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Construction on the Raven Trail has begun and residents may have noticed the sound of a helicopter flying near the Reid Brothers Construction rock pit. Throughout the day, a helicopter flies back and forth from the Raven Trail and the rock pit with a hopper that holds about three-fourths of a cubic yard of gravel. The helicopter then uses the hopper to spread gravel over a prepared surface of the trail, according to Paul Olson with the United States Forest Service. Oregon Woods Inc., a construct...
WRANGELL - A brown bear has been killed by Wildlife Troopers and Forest Service personnel after a run-in with a group of Alaska Crossings campers just north of Berg Bay, across the narrows on the mainland near Wrangell. According to information provided by Public Information Officer Ken Marsh, with the Alaska State Troopers, the encounter occurred on Sunday, May 26, around 3 a.m. A brown bear wandered into the Crossings camp and began rummaging through the group's food. The group had a bear...
Senator is wrong To the Editor: Last fall the USFS held public meetings on the repeal of the Roadless Rule. The consensus was overwhelming public support in favor of the Roadless Rule as it now stands, from Alaskans who live, work and play here. Since the last 10 years the Roadless Rule was formalized for Alaska, many local guiding tours and a new a line of smaller, more personal cruise ships now rely on Roadless Rule lands, besides the mega ships that bring over a million passengers a year to...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House has endorsed a tribe’s effort to change the name of Saginaw Bay to Skanax Bay. Tribal leaders are pushing the change because the body of water off Kuiu Island was named for a U.S. warship that destroyed three Tlingit villages in 1869 that are near present-day Kake in southeast Alaska, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The House passed a resolution 37-0 endorsing the name change to Skanax, the Tlingit word for security. The Tlingit villages east of Sitka destroyed by the U.S.S. Saginaw were deserted in adv...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly received a response from Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen after sending three letters requesting information about a possible review of the Tonka and Big Thorne Integrated Resource timber contracts. "I share your interest in a consistent, sustainable timber sale program on the Tongass National Forest that supports the local economy while adhering to strong policy, management and financial controls," wrote Christiansen in her letter to the assembly....
The bid for a new baler was awarded to Recycle Systems by the borough assembly at an assembly meeting on Monday for an amount not to exceed $535,327. The bid came in under the $600,000 that was allocated for a new borough baler by the assembly. All the bids that were placed came under the allocated $600,000, but public works director Chris Cotta recommended the bid be awarded to Recycle Systems. "The proposal offered by Recycle Systems was found to be outstanding in every regard, as well as...
The borough assembly approved a second follow-up letter at last week's assembly meeting regarding a letter sent to Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen in November requesting information about a possible review of the Tonka and Big Thorne Integrated Resource timber contracts. "It feels like we've been stonewalled for the last six months on that," said vice mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor at a borough assembly meeting on April 15. "Frankly, I want to put this issue to bed." The letter is the third...
Redirect $32 million to "legitimate" transportation need To the Editor: Only 15 seconds into my April 12, one minute public testimony for the state operating budget, my microphone was abruptly muted by finance committee co-chair Senator Stedman. His justification explained afterward was, "We are talking about the operating budget." If freeing up $32 million dollars to put toward genuine transportation needs is an invalid suggestion toward relieving our state's fiscal crisis, then Alaska resident...
Parks and Rec groundkeeper Jesse O'Connor dumps a load of rock underneath a newly built kiosk at Sandy Beach on Wednesday. The kiosk was designed by the United States Forest Service, paid for by the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department Association and constructed by volunteer firefighter Logan Canton and about a dozen other volunteer firefighters, with help from Parks and Rec, according to assistant fire chief Dave Berg. The kiosk will feature information on the Raven Trail from the USFS, Sandy...
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced on Tuesday that communities across Alaska will soon receive a total of $10,990,708 to fund schools and local budget priorities. The payments are being provided through the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program, which Murkowski successfully reauthorized and funded through Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 in the FY2018 omnibus appropriations bill. "Local communities in Alaska and across the country rely on the Secure Rural Schools program to pay for essential...
In a trip through Southeast Alaska, Congressman Don Young (R) stopped in Petersburg on Tuesday to meet with constituents and talk about the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Signed in 1980, the act provided protection to over one million acres of land in Alaska, which includes parts of the Tongass National Forest. Under ANILCA, cabins cannot be built on protected land designated as wilderness. The cabins that were already built prior to ANILCA were grandfathered in; howev...
WRANGELL - The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, SEACC, was founded in 1970 to protect the land and wildlife of the Tongass National Forest. The SEACC board of directors is made up of people who have made this region their home, from Seattle to Yakutat. Current Board President Stephen Todd is a Wrangell resident. SEACC board members and staff all came to Wrangell this past week to hold meetings on topics they felt were of public interest. The main two topics that were brought up were the Ro...
