Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 691
The US Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa invited the community on board for tours on Monday. The occasion was to bid thank you and farewell to Petersburg, which has been home port to the USCGC Anacapa for the entirety of her 32-year career. Commissioned to serve as an Island-class patrol boat on January 13, 1990, the Anacapa has carried out her mission of law enforcement, safety and fisheries law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime defense with a crew of sixteen on board and their families living in the Petersburg community. Captain Darwin Je...
Ocean Rangers To the Editor: If you were disappointed in the Senate Resource Committee’s decision last week and want to stop SB 180 please speak up now. As constituents of Senator Bert Stedman, it is very important he hear our concerns on this bill introduced by Governor Dunleavy that will eliminate Ocean Rangers on cruise ships. We need to ask him to hold SB 180, to not schedule a hearing this session, and urge him to reinstate funding for the Ocean Rangers on most ships, most of the time. Ask Senator Stedman directly what he is planning to d...
The Harbor and Ports Advisory Board reviewed a conceptual design document last week for improvements to the Papke's Landing marine facility including the construction of a new ramp, a new float dock, and expanded parking. Alan Murph with Harai and Associates, who drafted the plans, presented the concepts at the meeting and said the project would be broken up into phases for a total estimated cost of $6,410,000. The document depicts a new 255-foot by 215-foot parking lot which would be built on...
WRANGELL-If visitors read the bear-sighting sheet at Anan Wildlife Observatory, which the workers fill out every season, bear names would sound more like tax forms: 7-05-A, for the first bear spotted on the stream to fish on July 5, and 7-05-B, for the second bear spotted on July 5. Well, humans only do so well with numbering systems before our penchant for nicknames kicks in: Casino, Crack and Scuba Sue, to name a few. Bear naming can be a controversial issue, Dee Galla, outdoor recreation...
WRANGELL–When contractor Jesse West said, "we destroyed everything," it sounds pretty bad, out of context. But that's exactly what his Petersburg company Rainforest Contracting was hired to do - pull down the old Anan bear viewing deck and walkway and put up a new one for the U.S. Forest Service. "So far we've demo-ed everything that was up there," West, president of Rainforest Contracting, said March 29. "It's all stacked in piles and ready to get taken out of there." The concrete and wood an...
WRANGELL-The hooligan are back. When the eagles disappear from town and the sea lions start hauling out on the beach at Lesnoi Island, it's a pretty sure bet hooligan season is upon the Stikine River, said David Rak, forester at the U.S. Forest Service in Wrangell. If you go to the north side of Wrangell Island, Rak said, you can hear the sea lions barking from a spot where hundreds haul out on the beach at Lesnoi Island. "When the eagles all disappear from town, they're over there," Rak said...
While most high schools may take a field trip to the local museum or zoo, a select group of Petersburg High School students get to go somewhere a little bit cooler-LeConte Glacier. Each year, students set out to survey the glacier and record how it has moved over time. They're taking what they have learned in the classroom and are applying it in the field. The survey began in 1983 with high school teacher Paul Bowen's surveying class as an opportunity for the top students to get real world... Full story
The Forest Service is bulking up how many permits it issues to the Anan Wildlife Observatory in order to allow as many visitors to the site as people and bears can handle, while also protecting the habitat. And it has a mid-March start date for a contractor to tear down the existing observatory to put up a new one in time for the July 5 to Aug. 25 viewing season. The current limit is 60 permits a day during the season, District Recreation Staff Officer Tory Houser said Friday. That was implement...
John Bisset, 18, was arrested on multiple charges of alleged sexual assault on February 19 according to the Petersburg Police Department. The charges include four counts of first degree sexual assault and one count of second degree sexual assault which all allegedly occurred on December 4, 2021. According to a press release from the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, the AWT Patrol Vessel Compliance conducted a commercial fishing boarding on February 19 near Hobart Bay when law enforcement discovered that Bisset, who was aboard, had an active felony...
An annual 200-acre treatment limit on the U.S. Forest Service's invasive plant management program in the 3.7-million-acre Wrangell-Petersburg district has the agency revamping and possibly expanding its efforts to eradicate foreign weeds that could damage the ecosystem and economy. Since 2015, the Forest Service has been pulling, digging and spot-spraying plants like knotweed and canarygrass that are not naturally occurring in Southeast. But project managers say it's not enough and they need to...
Parks and Recreation has distributed community center membership passes to borough board members and to the staff of nonprofit child care providers as a way to thank them for their service to the community. The idea to give passes to board members was suggested to Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne who said it could serve as a way for the borough to show its appreciation for the service people provide by serving on those boards. She discussed it with Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht w...
Over 200 cars, trucks, and other vehicles assembled Sunday afternoon to take part in a "Freedom Convoy" around Petersburg to voice their opposition to COVID-19 mandates and to advocate for "personal individual rights." The convoy was similar to others that have taken place, most notably in Canada where truckers drove to Ottawa, the Canadian capital, to protest COVID-19 restrictions. The vehicles flew U.S. and Canadian flags along the route and honked their horns as they passed onlookers. Some...
