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Two state lawmakers introduced legislation this month that aims to crack down on a major source of water pollution from cruise ships in Alaska waters. Sen. Jesse Kiehl and Rep. Sara Hannan, both Democrats from Juneau, each introduced bills that revolve around the type of fuel ships use. The bills vary slightly, but they do essentially the same thing: require ships to use fuel with lower levels of contaminants, including sulfur. “There is a growing trend around the world toward requiring cleaner fuels that don’t have as much sulfur and met... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service announced in the Federal Register Wednesday, Feb 18, that it is preparing to update the Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan to align with executive orders that President Trump issued when he took office last year. Also on Feb. 18, the Forest Service opened a 30-day public comment period on the planned update. The current Tongass plan has been in place since 1979, and the last major revision of the management plan for the 16.7-million acre national forest was in 1997. Amendments to the plan in 2016...
Scott Morrison Welsh was born to William (Bill) and Gretchen Welsh on December 24, 1956, in Bellingham, Washington. A sister, Kelly (Welsh) Peterson, rounded out the family. Scott was a talker from an early age on, a trait that carried him through life. At an early age, nuns from the "Nunnery" (as we called it) would let Scott walk around a 2 block radius with the little guy, hands in pockets, big glasses, and conversation flowing. Having a morning paper route also took lots of time for collecti... Full story
American Cruise Line's long-discussed cruise ship dock project in Petersburg took another step forward last week when the borough assembly approved the first reading of an ordinance rezoning a 22,500-square-foot parcel at the end of Dock Street to accommodate ACL's proposed facility. The ordinance, which must pass two additional readings before final adoption, changes the parcel from un-zoned to Industrial with Marine Industrial Overlay. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended the...
WRANGELL - The borough has officially partnered with a growing cruise line to bring a new dock to the community. The borough assembly voted unanimously on Jan. 7 to approve a 40-year tidelands lease for American Cruise Lines (ACL), which will build the dock. The decision followed months of negotiations and a public work session. The lease allows the company to build and operate a floating dock on the downtown waterfront. Borough Manager Mason Villarma described the deal as a "custom fit" for...
Wrangell’s economic development board, which advises the assembly, has raised several questions about a possible borough land lease for a California-based company to build and operate a small-scale data center. The board voted 5-0 on Jan. 5 to recommend the assembly move forward with the lease for one or two acres at the former 6-Mile Mill property, but not until board members added several issues that they believe the assembly needs to consider. Those include any water discharge from the data center, the potential for noise and light p...
January 2025 The Petersburg Borough Assembly agreed to transfer seven parcels of borough-owned land in the Airport Addition Subdivision to Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority (THRHA) in exchange for the developing road and utilities for 11 residential lots. The snowpack at the Raven's Ridge snow survey site at 1,650 ft elevation measured zero inches. One of only two years on record without snowpack in January. Rock-N-Road Construction was awarded the contract for the borough's Pump Station...
While the 23-year-old, 360-foot-long American Empress cruise ship is being stripped of its superstructure for conversion into a deck barge, the borough is looking at buying four diesel generators to use as a backup power source for industrial development plans at the former 6-Mile mill site. The dismantling and conversion work started last month at the Tideline Construction operation at 6-Mile, where the company runs a scrap metal recycling business and is taking apart the Empress for the ship’s owner, American Cruise Lines. The four C...
Though several industries in Alaska are shedding jobs, the ones that are hiring share a common problem: Not enough applicants. “Our working-age population has had a pretty significant and consistent decline over the past decade,” said Dan Robinson, chief of research and analysis at the Alaska Department of Labor. The working-age population (ages 15 to 64) dropped from 478,00 in 2015 to 449,200 in 2024, he reported at the Resource Development Council’s annual conference in Anchorage on Nov. 12. He attributed the loss of working-age Alask...
Q: Ideas to increase economic opportunity? "The smaller cruise ship tourism ... and the Scow Bay haul-out has potential ... once that facility is created, a mobile, submersible travel lift, to haul boats out ... a new cruise ship dock that would be a partnership between borough and American Cruise Lines ... the more medical treatment we can do in town, those dollars will circulate through here before they leave, those big dollars ... and the act of building the housing will help our economy...
Q: Ideas to increase economic opportunity? "For the business owners I've been talking to over the last month, you know that they one of their biggest concerns is there's not enough local tradesmen in town ... maybe a borough school partnership program for scholarships for kids who want to go to become electricians, refrigeration person, or welder, mechanics, and so they come back to Petersburg and work. We need to make sure that we have the basis for the local services in town covered so that...
Early Sunday morning, Sasha Calvey awoke to a roar. "I look out of the tent, and then I see a massive wave coming, like, inches away," Calvey said. Calvey was camped with two friends, Billy White and Nick Heilgeist, on Harbor Island, an uninhabited islet in Holkham Bay. It's at the convergence of two of Southeast Alaska's most-visited fjords, Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm. Calvey, White and Heilgeist had spent the past 78 days kayaking the Inside Passage from Washington. The three hoped to spend th... Full story
July 24, 1925 – Fishing banks now visited by vessels of Canada and the United States give promise of little increased production. The depletion of these banks is recognized by the two governments in their halibut treaty of May 31, 1924, providing for an annual closed season on the Pacific coast banks from November 15 to February 15. Halibut fishing is a joint enterprise between the vessel owner and his crew of fishermen. Certain items of cost are paid jointly while others are paid by one or the other according to agreement. The Pacific coast m...
