RAC votes to continue funding to birding, bear festivals

The Forest Service's Resource Advisory Committee voted unanimously May 9 to recommend continued funding for two prominent Wrangell events.

The Stikine River Birding Festival received a recommendation for $24,000 to fund travel, printing educational brochures, public outreach, and festival supplies and rental. Wrangell Bearfest received a recommendation for $24,600.

The advisory committee recommendation plays a prominent role in allocating federal Title II funds for expenditure. Projects approved at the meeting also include Wrangell Cabin Improvements including cabins at Virginia Lake, Mallard Slough, Garnet Ledge and the Wilderness Cabin, Renovation and Repair for the Chief Shakes Hot Tubs recreation area, repairs to the Kunk Lake shelter caused by vandals in 2013, modifications to the Deep Bay Cabin which would turn it from a high-maintenance cabin to a rustic recreation cabin.

Wood stoves at Castle Flats, Spurt Cove, and West Point cabins in the Petersburg district would also be replaced at a cost of $45,509. The Kah Sheets Bay Cabin would receive new wood and oil stoves, and reed canary grass would be removed from the shores of Petersburg Lake.

In all, the cost of the recommendations is an estimated $292,951 of a total $462,369.59 dollars in total funding presently available. Officials were currently waiting to see whether an additional estimated $250,000 to $300,000 would carry over from the previous year, according to Ranger Robert Dalrymple.

The Resource Advisory Committee is a meeting of appointed representatives who act as a sounding board for federal forest management and help to steer Title II, or secure rural schools funding at the local level.