Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 683
The U.S. Forest Service will soon be accepting comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Kake-Petersburg Intertie, a proposed electrical transmission line that would connect Kake to a SEAPA substation in Petersburg. The proposed project would bring cheaper power to Kake whose 550 residents are currently using costly diesel to power their homes and businesses. "In 2011, the full retail cost of power in Kake was 62 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), more than five times the... Full story
December 26, 1914 – ALASKA – Wrangell Strait – Petersburg Float Light and Middle Grand Buoy 17 reported displaced on December 15, 1914, were replaced on their respective stations December 18, 1914. By direction of the Commissioner of Lighthouses. December 29, 1939 – Flying instruction for 20 handpicked University of Alaska students, including two co-eds, was tentatively scheduled to begin Wednesday of this week. There were 39 applications for the course, which is to be run by Richard C. Ragle, commercial pilot and former instructor in mining...
December 19, 1914 – Despite the fatherly interest advanced by the moralists in our behalf to make Alaska dry; might not the people directly interested have something to say in the matter? Who made the prohibition states dry? Was it not the people of those particular states? Then why should an outsider be allowed to rush a resolution through congress to make the country dry before the people; whose interest is involved have a chance to say whether they want it dry or not. Let the intention of those who desire to see Alaska dry be ever so sincere...
Petersburg resident Karen Dillman's studio is a split between a mad scientist's lab and a serious crafter's work space. There are jars filled with all manner of dried mushrooms and lichen and others filled with rich, colorful dye baths. Skeins of hand-spun yarn in a rainbow of colors line the wall and a small library of books is close at hand to look up formulas and provide inspiration. An ecologist for the U.S Forest Service by trade, Dillman combines artistry with her love of the natural...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave the following report to the Assembly at Monday’s regular meeting: Breakfast with Santa is Sat., Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. for the whole family. The Aquatic Center will be closed from Dec. 14-21 for its annual cleaning. The pools will be drained, the tiles cleaned and the upstairs waxed and buffed. There will still be fitness equipment available downstairs and staff will be bringing some of the equipment down to make sure there’s still enough for use during high traffic times. Public Works is still planning on com...
Tongass Advisory Committee (TAC) members compiled work-group draft recommendations for the Tongass National Forest’s timber management plan amendment at their Nov. 19-21 meeting in Sitka. Present at the recent meeting was USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Bonnie; Beth Pendelton, the U.S. Forest Service Alaska regional forester; and Forrest Cole, the Tongass National Forest supervisor. Bonnie emphasized the importance of TAC’s opportunity “to find a solution that works for everybody [so] we ca...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) board members met in Petersburg Nov. 13-14 to discuss the results of their annual audit and other business. Independent auditing company BDO performed this year’s audit, which followed both generally acceptable auditing standards as well as government auditing standards, required because SEAPA received some $5.99 million in state grants of which $1.11 million counted as state expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 2014. BDO’s Assurance Director Joy Merriner was present via teleconference for the... Full story
November 21, 1914 – For the interest of Alaska in general, and the southeastern part in particular, we suggest that every newspaper take up the laboring man’s part in the framing of laws for his protection at the coming session of our legislature. We specifically mention the laboring man because his environments, his conditions, his associations and tendencies do not afford sufficient advantages to compel lasting attention. The only time he is seriously considered is at election time, but this soon fades away and he is left to meditate ove...
Petersburg Indian Association recapped nearly a decade of work on roads and trails across Mitkof Island at the Nov. 3 assembly meeting, with Transportation Director Susan Harai presenting a video detailing the tribe’s works. Since 2006, PIA has received more than $10.2 million for the tribal transportation program, working along a master guideline scoped 20 years ahead and more specifically revised for the next five in a Tribal Transportation Improvement Plan. Money is granted through federal transportation allocations divided amongst the t...
After much discussion, the assembly unanimously approved a resolution to establish a new budget policy that will help guide management of Borough funds. Giesbrecht introduced a document he and Finance Director Jody Tow have been working on to help department heads more easily formulate their budgets and to help explain the budget process more simply to the public. The resolution was approved with one change introduced by member Nancy Strand, which moved tobacco excise tax funds from a special fund into the general fund. The excise tax was... Full story
A thorough discussion of public services under the Borough charter was had at Monday's regular Assembly meeting. Member John Havrilek broached the matter at the last meeting and asked for a public comment period wherein discussion and clarification of services for outlying areas would be addressed. Since then, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht worked with department heads to assemble a matrix outlining services offered before and after Borough formation. According to that matrix, no services have been discontinued due to Borough formation. That'...
October 31, 1914 – Secretary Lane has finally decided to remove the land office for Alaska from Seattle to Juneau, the removal to take effect the first of January next. Great satisfaction is expressed throughout the country over the removal of this important division of the land office to a point nearer its field of operation, thus facilitating the immense amount of work for the land office in connection with the opening to the coal fields and the construction of the railroad. November 3, 1939 – The Chamber of Commerce met Wednesday night at...
wrangell — Some changes to the federally-administered subsistence fisheries were recommended by the Southeast Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (RAC) at its three day meeting at Wrangell’s Nolan Center last week. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Robert Larson explained the meeting’s agenda featured an uncommon mix of proposals from the state boards of Game and Fisheries, since the regulatory cycles of both synchronized with each other this year. “It doesn’t happen very often,” he noted. Of particular concern for Wrangel...
