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Alaska Timber and Truss is expanding its operation at Falls Creek with a 71-acre land purchase from the Mental Health Land Trust. Brett Martin, who owns the mill with partner Mike Duman, said the acquisition will provide crucial space for sorting logs and expanding milling operations as demand increases for locally sourced lumber across the state. "We really needed somehow to be able to expand our mill operation," Martin told the Pilot last week. "When we purchased the mill, the sort yard...
Subscribers can use the link below to access this week's PDF Edition, or use the E-Editions button on the homepage for all of our current and archived PDFs. Click here to view this week's PDF. Thanks for subscribing!... Full story
After a six year hiatus, Petersburg's wearable art tradition returns this February as a fundraiser for KFSK community radio. The two-night event, scheduled for Feb. 6-7 at Sons of Norway Hall, aims to transform the venue into an immersive, glow-in-the-dark experience under the theme "Weird Core". "I want you to step out of Petersburg for a night," said Bennett McGrath, the event's organizer and a KFSK board member. "It's a night to transform, a night to not be yourself." McGrath's inspiration...
Wrangell borough assembly took a step toward attracting private investment in building and operating a shipyard at the 6-Mile mill property, which the borough purchased for $2.5 million more than three years ago. During its Dec. 16 meeting, the assembly voted to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seattle-based JAG Marine Group. The agreement sets the stage for a long-term public-private partnership at the 6-Mile property, which Wrangell officials want to develop as a deepwater port. If JAG, which runs shipyards in Ketchikan and...
While the 23-year-old, 360-foot-long American Empress cruise ship is being stripped of its superstructure for conversion into a deck barge, the borough is looking at buying four diesel generators to use as a backup power source for industrial development plans at the former 6-Mile mill site. The dismantling and conversion work started last month at the Tideline Construction operation at 6-Mile, where the company runs a scrap metal recycling business and is taking apart the Empress for the ship’s owner, American Cruise Lines. The four C...
People who have been shoveling snow in central Southeast Alaska might feel a bit like Sisyphus, rolling his boulder uphill. But the heavy snowfall that buried many panhandle communities this past week is no myth. Over 40 inches of snow has fallen on Petersburg since Monday, Dec. 8. Edward Liske, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau, said that's already more than the town got all of last winter. Sixteen inches of snow fell in Petersburg on Sunday, Dec. 14, breaking the... Full story
Southeast Alaska’s red king crab fishery delivered its most economically successful season on record this fall, with 205,607 pounds harvested worth more than $5.3 million in ex-vessel value through early December. The fishery, which opened November 1 across multiple management areas in northern Southeast, marked the region’s first opening since 2017 and saw 52 permit holders participate. “I think overall, it went well,” said Adam Messmer, ADF&G’s Region I shellfish biologist, following last week’s Southeast King and Tanner Task Force meeti...
Almost six months after the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to pay out the money, the U.S. House last week finally got around to saying yes and restoring the Secure Rural Schools program, which had paid about $120 million a year to communities hurt by cutbacks in the timber industry. The legislation authorizes funding to cover the past two years of missed payments. The program had ended when the House failed to take any action on a Senate bill a year ago. Petersburg will receive about $1.2 million for the two years of lost funding, essentially...
When New Jersey-based director Brian Bill was working on the documentary “Tide and Table,” he knew the film needed to premiere in Petersburg. His company, Two Doors Down Productions, visited Petersburg several times this year to document the town’s vibrant food and close-knit community. Bill said it felt important to have the community’s approval before the film hit a broader audience. The production reached out to Petersburg’s only movie theater, the Northern Nights Theater, which partners with the local school district to provide job train... Full story
The Federal Bureau of Investigations’ office in Anchorage issued an alert warning Alaskans of scams impersonating law enforcement or government officials demanding payment. Alaskans lost an estimated $1.3 million due to this type of government impersonation scam in 2024 — more than five times the previous year’s losses. Officials say Alaskans should not respond to calls claiming they have missed jury duty or have warrants out for their arrest. Officials say anyone targeted by such calls should not provide personal information or payment to th... Full story
When Matt Gerrits spotted a brilliant white bird wading through the shallows at Blind Slough on a December 5, he initially thought it might be a rare white heron. A closer look revealed something equally surprising: a great egret, thousands of miles from its usual range. Gerrits, knowing Petersburg birder Brad Hunter's passion for birds, immediately sent him a message about the unusual sighting. "Lucky for me, there is now cell coverage at the swan observatory," Hunter said he rushed out the...
Petersburg set a daily snowfall record Monday with 7.8 inches, but the early snowfall appears to be an outlier from expectations of a drier and colder winter to come, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. The snowstorm continued through Tuesday, accumulating 15 inches of snow across the two days. No flights landed at the airport on Tuesday, and roads in town were somewhat treacherous until snow abated and plowing caught up by Wednesday morning. Tuesday would have been a snowfall...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has put the Columbia back to work through Dec. 17 to cover for the Kennicott, which is delayed leaving a Puget Sound shipyard. The Kennicott was scheduled to start running the first week of December between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska, but the state reported last month that the ship would be delayed two weeks coming out of the shipyard where it has been for a new generator and other repairs. The Kennicott is now scheduled to leave Ketchikan on...
