Sorted by date Results 451 - 475 of 683
Vivian Elida Westre, 95, passed away February 12, 2016, with her two children at her side at Petersburg Medical Center Long Term Care. She was born July 17, 1920 in Ketchikan, Alaska to Gifford and Agnes Close. Her father built a home next to Sunny Point Cannery near where the Ketchikan ferry terminal exists today. Vivian spoke fondly of her childhood there and shared many interesting stories about her pet bear cub. At age 14 the family moved to Petersburg where her father worked for the U.S.... Full story
February 19, 1916 – Mr. and Mrs. James Allen, with the forestry launch Ranger 2, returned from Ketchikan, where they had been for several weeks. The launch has been equipped with a new lighting plant and other fixtures, and is now in shipshape for the season's work. Mr. Allen anticipates considerable activity in the lumber industry this year. The prices for lumber on Puget Sound have now advanced from one to four dollars per thousand feet. Lumber for boxes and general domestic use will be shipped north from Puget Sound this season, and it is e...
State Sen. Bert Stedman talked about how well the community would weather the state budget deficit during Petersburg’s annual Chamber of Commerce Dinner Saturday night. He said the community’s already endured difficult times, citing several wars and economic downturns, and has come out of it unscathed. “We’ve had these austere moments where we’ve had to pull together and this is just another one,” Stedman said. “I don’t sit in my office and eat a lot of Rolaids over it.” Stedman went on to discuss the legislative climate in Juneau and what h...
Since the Department of Transportation continues to push ahead on the Kake-Petersburg Road, it’s appropriate that the Borough Assembly takes action to divert funds from the project. Nothing kills a road project quicker than taking the money off the table. Repeatedly, citizens from Kupreanof, Kake and Petersburg have told Transportation officials the road is a bad idea. It’s not needed, it’s not cost effective and it needs to go away. Kake needs lower cost electricity and a road is not needed to address their power needs. Since as early as Ja...
Shame on you To the Editor: I don't understand why environmentalists get so excited about the timber sales the Forest Service is kind enough to make available for logging companies. Why protest? Everybody knows trees are a “renewable resource.” Ketchikan, Wrangell, Sitka, and Petersburg were all built on fishing, and logging mills – both lumber and pulp and some mining. Those towns didn't have to depend on tourism and chartering. If you look back in the 60's, 70's and early 80's these towns were booming, our economy was thriving. We had a lot o...
Ned Pence, 78, passed away January 15, 2016 peacefully at home. Ned was born on July 21, 1937. He grew up in Mackay, Idaho, with his parents and four brothers. In 1955 he left Mackay to attend the College of Forestry at the University of Idaho to study Forest Management. He received his B.S. degree in Forest Management in 1959 and married Arleen Westfall, the love of his life in Salmon, Idaho. After graduation he worked at many jobs as a professional forester in Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and... Full story
Permits will soon become available for those wanting an opportunity to visit Anan Wildlife Observatory this summer. Known primarily for its abundance of bears, the observatory was identified as Wrangell’s top attraction by a survey conducted by the city last summer. According to Forest Service records, Anan draws between 2,400 and 2,800 visitors each summer. These travelers contributed around $1.5 million to the local economy in 2014, making up more than a third of all tourism-related spending. Starting Feb. 1 at 8 a.m. the public will be a...
WRANGELL - Members of the community were invited to the Wrangell Ranger District Office on Jan. 13, to meet and greet with some of the minds behind the latest proposals for the future Tongass management plan. The United States Forest Service is amending the current Land and Resource Management Plan for the Tongass National Forest, which is the largest in the country. Covering 16.7 million acres in Southeast Alaska, 3.4 million acres of that has been set aside for resource development. The...
The Petersburg Land Selection Committee approved proposed language to request additional land allocation from the state legislature. “If we’re going to do something this session and we want to get the answers, then we need to get moving on it,” committee member Dave Kensinger said. Committee member Ron Buschmannn echoed that need and said Petersburg needs a greater area to select since it’s been left with slim pickings after a long awaited court decision. The Petersburg Land Selection Committee was put on hold until last month when the Alaska...
The federal subsistence deer season for federally qualified hunters continues on federal lands only in Unit 4 until Jan. 31, unless closed earlier by the U.S. Forest Service District Rangers....
The U.S. Forest Service announced Dave Zimmerman as the new Tongass National Forest Petersburg District Ranger. Zimmerman will arrive from Medford, Ore. where he served as the Timber and Special Forest Products program manager for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. "My current national forest is 1.8 million acres spread across five districts, so working on a district of similar size to my former forest will be exciting," Zimmerman said in a press release. "This will necessitate continued...
