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WRANGELL – Last weekend's 20th Annual Stikine River Birding Festival was not only a draw for birders hoping to see and learn more about the area's wildlife, but also was an opportunity for residents to learn more about them and others from around the state. Researcher Dan Ruthrauff, for instance, shared his findings studying rock sandpipers wintering in Cook Inlet. A wildlife biologist for the United States Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center, he spent several years at the inlet's icy t...
Petersburg was paid a visit by longstanding United States Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on Monday, part of a wider tour of Southeast that includes Ketchikan and Juneau. Extra chairs had to be brought into the Borough Assembly chambers to accommodate the audience, and people stood at the room's back and sides. Seated front and center, Young explained the session would be an informal way for people to give input and ask questions. "I'm here primarily to hear what's on your mind and what you'd like to...
Fluoridation proven safe To the Editor: The safety and effectiveness of community water fluoridation has been scientifically proven and documented for 60 years. Dental decay is still the number one disease of children. Water fluoridation can greatly reduce decay across the population. The safety and efficacy is supported by over 100 National and International organizations, the American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Public Health Service(CDC), the American Cancer Society, the World Health Organization, and the...
We find the Borough Assembly’s opposition to H.R. 232 to transfer up to 2-million acres of the Tongass National Forest to the State of Alaska very short sighted. According to their Resolution #2017-07 they would trade shrinking numbers of government jobs, dwindling federal handouts in the form of Payments in Lieu of Taxes and Secure Rural Schools funding for the opportunity to move acres of federal land into State ownership. Make no mistake. Government is a poor landlord. But with the transfer of Federal land into State hands, the landlord m...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly tabled a resolution opposing H.R. 232—an act sponsored by Alaska Congressman Don Young that would transfer up to 2 million acres of Tongass National Forest to the the state of Alaska. The land that would go into state control includes subsurface lands, roads, campgrounds and cabins and the resolution cited concerns that logging would supersede other land uses. “Whereas, the Alaska Timber Jobs Task Force from which this federal land transfer strategy originated was heavily weighted to timber industry rep...
Rethink flouride To the Editor: I would like to request the Borough reevaluate its practice of adding fluoride to our water supply. It is time to investigate what the current research is on the safety of fluoride after so many years of public use. I found that fluoride in drinking water does give dental benefits to people across the board, and over and over I read, “the benefits outweigh the risks.” But that made me wonder, if there are recognized risks associated with fluoride introduced into the drinking water of municipalities, why don...
WRANGELL – For visitors this summer to Anan Wildlife Observatory, trips to the restroom will become a bit less hectic. Up to the present, the oft-visited outdoor attraction's outhouse is sited apart from the main observation area – and its protective barriers – making run-ins with Anan's bears en route to the toilet an occasional risk. At least a few people have had to wait out a passing bear from inside, which can be unpleasant in addition to an unnerving experience. The Forest Service (USFS...
The Trust Land Office will hold a series of public informational meetings in Southeast communities to discuss the proposed land exchange between the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (Trust) and the United States Forest Service (USFS). The transaction would be a value for value land exchange of approximately 20,000 acres of USFS land for 18,000 acres of Trust land, the result of extensive negotiations between the Trust and the USFS and years of work with interested parties in Southeast Alaska. Informational meetings are scheduled starting...
The bill giving the green light to an exchange of thousands of acres of land between the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the U.S. Forest Service was introduced in Juneau this week. Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, filed House Bill 155 on Monday. It authorizes the trust to go ahead with an exchange of more than 17,000 acres of trust land for 20,000 acres of rural Forest Service timber land. In the process, the exchange would eliminate the possibility of logging on trust-owned land on Deer Mountain and above the Mitkof Highway in Petersburg. Those...
A snag in Sitka that was holding up progress on a state bill to help the Alaska Mental Health Trust with its land exchange — and thereby prevent logging on Deer Mountain — has been resolved, putting the bill on track to be introduced this session. State and federal lawmakers, at the behest of the trust, have been working on legislation that would mandate the U.S. Forest Service exchange more than 20,000 acres of rural timber land for approximately 17,000 acres of trust land located near Ketchikan, Meyers Chuck, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and...
KETCHIKAN (AP) – Elizabeth Peratrovich’s name now stands over the theater in the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, placed there by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood and revealed in an emotional ceremony. Peratrovich, born in Petersburg in 1911 as a Tlingit of the Raven-Sockeye clan, is celebrated for her role in the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, one of the first of its kind in the United States, in territorial Alaska a role that dozens of people honored during the ceremony renaming the t...
February 23, 1917 – Charles Smith has offered to sell his big residence and lots to the Hospital Association for $3,500. The matter was discussed at a special meeting held in A. B. hall Wednesday evening, and a test vote then taken was unanimous in favor of accepting Mr. Smith’s offer. The building, which is finely and very tastefully furnished, could not be better located for the purpose, and is of such size as would probably furnish ample hospital accommodations for several years. February 27, 1942 – Every married man subject to the Draft...
