Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 302
WRANGELL – Primary construction work at Swan Lake wrapped up last week, leaving full capacity for its hydroelectric dam 15 feet higher than it was at the year's start. The $10,000,000 project was undertaken by Southeast Alaska Power Agency, a utility covering the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg. Starting about two weeks behind schedule earlier in the summer, workers finished with time to spare with the barge platform used for the project's crane departing last week with gen...
WRANGELL - At its regular meeting last week, members of the Wrangell Port Commission decided against allowing casual traffic through the Marine Service Center yard. Effective immediately, access to the boatyard has been restricted with entry limited to one gate. The action follows several months of discussions, with the issue first coming to the attention of commissioners in June. “There’s a really big safety issue with people being able to come and go as they please,” explained commission chair Clay Hammer. Since its start a decade ago, Wrang...
WRANGELL - Two license applications for a prospective marijuana retailer have been submitted to the state Marijuana Control Board for consideration. The applications – for retail and cultivation – were submitted October 24 on behalf of Happy Cannabis, a business being developed by Wrangell restaurateur Kelsey Martinsen. Renovating the former Thunderbird Hotel, the business will feature a retail area and a separate grow and process facility. Martinsen expects the business should not produce much additional traffic flow, or at least not more tha...
WRANGELL – The city is currently working on ways to reduce the number of autos, boats and other items abandoned or else improperly stored around the island. Chief Doug McCloskey with the Wrangell Police Department explained there currently are many derelict vehicles on the city’s radar, about a dozen in all. In municipal code, junk vehicles by definition are those which are stripped, wrecked or otherwise inoperable due to mechanical failure. Currently it is against the law for a junk vehicle to remain in public view on any property, public or...
Area hunters brought in a bumper harvest this fall, with 112 moose reported at the end of the month-long 2016 season on Saturday. The total ended up being the largest on record, besting the 109 harvested in 2009. That year, antler restrictions were loosened to allow the harvest of bulls with two brow tines on both antlers, allowing for better yields. Alaska Department of Fish and Game area biologist Rich Lowell noted returns on the Stikine River were well below the long-term yearly average of 26...
WRANGELL – Wrangell Cooperative Association added its voice to the chorus of people concerned about Canadian mining concerns developing upstream of shared rivers. The forum was a hearing held by the Alaska House Fisheries Special Committee in Juneau on October 12. Testimony was collected from around the state, with speakers calling in even from as far away as Arizona. The issue at hand is a collection of large scale mines either operating or in development, located in the watersheds of the Stikine, Unuk and Taku rivers. For Wrangell, the Red C...
WRANGELL – A judge ruled last week that the city will not have to enter arbitration with its public workers union during an ongoing labor grievance, pending further decision. After hearing oral arguments on Sept. 21, Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens approved the City and Borough of Wrangell’s request for a stay of interest arbitration between it and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 on Sept. 28. The union had filed a motion to compel arbitration the preceding week, as part of an ongoing dispute over a new col...
WRANGELL - Emergency assistance was dispatched from Wrangell early Sunday evening, after a private boat struck a log near Farm Island. Fire Department Chief Tim Buness said emergency dispatch received a 911 call from one of the boat”s passengers at 5:23 p.m. Responders were notified and an initial unit was ready to depart within minutes. “We sent a float plane up with three medics on board,” Buness said. He estimated it took about twenty minutes to arrive at the scene. “We also sent one of the bigger boats with Alaska Vistas with more EMTs (E... Full story
WRANGELL – Costs for the transition of operations at the Tyee Lake hydroelectric facility may be higher than first expected. Board members for Southeast Alaska Power Agency learned at their September 8 meeting that the unfunded pensions liability for Wrangell employees at the plant were more than double what was estimated when it assumed operations. SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson explained consultants had put the city"s liabilities to the state Public Employees" Retirement System at $648,206, which i... Full story
WRANGELL – A former Wrangell resident joined an Alaska canoe group in supporting a North Dakota tribe protesting construction of an oil pipeline across sacred lands. Earlier this month Ken Hoyt met up with members of the Juneau-based One People Canoe Society for a three-day spiritual journey on the Missouri River. For a week they joined a growing group of people protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near tribal land. The pipeline is planned to be an 1,172-mile connection be...
A state outreach program designed to shake some sense into Alaskans, with the help of a mobile earthquake simulator worth over $100,000, stopped by Petersburg last week. Each year the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) sends out a mobile trailer unit to different communities in an effort to raise awareness of earthquake risks. However, this year is the first for the simulator traveling around Southeast Alaska, according to Jeremy Zidek, public information...
The PHS swim teams traveled to Sitka last weekend for the first meet of the year. The meet offered two days of events and showed the strongest events for the Vikings so far would be anything involving freestyle, according to head coach Andy Carlisle. "We had everybody do pretty good, especially in our freestyle races," he said. "Our other races weren't as good as the freestyle ones, but they were still pretty good overall." On Friday, the girls team took third place behind Juneau-Douglas and... Full story
WRANGELL – Local air travelers were invited to the airport for a question-and-answer session August 25. A delegation of managers with Alaska Airlines fired up a grill out front, fielding questions people may have about the phasing out of the services “combi” fleet next year. Since its introduction in 2007, the 737-400 combi has been a unique facet of travel within the state, combining cargo conveyance with passenger service in the main cabin. Until it phases them out, Alaska Airlines is the only major domestic carrier to still use the combina...