July Paine & Partners, LLC of San Francisco entered into agreements with two different groups to sell Icicle Seafoods. The Petersburg Public Library expanded its collection by 1.7 million titles after it joined a consortium of libraries across the state called the Joint Library Catalogue. U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Peter Vermeer took command of the USCGG Anacapa, replacing Lt. Kathryn Cry. The Alaska Department of Transportation cancelled the scheduled summer sailings of the M/V LeConte that would hav... Full story
Work on the Petersburg Children's Center expansion is continuing smoothly as volunteers from around the community are donating sweat and supplies. Volunteers from Rocky's Marine helped install a new roof on the expansion that will allow the Children's Center to enroll around 20 more students from an already staggering waitlist. "Right now my waitlist is about 40, maybe 50 kids," Children's Center director Brandi Heppe said. The new expansion will enlarge one classroom and add another. A crew... Full story
January 8, 1916 – The army department has been trying for some years to switch the lines over to the postoffice officials, who heretofore have been reluctant to take charge, as they have always been operated at a loss. Postmaster General Burleson has been won over to the proposition, and will soon ask congress to turn the cable military telegraph over to him. Burleson recommends that the cable and telegraph and telephone wires be appraised by the interstate commerce commission and turned over to him before July, 1916. Congress will be asked t...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A federal agency has concluded that a southeast Alaska wolf affected by logging and hunting does not merit placement on the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that Alexander Archipelago wolves on Prince of Wales Island and neighboring islands do not warrant additional protections. “Although the Alexander Archipelago wolf faces several stressors throughout its range related to wolf harvest, timber harvest, road development, and climate-related events in Southeast Alaska and coastal Brit...
Wrangell and Petersburg utilities can be expecting a rebate this year from Southeast Alaska Power Agency. This summer the board approved a rebate of $1.5 million for member utilities. A formal award plan was presented at last week’s meeting in Ketchikan on Dec. 10, with $340,563 to go to Wrangell and $372,343 to Petersburg. The remaining $787,093 would be distributed to Ketchikan. Voting alternate and electrical superintendent Clay Hammer represented Wrangell at the meeting, and he explained the rebate was possible in part because of funds u...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly heard the latest update for the ongoing yearlong efforts of the consulting firm, Agnew Beck, to develop a comprehensive and waterfront master plans. Project manager Shelly Wade and land use expert Chris Beck, gave a lengthy presentation about firm's progress so far in completing the public hearing drafts of the project. The drafts have been released and are now available to the public for a comment period. Wade and Beck shared the highlights of the plans and their proposed future implementation. Over the past...
November 27, 1915 – The official statement of the Bank of Petersburg tells a remarkable story of rapid business growth and general prosperous conditions in Petersburg, when compared with the two previous statements. In the statement of May 3, 1915, the total deposits of the bank were shown to be $30,671.24. In the next statement, under date of August 7, deposits had increased to $42,154.92. The statement published this week, under date of November 10, shows total deposits of $86,766.66 – nearly treble the sum of the deposits on May 3. The...
The future Mitkof Project To the Editor: Recently Forest Supervisor Stewart withdrew the Mitkof Project citing local industry concerns and the opportunity to better serve an ongoing, market based transition to second growth. The question for Mr. Stewart is “What is being done to further support the transition for central S.E. communities”? This question is especially pertinent given the deteriorating markets for Tongass old-growth that is being milled in China. Why should federal taxpayers proceed to subsidize any further timber dev...
Laura L. Nelson, 70, went home to heaven on November 17, 2015, in Cape Coral, Fla. after battling pancreatic cancer. She was born on March 14, 1945 in Gore, Ohio to Dolly and Hazel (Breeze) Hartman. She grew up one of five siblings in rural East Clayton, Ohio, graduating from Nelsonville York High School in 1963. Following a cross-country move with her two children, she met and married Lester Nelson of Eugene, Ore. in 1978. Enjoying a career with the U.S. Forest Service that spanned decades,... Full story
Sealaska has shamed themselves To the Editor: Last week in Petersburg, Alaska's newest environmental group 'The Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community,' (gsacc.net) gave a slide show on the latest industrial logging now taking place on state land, Sealaska land and other land grant interests. The slideshow consisted of images from 'Google Earth' satellite overviews of Sealaska lands on the Cleveland Peninsula, and also on P.O.W.'s Election Creek and other examples. Needless to say, the push to privatize land from the Tongass National...
In a media release last month, the United States Forest Service Alaska Region announced it is proposing a system-wide cabin rental fee adjustments for the Chugach and Tongass national forests. The two forests are managed by 13 ranger districts, which together maintain 184 cabins year-round for public use. For visitors and residents alike, public cabins become the hub for a variety of recreational trips, from nature walks, family gatherings, hunting and sport fishing to subsistence use. Cabins are most regularly booked during the summer and...
November 13, 1915 – A message was received from the Pacific Coast Steamship Company last Saturday evening by Hogue & Tveten giving a notice of reduction of $2.50 in freight tariffs on fresh fish from Petersburg, making the rate $5.00 instead of $7.50. The matter of getting a lower rate on fresh fish was taken up by the Petersburg Commercial Club several weeks ago, when such action was suggested in a letter to the club from H. S. Finch. The matter gained considerable publicity, and co-operation of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce was secured. N...
Last month, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) agreed to withdraw their plans to harvest over 28 million board feet from designated sites on Mitkof Island by use of helicopters. The proposed logging sites, located south of Petersburg, were stretched out among just over 4,100 acres. The withdrawal comes after five environmental groups brought a lawsuit against the USFS to block the sale. Greenpeace, Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community (GSACC) were among the environmentalist groups responsible for the...
October 30, 1915 – H. S. Finch arrived from Seattle Wednesday and is spending the week meeting friends and looking after business in this vicinity. He is well satisfied with his fish brokerage venture, and reports a steady increase of trade. Mr. Finch was in the fish business at Anacortes several years ago, and he finds this a big asset in his present undertaking, as many of his old customers are again dealing with him. Rather unexpectedly, the freighter Redondo arrived in port Thursday with 7,500 feet of pipe for the water system. The work of...