An agreement is currently being worked out between the Alaska Mental Health Trust (AMHT) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) that could see the transfer of between 18,000 and 20,900 acres of state and federal lands. “I’ve been working on this personally for seven years,” said Paul Slenkamp, resource manager for the AMHT Land Office. He is currently working with Forrest Cole, USFS forest supervisor for the Tongass National Forest. “We’ve been moving through this administrative exchange...
September 26, 1914 – Mary A. C. Gibson, candidate for election to the territorial legislature left last Tuesday evening for Skagway where she will meet with her supporters for consultation and outline her program for the campaign. Mrs. Gibson will speak at every town on her way back. She has had her ballots printed and distributed throughout. From letters received from diverse parties Mrs. Gibson claims a large number of supporters. The fishermen in particular are evidently strong in her favor. October 6, 1939 – Jacob P. Anderson, Supervisor fo...
City Creek trail will be getting a significant facelift over the building season of 2015, and perhaps on into the next few years, in an effort to make the increasingly popular coastal rainforest sojourn more accessible to residents and visitors of all ages and fitness ― at least on the first leg. The project, funded by a $60,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service grant the borough accepted at its last assembly meeting, won't actually go very far in terms of miles. All told, the p... Full story
Petersburg Assembly members voted, with a few caveats, to express their support to the state for a new ferry service to land in the borough. Despite earlier alternatives offered, the North End Ferry Authority (NEFA) had circled back to Banana Point, submitting a letter requesting the borough’s support of the location to get the project on track to begin carrying passengers in May of 2015. The letter, signed by NEFA Manager Kent Miller, included copies of its land use permits applications to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the p... Full story
And the contract goes to . . . Viking Lumber. Hoooooray! It’s wonderful to witness in this day and age a Prince of Wales Island sawmill win the Big Thorne stewardship contract. The mill has survived the industry’s ups and downs, and with a continuing supply of timber, will continue to process logs in southern Southeast Alaska. The sale is designed to provide timber as soon as possible to the mill. The initial small volume of timber will be followed by two smaller volumes to be announced later. This contract should help to secure the mil...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The U.S. Forest Service has awarded a contract for a timber sale in southeast Alaska to the region's last mid-size mill, Viking Lumber Co. Lawsuits were filed over the Big Thorne sale before the contract was awarded, and Tongass National Forest spokesman Kent Cummins said no ground work would be done by Viking until the courts decide the case _ likely next spring. Cummins told the Juneau Empire in a story Thursday that he couldn't comment on the size of the contract or on how many companies had bid until the contract w...
Petersburg’s Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 16 will play host to the 102nd annual Grand Camp Oct. 8-11, returning after 43 years of convening elsewhere around Alaska. “Each year the camp itself in each community works to address the needs in the community,’’ said Brenda Louise, ANS 2nd Grand Vice President and member of Petersburg’s Camp 16. “Each community, depending on how big or active the camp is and what issues they see as needing addressing in their environment, would write resolutions and bring them to Gra... Full story
Cindi Lagoudakis Position sought: Assembly member, 3-year term Age: 60 Education: Undergraduate coursework, University of California, Berkeley; B.S. in Forest Management, Oregon State University; Graduate coursework in fisheries, University of Alaska Fairbanks Family: "Bill Tremblay, husband; children: Stephanie, Chelsea, Jarrett and Lindsay'' Political experience: "Petersburg Borough Assembly member and vice-mayor Lincoln County, Oregon, Planning Commissioner Alaska State Appointee to the...
WRANGELL — Though the comment period officially ended Sept. 15, the Wrangell Ranger District of the United States Forestry Service is still seeking public input for an upcoming dock project in Anan Bay. “To me it’s kind of an open process,” said Ranger Bob Dalrymple. “We’re open to input pretty much any time.” The district uses this input as it prepares an environmental assessment, which should be available for public comment later this fall. The wildlife observatory is located about 23 miles southeast of Wrangell on the mainland, par...
The Tongass Advisory Committee (TAC) heard presentations from Forest Service and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials and discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with an impending transition to young-growth forest management at their meeting this month in Juneau. The presentations given by the Forest Service and DNR officials helped give committee members a better sense of how difficult the transition process can be, Lynn Jungwirth, committee co-chair, said via e-mail. “You can’t ‘speed up’ young growth sustainable mana...
Just behind Rae C. Stedman Elementary School a large garden teeming with life offers students and community members a new classroom for learning. The School + Community Garden is comprised of a greenhouse, rows of raised beds that convert into hoop houses, a tool shed and planters fashioned from tires, crab pots and gutters now used to grow perennials, pole beans and strawberries. The children's touches abound in the garden from hand-painted signs to the dinosaur figurines poured into round...
A Kake-Petersburg Intertie (KPI) project update was given during this week's Southeast Conference held in Wrangell. The KPI includes a proposed electrical transmission line that would connect Kake to a SEAPA (Southeast Alaska Power Agency) substation in Petersburg. Kake, a community of just over 550 people, is situated on the northwest coast of Kupreanof Island and is working to find cheaper alternatives to costly diesel, which provides the bulk of their power currently. “The Kake-Petersburg Intertie would transmit power at either 69 or 130 kil... Full story
