for new plaques that will be installed in the spring. Each application should include the name of the deceased, a brief tribute that will be featured on the plaque and a story about the life of the mariner, which will be stored and available on the memorial’s online server. The memorial’s mission “is to help tell...