Sorted by date Results 351 - 375 of 708
WRANGELL - Students at Evergreen Elementary School have spent the past few days making Christmas ornaments. Some students drew pictures of Alaskan wildlife, others made miniature wreaths, and another class made poinsettias. All these ornaments are not only fun projects for students to work on. They will be travelling up to Juneau in the coming weeks to hang on the governor's Christmas tree. Tory Houser, with the Forest Service, said that the Wrangell district of the Tongass National Forest has...
It was clear to Sam Bunge that he was going to Vietnam after he graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1967. He participated in the university's Reserve Officer Training Corps in preparation because he didn't want to join the United States Army as a private. "I wanted to have a little bit of control of what happened," said Bunge. His first year in the army was spent training. He completed his basic training in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. Since he was entering the army as...
Juliette Low, the founder of Girl Scouting once said. "Scouting rises within you and inspires you to put forth your best." That quote was especially fitting on Sat., Nov. 11 as the local Petersburg Girl Scouts gathered to mark their founder's birthday, which is Oct. 31 and to celebrate one of their own, Gold Award recipient Avery Herman-Sakamoto. The Gold Award in Girl Scouting is equivalent to the Eagle Scout Award in Boy Scouts. You must be dedicated, motivated and inspired to achieve it and...
The Petersburg Borough’s in-kind portion of a feasibility study to determine if the United States Army Corps of Engineers will dredge South Harbor and allow smoother egress increased by $50,000, and was approved by the assembly on Monday. “The money stays with us,” said harbormaster Glow Wollen at the assembly meeting on Monday. “We only use it if we spend it for this project. The borough’s in-kind contributions have increased to $100,000, from $50,000, which the borough has paid $32,349.11 of to date, according to a letter from Amber C....
October 18, 1918 Thirty six men from Petersburg are in the armed service of the United States assisting in its effort to down the mad beast of Potsdam and his assistant murderers. These men are many of them Scandinavians, and one of them born in Germany, but they have a love for freedom and personal liberty such as actuated the founders of this great Republic and which makes them ready to lay down their lives for humanity and the country of their adoption. October 15, 1943 Chairman Mansfield predicted today that non-controversial navigation...
A resolution to request the USDA’s inspector general conduct an audit of the Tonka and Big Thorne Integrated Resource timber contracts to determine if Petersburg is owed monies failed in a 2-4 vote by the borough assembly at a meeting on Monday. “This is just my attempt to make sure that specifically Petersburg has all the funds coming to them from these timber sales, and if not, let’s go to the next step and see how we’re going to find out,” said assembly member Jeff Meucci, who request the resolution be put on the agenda. The Washingto...
The 2001 Roadless Rule, covering 58 million acres of National Forest Land, including the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, was pushed through the entire national rulemaking and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes in 15 months. The 2001 Roadless Rule was promulgated by the outgoing Clinton Administration just eight days before President George W. Bush was inaugurated. The Roadless Rule was justified by the Clinton Administration’s claim that a national level “whole picture” review of National Forest roadless areas was neede...
On Sept. 25, a meeting was held by officials from the United States Forest Service to inform the public about the state’s plan to alter the Roadless Rule which prevents the construction of roads in nearly 60 million acres of land throughout the country. About 55 percent of the Tongass National Forest and 99 percent of the Chugach National Forest is subject to the Roadless Rule. The Roadless Rule was put into effect in 2001. In 2003, the Tongass was exempt from the Roadless Rule but reinstated in 2011. The USDA initiated an environment impact st...
MVFS misconception To the Editor: I want to address a small point in Glo Wollen’s letter this last issue. Thanking Glo for her fine support of Proposition 1, which I agree, she referred to a popular misconception as she described our quality of life in Petersburg. Many citizens use the term “Meals on Wheels” when they refer to Petersburg’s Senior dining program. The Mt. View Food Service is not an affiliate of Meals on Wheels. We are an organization in Petersburg which is dedicated to a senior group dining experience. If eligible consume...
WRANGELL — In 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a nationwide regulation on the management of roadless areas in national forests across the country. The “Roadless Rule,” as it’s known, generally prohibits timber harvesting and road construction in roadless areas.The rule affects 58.5 million acres of land across the country, based on information provided by the Forest Service. According to Nicole Grewe, with the Forest Service, about 55 percent of the Tongass National Forest is designated as roadless area. The Roadless Rule ha...
Bill Tremblay General Information Name: Bill Tremblay Age: 64 Experience: My past experience includes 9 years on the Petersburg City Council (1999-2007), and 2 1/2 years on the City Council for Craig, Alaska (1985-1988). In addition to my 36 year work experience with the Forest Service, I have been a part of several groups or organizations that provide a benefit to the Petersburg community. At this time I am the President of the Board of Directors for KFSK Public Radio, a board member for the...
The Nolan Center was littered with maps of the Tongass National Forest Sept. 5. Members of the Wrangell and Petersburg Ranger districts came by to hold a public meeting on the Central Tongass Project, a series of proposed long-term renovations in the area. Dave Zimmerman, with the Petersburg Ranger District, explained that the Central Tongass Project covers both the Petersburg and Wrangell districts, an area that stretches across the Wrangell, Mitkof, Kupreanof, Kuiu, Zarembo, and Etolin islands, as well as a section of the mainland. According...