February 3, 1922 Johnas Olson, well known store man and former general manager of the American mail and passenger route, has been chosen as manager of the store of the Trading Union by the Board of Directors and took charge last Wednesday. Mr Olson is relieving C. E. Swanson who resigned recently to engage in business for himself, but what line of business has not been announced yet. Mr. Olson has been a resident of Petersburg for many years and is one of the best known men among the fishing fleet of this section. He for some time was commander...
I’m Ed Wood, and I’d like to discuss the recent completion of the Alaska Mental Health Trust/US Forest Service land exchange, and the impetus since December 2005 behind our group the Mitkof Highway Homeowners Association’s opposition to the proposed timber harvest on the slopes above our homes and property, Mitkof Highway (State Highway #7), and the Tyee hydroelectric utility corridor. These slopes are demonstrably steep and unstable, and logging of any type is likely to exacerbate that instability. “In the event that the Trust elects to purs...
Fur buyer Andy Anderson traveled to trapping camps on buying trips around Southeast. In 1921, he wrote an article about the future of the blue fox industry, predicting it would soon become Petersburg's largest. At that time the U.S. Forest Service facilitated fox farming to make use of "useless" islands. In 1938, while setting traps on frigid Sunset Island, Andy fell from an icy cliff. His companions managed a heroic rescue to get him to their boat for the 8 hr. trip back to Petersburg, braving...
The US Forest Service announced on December 8 that it has authorized silvicultural treatments on 105,224 acres of land in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts to improve the ecosystems of young-growth stands. The goal of the treatments is to improve habitats and timber production in young-growth stands which face issues caused by overstay trees blocking light as forests regenerate after being clear-cut according to Petersburg Ranger District Silviculturist Ben Case. Problems include...
Birders canvassed Mitkof Island on December 18 as part of the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count as they looked to collect data on local bird populations. It was a smaller group of people than usual according to Brad Hunter, the coordinator of Petersburg's bird count. Of the 23 people who participated, 10 people watched bird feeders while 13 split up to cover the group's regular routes near Hungry Point, Sandy Beach, the Beachcomber Lodge, and Blind River Rapids. "It's a lot...
December 23, 1921 Mrs. W.J. Pigg, wife of Dr. Pigg, left for the south on the Spokane this week and will visit for several weeks before returning to Petersburg. G.W. Trubey, of the Department of Agriculture, who has been making a tour of inspection of the dairy herds of the Territory, was in Petersburg this week and inspected all of the milch cows in this section. He left on the Spokane for Wrangell. He reported the herds in this section in good condition. A one ton Ford truck, with pneumatic tires and worm gear arrived and was delivered to...
The new cabin at the end of the Raven's Roost Trail was opened for reservations on December 16 and has already seen use according to Cabin and Trails Program Manager Paul Olsen with the U.S. Forest Service. Built by Rainforest Contracting, it is larger than the previous cabin and about 1.2 miles closer to the trailhead which was also reconstructed to make it more accessible to hikers. The new cabin is more family-oriented than the previous one, which was showing signs of decay. It also features...
An unexpected, strong weather system sent high winds tearing through Wrangell, snapping three Southeast Alaska Power Agency poles which blocked the highway at City Park and knocked out power to most of Wrangell for much of Tuesday and Wednesday. Petersburg buildings, businesses, and homes also went dark Tuesday afternoon from approximately 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. At 2:19 p.m., Utility Director Karl Hagerman reported that Petersburg was running on diesel generators while awaiting a report from...
The United States Forest Service announced plans Monday to improve three sites within the Tongass National Forest's Petersburg Ranger District. According to decision memos released by the USFS and signed by Petersburg District Ranger Ted Sandhofer earlier this month, the three sites include the Blind River Rapids, Crane Lake Trail, and Ohmer Creek. The first memo authorized the construction of a replacement shelter at Blind River Rapids and the addition of a picnic table. According to the memo,...
Petersburg's annual Parade of Light and Christmas tree lighting ceremony will take place on Friday. The parade portion of the event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Administrator Mindy Lopez, but it returns this year and will feature beloved characters spreading holiday cheer. The parade will start at 5:30 p.m. near Trading Union and will head south along Nordic Drive towards the municipal building. 15 minutes before the parade,...
Former and current secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, who was instrumental in reimposing the 2001 roadless rule on the Tongass National Forest in 2011 and is planning to reimpose it again before Nov. 1, has announced “a new Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy “to help support a diverse economy, enhance community resilience, and conserve natural resources.” This is to be “a collaborative process to invest approximately $25 million in financial and technical resources in sustainable opportunities for economi...
Proposition #2 passed during the October 5, 2021 municipal election, allowing the Frederick Point East subdivision to be removed from Service Area One after it gathered the necessary majorities of Service Area One voters and Frederick Point East voters. The next step in the process is to code properties in the subdivision to the right tax code according to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht who said the tax assessor is in town if the borough needs a second pair of eyes to help with the...
The United States Forest Service is proposing to combine three Resource Advisory Committees in the South Tongass region according to Alaska Region Secure Rural Schools Coordinator Kevin Hood. The Wrangell-Petersburg, Prince of Wales, and Ketchikan committees face problems with lack of quorums at meetings, preventing business such as approving recommendations for the allocation of federal Secure Rural Schools funding. The merger would see the three RACs be consolidated to form a new South Tongass...
