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Hunters still have until tomorrow to get their harvest reports in, but the 2017 moose hunt has already broken the RM038 district record. As of Tuesday afternoon some 117 animals had been logged by hunters in the Wrangell and Petersburg area. It surpasses the 111 taken last year, and marks the fourth year in a row where the harvest has exceeded 100 moose. The month-long season started September 15 and wrapped up Sunday. The majority of moose were taken on surrounding islands, with 48 taken on...
WRANGELL — Eleven Wrangell high school students took part in a two-day workshop, enabling their certification to conduct fishing vessel drills. Secondary schools principal Bill Schwan explained the 18-hour instructional course was provided through a grant with Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, a Sitka-based organization which provides marine safety training for a variety of nautical activities across the country. Its Coast Guard-approved fishing vessel drill conductor trainings focus on safety issues pertinent to commercial f...
WRANGELL - Finalized designs to replace existing facilities at Shoemaker Bay Harbor have been greenlighted by the Wrangell Assembly. Built by the state in 1977, management of the harbor and responsibility for its upkeep were devolved to the city in 2003. The wood-and-iron floats have since reached the limits of their useful life, and plans to replace them with a more modern design have been in the works for several years. A design for new floating facilities and a dredging of the harbor was put...
The Petersburg-Wrangell area moose harvest seems set to break 100 again this year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. So far 67 moose have been checked in during the first 18 days of the monthlong hunt. Petersburg ADFG wildlife biologist Rich Lowell explained that generally the larger share of bulls are killed during the first half of the season. Over the past eight years the final two-week average has seen around 45 moose harvested, ranging from a low of 36 to a high of 57. The number of moose taken illegally in the district...
Undaunted by pouring rain, hunters in the Wrangell and Petersburg areas have been bringing in their fill of moose for the 2017 season. As of Tuesday afternoon, Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported a total of 47 bulls have so far been shot since the season’s opener on September 15. Of these, only three have so far been confirmed as noncompliant specimens. “We’ve got a couple that we’re looking at,” ADFG wildlife biologist Rich Lowell added. The department investigates the carcass in conjunction with the State Troopers, and the two agenc...
At Southeast Conference last week in Haines, Alaska Marine Highway Reform Initiative presented its draft report assessing the state ferry system SEC had been tasked by the governor's office in May 2016 with organizing a statewide planning process to improve the ferry service's long-term viability. The 12-person steering committee subsequently formed to direct that effort has since moved into its second phase, preparation of a proposed organizational model which would better meet the state's tran...
With Southeast Conference wrapping up in Haines this morning, municipalities, businesses and individuals from around the region should have a better idea of how the economy is faring. Each year, SEC’s Southeast Alaska By the Numbers report looks at the preceding year’s demographic and labor statistics, noting trends and making forecasts where possible. Released just this week, the report for 2016 indicated it had been a tough year for the region, economically speaking. For the first time since 2007 jobs and earnings were both down from the prev...
WRANGELL — Three years after a major tailings dam failure in Canada’s British Columbia province, an environmental advocacy group will be meeting with assemblies and residents in Southeast Alaska communities soon. Salmon Beyond Borders is a campaign driven by a combination of fishermen, businesses in the tourism and recreational sectors, civic groups and concerned citizens. Working with tribal counterparts on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, the group has primarily been focused on maintaining water quality along transboundary rivers. In...
WRANGELL - One of Wrangell's watering holes will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary this weekend. Rayme's Bar owner Reme Privett had purchased the establishment – then the Brig Bar – back in 2007, reopening its doors on September 14. The Brig's longtime owner, Lawrence Bahovec, had been running the bar since 1962. Though he had just turned 90, Privett recounted Bahovec still worked in the bar six days a week. He was looking to get out of the business as Privett was hoping to get into it, and...
WRANGELL - At a rescheduled meeting of the Port Commission last Friday, members approved a request for an extension by a lease holder at the boatyard. Contractor Don Sorric requested the addition of three years to his current lease, which at the moment is due to expire July 31, 2019. He requires the extension for a bank loan, which would finance the addition of new concrete pads at his Superior Marine Services. "The bank has asked for more time on his loan than he has on his lease," commission...
WRANEGLL — The state environmental regulator last week announced it would be postponing a planned monofill project on Wrangell Island until next year. In a press release issued September 7, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced it will hold off on construction of a monofill site on the island. The department is currently engaged in the cleanup for the former Byford site, a property south of Wrangell that had for several decades been used as a junkyard. The first phase of thi...
WRANGELL - The local American Legion unit held a day of service and remembrance over the weekend, dedicated to the September 11 attacks. The American Legion Auxiliary of Alaska Unit #6 was awarded a $1,000 grant this summer from the national organization, one of 50 such awards provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The funds would go toward projects across the country, held between September 8 and 13 in memory of those involved in the attacks of September 11, 2001....
The 2017 moose season is set to begin next week, with the monthlong harvest opening on September 15. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has already seen an increase in permits being issued as the season approaches. Last year's harvest for District 3 – encompassing Wrangell, Petersburg, and surrounding islands – had seen 110 moose taken, according to ADFG harvest records. It was the district's best on record, surpassing 109 harvested in 2009. "Everything's pretty much the same," Pet...