Clarification To the Editor: Thank you to the Petersburg Pilot for the coverage of the 1st annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Walk/Run. I would like to clarify that while my granddaughter Amalia was correctly identified as Alaska Native, I am not. I am however a proud member of the Seetka Kwann Dance group, founded in 1990 and led by Jeanette Ness. Many thanks to SEARHC, WAVE, PIA and Petersburg Parks and Rec for coordinating this event and to all who participated. Karin McCullough Senior exemption thorny issue To the Editor: The...
Don "Scott" Bagley, 69, went to be with the Lord on August 3, 2018. He was born on July 28, 1949 in Yreka, California to Virginia and Don Bagley. Scott remained living in Northern California and attended Leggett Valley High School where he graduated in 1967. He worked at local gas stations and became a firefighter for the State of California. At age 19, he was in a terrible car accident and broke his back becoming a paraplegic and was confined to a wheelchair. He absorbed this tragic accident... Full story
Vote yes To the Editor: Push is coming to shove at the borough budget due to declining revenues. Management is having to make budget cuts. Property taxes and sales taxes are the largest two sources of revenue that pay for schools, police, fire protection, library and museum, even part of Mt. View Manor food service and KFSK. Now we have almost 600 senior sales tax exemption cards in our population of just 3,000. Sales tax revenue is consequently less. This October’s ballot proposition changes the sales tax program to give sales tax rebates t...
In the summer of 1992, the Student Conservation Association sent six interns to Kupreanof Island to build a fish pass. Two of the interns, Lane Bagley and Chuck Najimy, soon became fast friends. Twenty-six years later, their sons, with the SCA helped rebuild the same fish pass that their fathers built. Like their fathers, Steven Bagley and Cal Najimy created a bond over the weeks from working, living and fishing together. Plus, both had grown up hearing the same stories about their fathers’ t...
Family and friends of John Pickens, as well as members of the United States Forest Service and Student Conservation Association, gathered on Kupreanof Island to honor the late Pickens and the work done to rebuild the Mitchell Creek fish pass on Saturday. The USFS has been planning this event since last year, but only in February did it start to get some traction, said Eric Castro, a biologist with the USFS and one of the main coordinators of the event. Approximately 40 people were provided...
A fire was reported at about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning on Zarembo Island. The fire, according to a Facebook post by the U.S. Forest Service, is a tenth of an acre in size, and has consumed several structures at the Evergreen Timber logging camp. No injuries have been reported, and logging company employees are fighting the fire. According to Christy Gardner with the Forest Service, the fire was put out by logging company employees, though the Forest Service did come to the site to offer assistance. The fire was contained quickly and did not...
The U.S. Forest Service is rebuilding the Mitchell Creek Fish Pass on Kupreanof Island, which was originally built in 1992, to ensure that the self-sustaining coho salmon population continues. "This fish pass is the only one of nine on the Petersburg Ranger District to have been built specifically to increase local sport fishing opportunities," said Paul Robbins Jr., public affairs and partnerships officer with the United States Forest Service. Demolition of the previous fish pass began in early...
The Petersburg Marine Mammal Center is hosting a summer science camp this week to expose middle school aged kids to the scientific jobs available in the community. "We're excited," said Sunny Rice, Petersburg Marine Mammal Center board member and marine advisory agent with the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences/Alaska Sea Grant. "It'll be fun. It's always lots fun. Lots of energy. It's good to expose them to things they might want to do later on in life." Although, the summer camp is...
The Petersburg Indian Association's Tribal Transportation Program plans on building a board walk to allow residents of Mountain View Manor to connect to the trail system. "It's nice for people to get out," said Sue Harai, director of the TTP. The raised boardwalk will be 1345 feet long and six feet wide. It will connect 13th Street to the Hungry Point Trail. Funding for the project comes from a federal highway bill called the Fast Act. It sets aside money to provide safe and adequate...
WRANGELL - Early on Thursday morning, several members of the U.S. Forest Service left Wrangell with some guests for a trip to the Anan Wildlife Observatory. Present on the trip were Michael Saxton and Leslie Skora with the Katmai National Park. They were visiting Anan for an "information swap," they explained. They wanted to learn about some of the best practices in wildlife observation they could take from Anan, and also provide some tips to the Forest Service in the Wrangell district. Acting...
The Alaska Bar Association has opened a formal disciplinary investigation of Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem based upon grievances filed against him by Dr. Paul Fay and Robert Mills. The grievances relate to the class action litigation in Hanson vs. Kake Tribal Corporation. According to the ABA's letter to Triem, the central allegation in the grievances is that, "you have mishandled and failed to account for money that since 1998 you have held in trust for the Hanson class." The ABA said Triem's...
WRANGELL - A group of Tlingit residents had a unique opportunity for an historical site visit with state archaeologists last week at Anan Creek, revisiting a traditional fishing ground. Now known best for its bear observatory, what draws those bears is the creek's yearly run of salmon. This salmon run at Anan has long been a source of food for the nearby population as well, as attested to by the remnants of a tidal fish trap still near the creek on Sealaska Corporation lands. The United States...
