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Mountain lions are not commonly spotted in Southeast Alaska, but earlier this month one was killed on the south end of Wrangell Island. Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were notified that a mountain lion had been shot and killed on June 3. They took possession of the carcass and are conducting an investigation. Troopers leading the investigation declined to comment. Riley Woodford, information officer with the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation in Juneau, said he knew of three other documented sightings...
Director Lucy Robinson has announced there will be changes to Parks and Recreation hours and services coming soon, due to a pending cut in borough funding for the department. Recreation Coordinator Devyn Johnson said last week the details were still being worked out. As proposed in the draft budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, the borough contribution to the Parks and Recreation Department would drop from $640,000 last year to $554,000. Borough funds cover more than 70% of the budget for the department’s programs and maintenance, i...
The Wrangell team brought home the national championship trophy from The Salvation Army Bible Bowl competition earlier this month in Pasadena, California — the first time ever for the town. The five Wrangell teens have been on a winning streak the past couple of years. They won the state title this year for the second time in a row and placed third at last year’s nationals in California. The Salvation Army’s website describes the question-and-answer contest as “an academic game where teens match knowledge about a designated portion of scriptu...
In his most recent work, historian Ronan Rooney published a blog post about Walter C. Waters, a man he calls the Walt Disney of Wrangell. Waters was a businessman brought to Wrangell during the gold rush, who opened a curio store in 1922 called the Bear Totem Store which sold Native artifacts and attracted tourists from far and wide. Rooney said this has been his most popular blog post yet, adding, “controversy is always popular.” Waters, Rooney explained, is a controversial figure. He was a successful businessman who did some great things for...
Wayne Johnson, the real estate developer planning to purchase the former Wrangell Medical Center property, won the GOP nomination for U.S. Congress in Georgia’s 2nd District on June 18. Johnson said in an interview on June 20 that his election campaign won’t affect his plans for building a condo development on the former hospital property. He is still committed to Wrangell, he said, adding that he hopes people will like the idea of having someone in Congress with a special interest in the community. With the campaign slogan “Stop the stupi...
The Alaska Marine Highway System allowed only one week for public comment on its proposed ferry schedule for the upcoming fall and winter, but the draft is pretty much a non-issue for Wrangell: The level of service would be the same as it’s been the past couple of years. The schedule for October through April shows one ferry a week northbound and one a week southbound, the same as this summer, last winter and the summer before that. The stops would be southbound on Mondays and northbound on Fridays. The state released the draft schedule on J...
The quilting guild Stikine Stitchers is putting on its annual Fourth of July Quilt Show. For two weeks, members will display their work at various businesses around town. Setup is Wednesday, June 26, and the show will come down July 10. About 12 to 15 residents will participate in the show, said organizer Joan Benjamin, displaying their quilts at Midnight Oil, Angerman's, Stikine Drug, Ottesen's Ace Hardware and more. "This is our 18th time putting on the show," she said. "It would've been 19...
With less than a week left until the 69th Wrangell king salmon derby closes on Sunday, June 30, more than 135 people had bought entry tickets and 18 kings had been weighed in as of Monday. The leader as of Monday was Charlie Webb. The Anchorage resident caught his 43.5-pound king near Point Warde while fishing with Alan Cummings of All In Charters on June 15, the first day of the derby. Webb’s king is the largest caught in the derby since Gary Smart, of Seqium, Washington, won the contest in 2017 with a 64.1 pounder. Smart’s fish was the lar...
The Southeast Alaska Solid Waste Authority, or SEASWA, an organization trying to reduce the cost of trash disposal in the region, has received a $500,000 grant from the federally funded Denali Commission to study more economical and efficient options for getting rid of waste. Waste disposal costs in the region have increased dramatically over the past few years, Wrangell Public Works Director Tom Wetor said. Increases could be due to a number of reasons like inflation, COVID disruptions or fuel and other costs charged by barge companies that...
Nestled among the trees and neighboring houses, a two-story residence at 212 Second Ave. serves not just as the home of a growing family but also a growing business in fantasy games and collectibles. An outer staircase leads to the house's upper level, where Wesley Seward lives with his wife, state wildlife trooper Alisha Seward, and their sons Kaden and Ryder, ages 3 and 2, respectively. On the lower level, Wesley Seward has built a world of trading cards, role-playing games and figurines. A we...
The state of Alaska experiences some of the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual assault and abuse in the nation, yet most health care personnel are not trained to document and collect medical evidence crucial for aiding victims of assault and abuse. Creators of the Alaska Comprehensive Forensic Training Academy, who visited Wrangell last week, are trying to bridge the gap in training. ACFTA provides free training to nurses and health care providers that “teaches medical providers the correct way to collect forensic evidence from t...
The borough assembly has set a public hearing for June 25 on an ordinance that would require boat owners to show proof of marine insurance or pay a monthly surcharge on their moorage fees. If approved by the assembly, the insurance requirements likely would not be applied until next year, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said in an interview June 12. The port commission has recommended the assembly require marine insurance to protect the borough from damages caused by boat fires and to ensure payment of any cleanup or salvage expenses. The...