The month long moose hunting season is ready to begin next week, opening on September 15 and lasting until October 15. For the Wrangell, Petersburg and Kake game unit, last year’s moose season turned out being the third best on record according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game harvest data. Area hunters had a 13-percent success rate, with 103 males harvested by 772 participating hunters. A total of 1,061 permits had been issued. After a reasonably mild winter, the moose population appears to be doing well. An aerial survey of the S...
With the seasonal peak behind it, Alaska’s commercial fishing industry is expecting one of the worst shortfalls for salmon in recent memory. As of last Tuesday, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s in-season blue sheet summary estimated just over 102,245,000 salmon had been caught statewide, with less than a quarter of that caught in Southeast. Despite a fair showing for sockeye, the state’s fishermen would be fortunate enough to harvest half the 263,463,000 salmon estimated caught last year. The news has not been good for the local comme... Full story
WRANGELL – A pilot study currently underway seems to be bearing good news for Wrangells water worries. In mid-July the city declared a state of emergency as its water treatment plant struggled to meet local demand. An appeal to residents and local seafood processors to limit water usage followed, allowing Public Works time to replenish its reserve tanks. By August 18 City Hall declared the crisis over, but still encouraged people to conserve water. The problem was primarily with the plants w...
tWRANGELL – The City of Wrangell is applying to the United States Forest Service to give a historic boat a new home. The M/V Chugach was one of 11 ranger boats operating in the state during the first half of the 20th century. Built at the Lake Union Dry Dock and Machine Works in Seattle in 1925, the vessel was assigned to Cordova for work in the Tongass and Chugach national forests. It remains the last of its kind in the USFS fleet, continuing service until last year. The boat was restationed in Petersburg in 1953, it served from there more t...
WRANGELL – Local shellfish gatherers are advised to steer clear of the beach near Shoemaker Bay, after specimens tested positive for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The alert was posted to the Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research website at www.seator.org/data on Monday. A sampling of butterclams collected by the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) staff and sent in to Sitka for testing turned out to have more than twice the state’s threshold for saxitoxin, the cause of PSP. The s...
WRANGELL – Last week a new public cabin was added to Wrangell Ranger District’s list, with the U.S. Forest Service’s administrative camp at Deep Bay converted into a two-building recreational site. The cabin will be the district’s 23rd, and its first on Zarembo Island, located about five miles to Wrangell’s southwest. Due to its proximity and size, Zarembo is a popular destination for locals in the mood for activity, be it hunting, camping or taking the all-terrain vehicle out for a spin. The cabin is primarily accessible by two approache...
WRANGELL – Area golfers raised close to $6,000 over the weekend during the annual Rally for Cancer Care and Blue Tees Tournament. Money raised from the two-part tournament go to support Wrangell Medical Center Foundation's cancer care fund, which in turn provides up to $1,000 per year to patients undergoing treatment for cancer-related illness. The stipend is meant to help defray some of the travel and lodging expenses which accompany such treatment. The funds are primarily raised through a w...
WRANGELL – A sewer main broke early Monday morning, necessitating a temporary shutdown of nearby pump stations and causing an overflow of untreated water into Inner Harbor. The main line connecting town to the sewage treatment plant ruptured near the Sea Level Seafoods processing facility at 1204 Zimovia Highway. City crews responded to the scene, shutting down pump stations near the Public Works Department building and City Park in order to repair the break. Eighty-five percent of Wrangell households are connected to the municipal sewage s...
WRANGELL – Events for the 7th Annual Bearfest are already underway, with the first two workshops and symposium presented yesterday at the Nolan Center. The annual activity was started in 2010 by Sylvia Ettefagh, an outfitter with Alaska Vistas and commercial fisherman. Drawing a number of notable speakers and participants each year, Bearfest serves to highlight the local bear population, particularly that found at nearby Anan Wildlife Observatory. About 30 miles southeast of Wrangell, the o...
WRANGEL – Though a crisis in the local water supply has subsided, Wrangell remains in a state of conservation through most of the rest of summer. The City and Borough Assembly formally declared a state of disaster in a special meeting held July 19, after ready water reserves had fallen to a fraction of capacity. Problems with the water treatment plant’s filtration process meant supply could not keep up with demand, and early last week local seafood processors and the wider public were asked to reduce consumption. Efficiencies undertaken by bot...
WRANGELL – With the supply of treated water dangerously low, the Borough Assembly officially declared the city to be in a state of disaster Tuesday evening. The decision was reached during a special session in which officials met with departmental staff and representatives of Wrangell’s two fish processing plants, Trident Seafoods and Sea Level Seafoods. With the processing season already underway and production ramping up, the two together are consuming about half of the community’s water. Alarm bells were raised by Public Works when it repor...
WRANGELL - Close to 100 people participated in a memorial walk on Sunday, held to remember those killed or injured in a car crash in Petersburg early last week. Meeting at Wrangell's city dock, more than a third of the walkers were from the neighboring community. Organized by local running group Southeast Beasts, the five kilometer (three mile) course was intended to help show support during a time of tragedy. The route taken brought walkers down Front Street from the dock, up to Zimovia...