WRANGELL — Later this month the region’s economic development organization will be meeting in Haines to discuss new trends, problems and opportunities it will face in the coming year. Representing many of the area’s municipalities, federally-recognized tribes, businesses, government agencies and organizations, Southeast Conference holds two major forums each year, in the spring and in the fall. Its autumn meeting is its biggest, in past years drawing hundreds to hear about and discuss concerns unique to the region, from transportation and u...
WRANGELL - A Wrangell café is raising funds for disaster relief, following the hurricane and deadly floods affecting Texas last month. Zak's Cafe owners James George and Katherine George-Byrd plan to send all earnings from their Tuesday and Wednesday sales this week to a response fund benefitting Hurricane Harvey victims. On August 24 the storm system became the first category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the United States in over a decade, and the biggest in Texas since Hurricane Carla in...
WRANGELL — Last week, Alaska’s lawmakers received word from the governor’s office another session may be called for October. On August 31 emails were sent to members of the Alaska Legislature, letting them know a special session – the fourth of the year – will likely be called to discuss revenue. During the second special session in July an operating budget was passed, with a capital budget approved the following month in another session. The spending bills came with cuts and an overhaul of the state’s oil tax credit system, but without new...
Delays to line maintenance prompted by a public employee strike in Wrangell this June will cost a regional power utility an extra $103,000. Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) chief executive Trey Acteson presented board members with a change order for the project, which would among other maintenance tasks replace marker balls along the transmission lines connecting Tyee Lake to the grid. Work had been set to start the latter half of June, during which time Wrangell would have had to run on its diesel backups. But an unrelated strike by two...
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Tribe’s environmental program office announced last week that most species of shellfish have been cleared for consumption at a pair of local beaches. On August 24 results from the week’s sampling had indicated levels of saxitoxin – the root cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning – evident in mussels at Pats Creek and Shoemaker Bay beaches had dropped below federal safety guidelines. Conducting the site testing, the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program had previously issued a warning for Pats in January a...
WRANGELL - Women from the local American Legion Auxiliary took part in the national organization's 97th annual convention last week. Three members from Merlin Elmer Palmer, Auxiliary Unit 6, joined 1,500 other delegates, as well as alternates and guests from around the United States in Reno, Nevada. Accompanied by Barbara Hommel and Zona Gregg, respectively the chapter's vice president and treasurer, president Marilyn Mork was recognized as Alaska's Woman of the Year. "I was kind of surprised...
WRANGELL - Improvements to the observatory at Anan Creek are complete, improving access and security for one of Wrangell's top visitor attractions. Managed by the Forest Service, Anan Wildlife Observatory is best known for its bear population, one of the few where brown and black bears can be observed feeding together nonconfrontationally. Along with LeConte Glacier and the Stikine River, the sites brought in half of Wrangell's total tourism earnings in 2014, or $2 million, according to a study...
WRANGELL - Wrangell emergency responders took part in a search for a missing canoer on the Stikine River earlier this month. Fire Chief Tim Buness reported a call had been received for assistance at around 5 p.m. on August 3. "We had a couple of canoers canoing by the Great Glacier," he said, on the Canadian side of the river about 10 miles from the border. The craft had turned over in the fast-moving water at around 3 p.m., spilling two men into the river. "One of the guys made it up to the...
WRANGELL - Project heads for a contaminated site reclamation met with townspeople Monday evening to address concerns with a proposed monofill. The monofill – a landfill meant for only one substance, in this case treated, lead-contaminated soil – would be the second phase of the Byford junkyard cleanup, an operation which was undertaken last year by Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Protection Agency and various contractors. In use as a private landfill and junkyard s...
WRANGELL — One of Wrangell’s two seafood processors has drawn down production early for the season due to lower than expected returns this summer. Updated twice daily, on Tuesday the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Blue Sheet reported just over 143 million salmon have been harvested statewide, though numbers were not available for the Bristol Bay, Kuskokwim and Aleutian Islands districts. Seventy-four percent of these are pink salmon, with over 106 million already reported in. Coming off of last year’s season – declared a “disaster...
WRANGELL - A Wrangellite had a unique opportunity to take part in some Alaskan history this year, while revisiting her own family history in the process. Johanna Joseph and her sister, Ann Conatser a Walla Walla resident, were invited by the Ounalashka Corporation to attend an event in Unalaska commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Dutch Harbor. The town had been the birthplace of their mother, Theadosia Stepitan Nauska, known as Fanny to friends and family. The battle itself was...
WRANGELL – Public Works changed its summertime water management conservation level back to normal last week, ending a month of minor restrictions. Up until last Friday, users of Wrangell’s water utility have been advised to use less water starting in mid-July, when the city entered the first of a three-stage response status. Better water management has been a key issue with the city this year, with an emergency response plan formally adopted in April. Last summer demand outpaced the water treatment plant’s ability to supply, prompting the b...