WRANGELL – In its first meeting of the new year, the governing board for Southeast Alaska Power Agency looked ahead to political reshufflings at the state and federal levels. Meeting in Petersburg February 8, members of the board learned from SEAPA executive officer Trey Acteson a change in administrations at the federal level could be useful to the agency’s future operations. For example, only two commissioners sitting on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – which licenses hydropower projects – remain in place since the swearing in of P...
WRANGELL – The Forest Service (USFS) announced its permits for visiting Anan Wildlife Observatory this summer will be available at the start of next month. At 8 a.m. on February 1 members of the public will be able to reserve permits at the Recreation.gov website. Twenty permits will be made available for each day of the season, which runs from July 5 to August 25. Visitation outside this time frame does not require a permit. Reservations and payment can also be made by phone, at the 1-877-444-6777 hotline. Permits for 2017 cost $10 api...
A demand for floathouses To the Editor: I’ve been following the Stikine River houseboat dilemma for some time now with interest. I did moose patrols for the Fish and Wildlife Service on the river in 1957, 58 and 59. I also ran the river in the 70 and 80s with friends in Petersburg and Telegraph Creek with a youth camp. There were no house boats on the river in that time. There were, however, numerous private cabins and moose tree huts. Soon after statehood, the Forest Service, after taking much criticism for being a mere “Logging Ser...
January 20, 1917 – Postmaster Refling has received advice from the department at Washington that, owing to the difficulty in obtaining paper and skilled labor, the furnishing of “office-request” envelopes has been suspended for the present. These are the envelopes with the words, “After – days, return to - , Petersburg, Alaska,” printed on corner. It is stated, however, that there is ample stock of envelopes with only the stamp printed thereon; also that “special request” envelopes – bearing the printed card of the purchaser – may be had. Jan...
The state has so far not received any applications from a number of floathouse owners contacted last autumn. Since October, the Department of Natural Resources has been reaching out to identified owners of floating facilities anchored along the Stikine River’s tidal area, the land which is under its clear jurisdiction after resolving a longstanding dispute with the United States Forest Service last March. The floathouses being targeted are those anchored within the tidal influence of the river, which ends just beyond the terminus of Shakes S...
PETERSBURG (AP) – The U.S. Forest Service is moving forward with a project to restore a stream south of Petersburg. Ohmer Creek has been damaged by decades-old logging and road-building where it crosses under Mitkof Highway about 21 miles south of Petersburg. During construction of the roadway in 1959 and 1960, trees were cut from about 20 acres around the stream, leaving a swath of the creek where heavy rains can erode the banks, KFSK-FM reported. Forest Service hydrologist Heath Whitacre said the project is planning to add wood, create new s...
KETCHIKAN – Proposed timber sales on Deer Mountain and in Petersburg are on hold as officials consider public comments against the issue. The Alaska Mental Health Trust board will take up the topic in January, reported the Ketchikan Daily News. Every comment on the plan was negative as zof Wednesday. Officials say the delay will give the trust time to consider the public’s input. The board decided in August to move forward with the sales if a federal land exchange bill failed in Congress by Jan. 15. “What we had intended to do was initiate our...
WRANGELL – A number of Petersburg and Wrangell residents have been receiving letters from the state, informing them their float houses anchored along the Stikine River need to be permitted or else move. Since the late 1970s, the placement of float houses and temporary cabins along the river have made it convenient for locals making use of the river basin, be it for subsistence fishing, hunting, trapping, work or recreational purposes. While a number are there on a seasonal basis, this year some 18 have been identified as being situated y...
Roads with ferries don’t work To the Editor: This fall Governor Walker has been weighing the pros and cons of proceeding with the Juneau road extension. The project entails fifty miles of new pavement, which would dead end at a ferry terminal on the uninhabited Katzehin River delta across the Lynn Canal from Haines. As residents of Petersburg and Wrangell know, long roads with short shuttle ferries have not worked out as hoped for in Southeast Alaska. The South Mitkof and Coffman Cove terminals, while beautiful facilities, have been largely shu...
Bill Neumann spent 20 years teaching shop in Petersburg and smoke houses built by his students can still be seen around town. Neumann's oldest students might be reaching retirement age, but they still remember him, even if he doesn't always remember them. "I'll go to the post office and some guy will come up and shake my hand and what I have to say is, 'The face is familiar but I can't put a name on it,'" he says. "But I love that, and I'm so thankful that I've stayed in Petersburg. So many...
Over 20 people assembled at the SONS last Thursday evening for a presentation and Q&A with representatives of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office (TLO). The representatives stressed their desire for a land exchange to pass via federal legislation as it would allow the Trust to bypass logging on contentious land in Petersburg and Ketchikan. Residents who attended were more concerned about what would happen if the land exchange does not go through and the TLO moves forward with plans to log areas in close proximity to residences on Mitkof...
The Alaska Mental Health and Trust Authority will hold a community meeting at the Sons of Norway Hall tonight, October 27 from 7-9 p.m. to talk about their hope to exchange land with the US Forest Service and the potential for selective helicopter logging on land they own near Petersburg. AMHTA has been working towards a land exchange deal for 10 years and in September announced they would move ahead with selective logging on their land in both Petersburg and on Deer Mountain in Ketchikan if Congress failed to approve the land exchange by Jan....