The Petersburg Rotary Club will distribute over 200 pounds of moose burger to the community on Saturday morning, through a unique local program that turns hunting violations into a food security resource. Petersburg's Moose Burger Bank, now in its eighth year, processes meat from illegally harvested moose and distributes it to local nonprofits and community organizations and, when supplies allow, directly to community members. A public distribution will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday outside...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a handful of changes to the borough's budget earlier this month, including spending $11,000 to repair damage at the town's ball field. An intense wind storm in September caused one dugout to completely collapse and the adjacent structure covering the bleachers to lean significantly. At the Dec. 1 Borough Assembly meeting, Little League President Becky Turland said the ball field is important to many in the community. "Little League uses the ball fields. T... Full story
A program run by a pair of Alaska nonprofits has started paying out grants for new electric heat pump installations in homes from Metlakatla to Kodiak. The grants range from $4,000 to $8,500 per household, depending on income, and are intended to reduce home heating costs while also reducing pollution from burning fossil fuels. The coastal Alaska program is just starting up, with funds paid out or pending for about 15 installations as of Dec. 2, said Jessie Huff, energy program manager for the Southeast Conference. "We have at least 300...
Tlingit & Haida’s Tidal Network is embarking on a seven-city tour of Southeast communities this month to update people on the organization’s plans for wireless internet service in the region and listen to community concerns. The Petersburg session is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the John Hanson Sr. Community Hall. The session also will be on Zoom: www.tinyurl.com/TidalPetersburgListening. Tidal Network has encountered differing levels of opposition to its plans to put up telecommunications towers in Wrangell, Sitka, Petersburg a...
The Alaska Board of Game will consider nearly 70 proposals affecting Southeast Alaska during its January 23-27, 2026 meeting in Wrangell, including several that would directly impact hunting regulations around Petersburg and on Mitkof Island. The meeting will be held at the Nolan Center in Wrangell, with remote participation available via Zoom. Written comments are due by January 9 to be included in the board’s meeting materials. The Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee is reviewing the proposals ahead of the January meeting. The c...
Marc Taylor will be sworn into the Petersburg school board next month, filling a seat that has been vacant for nearly two months. Taylor has lived in Petersburg since 2022 and works for Trident Seafoods. He said he applied for the board’s remaining empty seat because he wanted to give back to Petersburg. “I just kind of want to do my part for our community,” Taylor said. He said education has been a big part of his family, which also contributed to his desire to serve on the board. “My whole family, outside of me, were teachers or worked... Full story
Tribal members will decide who will serve as the Petersburg Indian Association’s council president and who will fill three seats on the tribal council when the tribal government holds its election on Jan. 5. The president serves a one-year term, while tribal council members serve two-year terms. Current council members Heather Conn and Nathan Lopez and Heather Conn will not be seeking reelection. Conn will be taking time to care for herself and her family, and Lopez is moving out of Petersburg. Conn has held a seat on the tribal council for s... Full story
A 150-foot communications tower under construction on Mill Road and two other proposed towers have drawn numerous Petersburg residents to three recent borough assembly meetings to voice concerns about Tidal Network’s broadband infrastructure project. What began as scattered questions in September has grown into organized opposition, with residents collecting signatures, forming a Facebook group, consulting lawyers, and pressing the assembly to address a project many say they learned about only after construction began. “I was shocked. I had...
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has unanimously approved a series of requests for financial secrecy filed by attorneys representing John Malone, the telecom billionaire seeking to take a controlling interest in Alaska’s largest internet firm. The approval means Malone will not be required to publish his personal finances and that the financial condition of three GCI-related subsidiaries will also remain secret. The finances of GCI Liberty, the parent company, are already public due to required filings with the U.S. Securities and E... Full story
When clients aboard the charter vessel Dauntless suggested helping chef Alisa Jestel create her long-dreamed-of cookbook two years ago, she didn't imagine it would lead to cameras, a film crew, and a documentary premiering at Petersburg's Wright Auditorium next week. "Tide and Table," a short documentary from Two Doors Down Productions, began as a modest 8-10 minute film concept. But after Emmy-winning director Brian Bill and his crew arrived in Petersburg last May, they realized they'd... Full story
Inside a workshop tucked behind Charles Davis's legendary junkyard, Jordan Reid stands beside a nearly completed aluminum 17-foot jet sled which has taken shape over the prior three days, its pre-cut panels fitting together with the precision of a high-end puzzle. "Everything is self-jigging," Reid explains. "It took years of math and design engineering, CAD drawing, trial and error to get to this point, to be able to have everything click together like this." After 20 years of running jet...