February 28, 1919 A public Library is being started by the Deep Sea Fishermens Union, Petersburg Branch. They are receiving donations of books of all kinds from anyone caring to donate them. These will be placed in a large bookcase located in the Union Hall on Main Street and will be at the disposal of anyone desiring to secure reading matter. February 25, 1944 Mrs. Etta Hildebrand, the mother of Mrs. Myron Frink, and a former Petersburg resident insisted on a welder’s job in California to help in this new war on tyranny. They tried her out...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — The state has signed a $2.1 million contract with ALCAN Timber Inc. for a timber sale on state and federal forest land in southeast Alaska. The timber sale includes about 481 acres (195 hectares) within the Southeast State Forest and Tongass National Forest on the northwest end of Gravina Island, the Ketchikan Daily News reported Saturday. State Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige signed the three-year contract Wednesday. The Vallenar Bay sale involves about 16 million board feet (38,000 cubic m...
February 14, 1919 Hans Running, of Petersburg, is one of the first, if not the first Alaskan to see service on the actual fighting front in France, who has returned to Alaska. He arrived in Petersburg on the City of Seattle last Saturday. He fought with his unit through the battle at Verdun, where the Germans made such a desperate effort to break the American lines, and also at the Argonne Forest where the Americans were given the task of driving the Germans from positions which the French and British had been unable to capture for years. Runni...
There are many ideas, books, quotes, videos and even classes on what makes a good, lasting relationship, but all one has to do is ask lifelong Petersburg residents Roald and Jeannine Norheim, married 64 years this July. Their joint response, "doing things together." The Norheims' love story from the beginning was about doing things together, such as both being born and raised in Petersburg by Norwegian immigrants. They both attended elementary and high school together, although Roald is three...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released the winners of the 2019 Excellence in Service Award earlier this month. Up to five members of advisory committees across the state are given this award each year. This year, David Rak was one of the five recipients for serving as secretary of the Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee, according to the Department of Fish and Game, for "24 plus" years. "I haven't gone back in my records to see how much 'plus' there is," Rak said with a laugh....
As the United States Government shutdown continues into its fourth week, employees of local federal government agencies such as the United States Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Transportation Security Administration are carrying on without pay, while others have been furloughed. On Tuesday, the United States Coast Guard reached its first pay period where personnel did not receive a paycheck. After the shut down began on Dec. 22, those in the USCG that were still working and had not been furloughed received a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state agency plans to swap land in southeast Alaska for federal land that can be developed for timber sales. The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority board on Thursday approved a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service that will trade 18,000 acres (7,284 hectares) of trust lands for 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) of federal land, the Juneau Empire reported. The trust lands are scattered throughout southeast Alaska and the exact amount to be traded must be worked out. Wyn Menefee, director of the trust authority land o...
The Petersburg School District school board accepted the resignation of Rae C. Stedman Elementary School principal Teri Toland on Tuesday. She will be retiring at the end of the school year in June. "I'm appreciative of the opportunity to serve the students and families of Petersburg," said Toland. "I am just really grateful for that. It has been a wonderful experience for me." Toland, 59, first arrived in Petersburg 13 years ago with her husband Kim Toland who had just retired from the...
January The borough assembly received a proposed update to its zoning code that would introduce a new form of affordable housing, an expansion of the historical and industrial districts and the end of a requirement for businesses to include parking downtown. The borough assembly held a work session to discuss a plan to impose restrictions on the senior tax exemption. A possible annual fee to sales tax exemption card holders was agreed upon ranging between $50 and $60. Police Chief Kelly Swihart...
The United States Government shut down at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Dec. 22 after the Senate failed to come up with an agreement on a spending deal, which resulted with interruptions in the operations of government agencies, including the United States Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the United States Forest Service. Despite falling under the Department of Homeland Security, one of the agencies that were impacted significantly, the USCG will continue to provide essential services, including search and rescue...
Beginning in January, adrenaline junkies heading to Alaska for heli-skiing can now launch off a boat moored at the foot of untouched mountains in Petersburg. After three consecutive bad winters, Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures (SEABA) has secured a two-year permit with the U.S. Forest Service to operate in Petersburg and partnered with a boat to offer Inside Passage heli-skiing. “It’s a new way to generate interest in the Southeast region,” co-owner Scott Sundberg said. The last few seasons in Haines have been tough because of an incre...
District ranger Dave Zimmerman has taken a position at the forest service regional offices in Juneau working in forest management after serving two and half years in Petersburg. While the United States Forest Serves goes through a competitive hiring process for a new district ranger, Ted Sandhofer is acting district ranger in Petersburg, according to forest service affairs and partnerships officer Paul Robbins, Jr. Zimmerman is the region ten forest product group leader in Juneau, which is a lateral move within the forest service. The position...
The United States Forest Service will be reconstructing two miles of the Raven trail and decommissioning the last mile that leads to the Raven's Roost Cabin. A new Raven's Roost Cabin will be built at the end of the third mile of the trail, just before the decommissioned fourth mile. It will be a brand new design. The second and third mile of the current Raven trail will be reconstructed to address steep, muddy and slippery locations on the trail, according to a decision memo released by the...