Nonresident anglers fishing in state and federal waters can’t retain any Chinook salmon that they catch in Southeast Alaska between July 7 and when the season ends Sept. 30, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Monday. The department projects that the sport sector, including both residents and nonresidents, would exceed this year’s sport harvest target by about 5,000 Chinook if no action were taken to curb the nonresident catch, ADF&G Sitka area management biologist Troy Tydingco said in a phone call with the Sentinel on Tue...
Last month, after nearly 25 years of running Glacier Laundry, Carrie Peterson handed the laundromat keys to new owner Laura "Lu" Holder – who has renamed the business Viking Laundry. Holder realizes that she is taking on more than just a place to do laundry – Peterson is passing along relationships, routines, and a community institution that has served Petersburg well. "Today I helped somebody, and I was telling her like, where to put the soap," said Holder, "she turned to me and said, 'I'...
Petersburg's borough assembly passed its overall budget for the next fiscal year on June 2. But the option to allocate a million dollars from the harbor reserves for a potential cruise dock project caused friction for the final vote. The Petersburg Borough's general fund was nearly $400,000 in the red for the last fiscal year, but that's not the case this time. The borough's next budget is in the black, despite state and federal funding reductions and inflationary costs in all departments....
At the Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting on May 5, the results of recently completed five-year utility rate study were presented, and borough residents can expect utility rate increases in the coming fiscal year as officials adjust for rising operating expenses and debt service for capital projects across water, wastewater, and electric departments. The suggestions based on the rate study include: Water: 3% annual increases from FY2026 through FY2030 Wastewater: 25% increase for FY2026, then...
A group of Gortex-clad visitors step out of the chilly spring rain on Friday afternoon and enter the Clausen Memorial Museum. From the window of the museum a ship is visible in the distance, tied up at Petersburg's drive-down dock. It's the National Geographic Sea Lion, operated by Lindblad Expeditions, and they are the first cruise ship of the year to visit Petersburg. As some passengers browse through downtown shops, others cross the Wrangell Narrows in one of the cruise ship's zodiacs, or...
While the total number of cruise ship visits to Petersburg will decline this summer, local tourism experts say the quality of port calls should actually increase. "I think after looking at the schedule, the numbers of port calls are down, however, the quality of port calls are high," said James Valentine, co-owner of Viking Travel. Petersburg will welcome 87 cruise ship visits in 2025, down from 104 the previous year. However, Valentine notes that many of last year's visits came at times when to...
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, encouraged members of the Alaska Legislature – and the public – to work together to get things done, despite major uncertainties caused by the Trump administration, as well as its cuts to budgets, personnel and programs. “I’ll tell you I accept the challenge. I want you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to make the best of this,” Murkowski said, of her role in advocating for Alaska’s priorities in Congress. “We are engaging every day to try to identify where we are seeing challenges pres... Full story
This is a developing story. The Trump turmoil in the federal workforce continued at full tilt Tuesday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced all fired probationary Forest Service workers will be reinstated with back pay at least temporarily. Meanwhile the Department of Education made another round of mass firings that essentially cut its workforce by half. Those two moves were just part of the day's chaos that Trump administration officials are embracing as a necessary shakeup and detra...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 6-0 Monday to adopt a resolution formally approving a comprehensive Visitor Industry Management Plan developed by a local working group in 2019-2020 and updated in early 2025. The plan, created by 17 Petersburg residents including business owners and borough staff, aims to address visitor industry growth while “maintaining the balance between Petersburg's quality of life and the visitor economy while preserving Petersburg's authenticity and sense of place,” states the resolution. Petersburg Har...
The first cruise ship of the year will arrive April 14 in Juneau. Large cruise ships will soon be calling at communities around the state, bringing more than a million tourists this season. While cruise ships boost Alaska’s economy, they also impose health, environmental, wildlife and subsistence costs on individuals and communities. The growing use of scrubbers on cruise ships is causing multiple unnecessary costs and risks that are currently going unaddressed. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that the toxic poisons from scrubber d... Full story
The Southeast island community of Petersburg held a town hall meeting on Feb. 10 to discuss the future of tourism in "Alaska's Little Norway." The borough is considering a potential partnership with a small cruise ship company and may see more tourists in coming years. While the conversation welcomed ideas related to tourism in general -like emergency services, trails and public restrooms- much of the discussion pertained to increasing tourism, especially from cruise ships, and what that means...
While many economic indicators in Alaska draw concern, outdoor recreation stands as a bright spot, generating $3.1 billion in economic output in 2023. That's according to Mariyam Medovaya, who is coming to Petersburg next week to discuss the growing potential of adventure tourism as the guest speaker at the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet on Feb. 15. "Outdoor recreation is kind of an underappreciated giant of American economy," says Medovaya, noting that Alaska ranked first among...