Trident Seafoods’ plan for its Wrangell plant this summer “is to run hard,” with as many as 180 workers on the processing lines, packing headed-and-gutted pinks and chum salmon for the fresh-frozen market. “You’ve got to get them out of the water and into the freezer” to have the best fish for consumers, said Jeff Welbourn, senior vice president of Alaska operations. It’s all about time and temperature, he said of producing a quality product. The company has added a new fish oil plant to its Wrangell operations for this summer, he said. “We...
They can't do anything about the weather, but organizers of Wrangell's Fourth of July events are preparing for the wettest and hoping for the warmest. They have made room at the covered downtown pavilion for musical groups to perform in the afternoon and evening of the Fourth. The bands need electricity, which doesn't mix very safely with rain, said Tommy Wells, executive director of the chamber of commerce, which organizes the annual holiday celebration in town. The events start with a golf tou...
A large audience turned out to hear an evolutionary biologist explain the connection between a dime-size piece of 3,000-year-old human bone found in a cave near Wrangell and present-day Alaska Natives, who welcomed the opportunity to return a distant ancestor to her final resting place. Charlotte Lindqvist, a professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Buffalo in New York, gave the presentation June 13 at the Nolan Center. The event focused on a bone fragment...
Once again, it’s that time of year to catch some fish at the lake and net some fun for the whole family. The annual Family Fishing Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22, at Pats Lake. The event promises to have something for everyone, including casting practice and even a free lunch. The U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District and WCA Earth Branch are sponsoring the event, along with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Corree Delabrue, with the Forest Service, confirmed that special youth fishing regulations by Fish and G...
The borough will allow people to pay sales and property taxes online by credit card, though they will be charged a credit card processing fee of 2.75%. The assembly approved the credit card option and fee on a unanimous vote at its June 11 meeting. Utility customers already are allowed to pay their bills with a credit card, with no fee. The new option for tax payments will take effect July 1. Property tax bills will go out by July 1 and payments are due by Oct. 15. Businesses generally pay sales taxes quarterly, with the next round of returns...
Consumers think of seafood as a premium purchase, which is not a good image when household budgets are tight and shoppers are worried about inflation. “The problem is not the fish,” said Jeremy Woodrow, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. “The challenge is in the global marketplace.” Woodrow in February called the 2023 market for Alaska salmon “rock bottom” with low prices and weak demand, though maybe the industry was coming off that rocky bottom, he said then. Now, as the season is getting underway this summer, “a lo...
As the weather warms, residents of all ages will indulge in some leisure reading over the summer. At the Irene Ingle Public Library, librarian Sarah Scambler doesn’t keep track of the titles checked out by patrons but noted people read a wide variety of different subjects. “We have a pretty eclectic group of readers here at the library.” She noted one popular title on the shelves that’s been on the bestseller list for the past 10 weeks is a novel called “The Women” by Kristin Hannah, based on the true experiences of female nurses during the...
Kids of all ages will have a chance to check out some big rigs at the popular Touch-a-Truck event, from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 23, at the parking lot by Volunteer Park. Attendees will get to see many kinds of work vehicles, including fire trucks, police cars, bulldozers, dump trucks and more. This is the seventh such event held in Wrangell, with one year staged as a parade due to COVID restrictions. While it’s normally held on a Saturday, Parks and Recreation Coordinator Devyn Johnson said she wanted kids to be able to come to this event a...
The anticipated movement of invasive European green crab farther into Southeast Alaska was verified June 13 when 11 carapaces of the shellfish were collected on the shore of Gravina Island’s Bostwick Inlet, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The inlet, less than 10 miles southwest of downtown Ketchikan, is a popular local spot for harvesting Dungeness crab. The molted green crab carapaces were found by members of the Metlakatla Indian Community Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Alaska Sea Grant program, who were c...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has tightened the sport fishing limits for Wrangell Narrows and Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area where hatchery kings return. The new limits were put in place due to poor returns of king salmon in the area, and will be in effect Saturday, June 15, through July 31. In the Wrangell Narrows, south of Matinsens’s dock and north and east of the northern tip of Woewodski Island at the southern entrance to the narrows, the new bag and possession limit for all anglers is one king salmon. Nonresident annual l...
Sales tax revenues came in under projections for the first three months of the year, an indication of a weakening economy and a worrisome sign for the community, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said last week. “We’re at that point we’re going to have to trim things down,” he told the assembly at a budget work session Wednesday, June 5. Mayor Patty Gilbert called the manager’s draft spending plan “the leanest budget” she has seen. In addition to proposing laying off two of the police department’s seven-member force of certified officers, Villa...
"Good morning Paddle to Celebration 2024! It's time to get up!" Jim Zeller's booming voice echoed through the forest. It was 4:30 a.m. and rain pattered the roof of my tent on Read Island. I could hear people in nearby tents begin to stir, along with the faint snoring of those that hadn't been roused by Zeller. We were a couple days into our seven-day canoe journey from Wrangell to Juneau, where we would arrive for Celebration, the biennial gathering of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. The...
A University at Buffalo, New York, professor will talk about the genetic connection between human remains thousands of years old discovered in a cave near Wrangell and Alaska Natives in the area today. The presentation, sponsored by the Wrangell Cooperative Association and the U.S. Forest Service, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at the Nolan Center. The event will be free to the public. Evolutionary biologist Charlotte Lindqvist of the university’s department of biological sciences is coming to Wrangell for the presentation. “I wil...
