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Southeast Alaska subsistence users who want current information on sockeye escapement numbers, deer seasons and detailed maps now have a single website providing all the information. The U.S. Forest Service on Sept. 2 went live with its new subsistence dashboard. "This tool was created in response to feedback and requests by tribal organizations and subsistence users throughout Southeast Alaska," Tongass Subsistence Program Manager Robert Cross said in a prepared statement. "We heard how... Full story
The Southeast Alaska sport fishery is on track to exceed its king salmon allocation for the summer by 14,000 fish, prompting the state to close the region to sportfishing for kings. The closure went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26. “King salmon may not be retained or possessed, and any king salmon caught must be released immediately and returned to the water unharmed,” according to the Department of Fish and Game announcement late Friday, Aug. 23. The king salmon sport fishery will reopen on Oct. 1 for the winter season. “While the (...
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Borough Assembly on Jan. 9 unanimously adopted an ordinance to institute a $300 fine for illegally cutting down trees on borough land. No one from the public spoke on the ordinance at the public hearing held before the assembly vote. In addition to the ordinance setting the amount of the fine, the assembly also unanimously approved an ordinance adding trespass to the borough code, which prohibits “cutting down, injury or removal of trees or timber from borough property without written permission.” Borough offic...
The Wrangell borough on Dec. 6 announced the suspension of the search for Derek Heller, 12, missing since a Nov. 20 landslide took out his family’s home at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway. “The decision to end the active search comes after 15 days of tireless and exhaustive efforts by the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department Search and Rescue teams,” the borough’s announcement said. “The untiring efforts to locate 12-year-old Derek Heller extended to all accessible areas above and into the intertidal zone,” the borough’s statement said. Wrangell Volu...
A record number of people visited Anan Wildlife Observatory this season - the largest amount since 2004, when the permit system was implemented. Of the 2,905 visitors who came through the observatory in 2023, 548 were independent or unguided and 2,357 were commercially guided. Guide companies used nearly 80% of their available permits - only 610 commercial permits were unused. The visitor count was slightly higher than the pre-pandemic peak in 2013 and much higher than the lowest recorded visito...
The state ferry Columbia, after a week in the shop to repair leaky pipes and its bow thrusters, was expected back at work starting Wednesday, June 28, with its regularly scheduled run from Ketchikan to Bellingham, Washington. The vessel was pulled from service on June 20, missing two southbound stops and one northbound stop in Wrangell. The 50-year-old Columbia left Haines that day — without any passengers — and headed straight for the Vigor shipyard in Ketchikan for repairs, canceling all stops along the way. “There’s a manifold down in the...
WRANGELL — The U.S. Forest Service again this year is making available permits for unguided visits to the Anan Wildlife Observatory, limited to four per day. The permits must be requested in person at the Wrangell Ranger District office, up to one week in advance. Permits, at $10 each, are required for visiting Anan from July 5 through Aug. 25, when the popular bear-viewing site is limited to 60 visitors a day on guided tours. The four unguided visitor permits are in addition to the 60. “These (four) permits are for people arriving with the...
Alaska legislators will get a 67% pay raise next January — from $50,000 to $84,000 a year — and the governor and state department heads will receive a 20% boost effective July 1. The wage hikes come after Gov. Mike Dunleavy replaced an independent salary commission that was unable to agree on a pay hike for lawmakers, with the new members convening on short notice to recommend the raises. An entirely new five-member commission met March 15 and added the legislators’ pay increase to an earlier recommendation that the governor, lieutenant gover...
The IRS announced last Friday that most temporary relief checks issued by states in 2022 are not subject to federal income taxes, including the $662 energy-relief portion of last year’s $3,284 Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. Alaska legislators last year added the energy-relief money to the annual PFD of $2,622 in a move to help residents hit hard by high prices for gasoline, diesel and heating fuel. The IRS decision provides last-minute tax guidance as returns are starting to pour in. The agency said it will not challenge the taxability of paym...
The Alaska Marine Highway System is cutting back on port calls while it sends its ships into their annual winter overhaul. As a result, Petersburg will go without any state ferry service for three weeks this winter. There will be nothing northbound out of Petersburg after the Kennicott's scheduled Jan. 6 sailing to Sitka and Juneau until the Matanuska comes back to service after its winter work and stops here northbound on Feb. 3. The Kennicott's last southbound run before winter overhaul is...
State and federal fishery managers are forecasting a commercial harvest of about 19 million pink salmon in 2023 in Southeast Alaska, which would be a “significant drop” from the parent-year harvest of 48.5 million pinks in 2021, according to this month’s announcement from the federal NOAA Fisheries and Alaska Department of Fish and Game. A 19-million fish harvest would be at the high end of the “weak” range (11 million to 19 million fish), according to the announcement, which added that a harvest of that size would be only about 39% of the av...
WRANGELL—Tribal members from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border — the headwaters and downstream region of the Stikine River — talked about strengthening their relationship when they met at the recent Sharing Our Knowledge conference in Wrangell. One of the common interests bringing the Indigenous people together is their concern for the river — protecting and preserving its salmon runs that have fed tribal members for generations. The discussions during the conference were about “connecting and cementing those relationships,” said Christ...
Three years after adopting a pricing plan that adds a surcharge for passenger, vehicle and stateroom fares on popular sailings, the Alaska Marine Highway System has decided to suspend the program for its fall/winter schedule. The ferry system's "dynamic pricing" added 5% to 50% to ticket prices, depending on the percentage of a ship's capacity already booked - similar to airlines raising prices as flights fill up. The Alaska Department of Transportation announced the decision last Friday to...
WRANGELL — Sealaska Heritage Institute is sponsoring a free, 13-part fall lecture series covering a wide range of topics, including clan crests, lost Alaskans, historical trauma in Alaska Native peoples and whether the state should call a constitutional convention. The lectures will be held at noon Thursdays starting this week — with several additional sessions on Tuesdays — running through the end of the October. While the lectures will be in person at the Walter Soboleff Building in downtown Juneau, the sessions will be livestreamed and p...
Independent travelers and residents looking to visit Anan Wildlife Observatory apart from tour groups still have a chance to do so. The Forest Service Wrangell ranger district is making last-minute permits available through its office on a weekly basis until Aug. 25, the end of the bear-viewing permits season. Up to four last-minute permits per day will be made available for those who request them the previous week by filling out a form in the district office. “Collection of weekly requests will end Mondays at 4:30 p.m. and permits will be a...
Alaska state ferry service between Ketchikan and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, resumed on Monday afternoon. The last state ferry voyage to the Canadian port city was in late fall 2019. The Matanuska made a quick round trip Monday and is scheduled for another voyage on Friday. "(The) Matanuska made a test sailing to Prince Rupert about a week ago and all went to plan," state Transportation Department spokesperson Sam Dapcevich wrote in a Friday email. This summer's service is limited, with...
After a strong return of pink salmon to Southeast last year, state fisheries managers are forecasting a commercial harvest of just over 16 million fish this summer, one-third the level of last year’s catch of 48.5 million pinks. “During recent decades, Alaska-wide pink salmon returns have tended to be larger” during odd-numbered years than even-numbered years, the Department of Fish and Game noted in its annual forecast released April 19. Last summer’s pink harvest was on track with the 10-year average for odd-numbered years (2010-2...
WRANGELL-A shortage of pilots amid a labor dispute has forced Alaska Airlines to cancel hundreds of flights since last Friday. Pickets went up Friday at airports in Seattle and elsewhere on the airline's West Coast route system. Alaska reported it canceled 9% of its service on Friday, about 120 flights, and 7% on Saturday, which affected about 12,000 travelers that day. Flight cancellations were down to 6% on Sunday and about 3% on Monday. "We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration we...
Every year, before the Legislature convenes in Juneau, lawmakers submit their “pre-file bills,” a chance to tell the public which important issues they want to work on during the session. Just as cities and boroughs statewide submit their annual wish lists of local projects for legislative funding, the pre-files are a wish list of each lawmaker’s priorities. And just as most local projects will not receive state funding, most pre-file bills will fail to become law. Most will not even get a hearing before a legislative committee, which is OK. L...
The board that oversees Alaska's multibillion-dollar investment portfolio has fired Angela Rodell as chief executive officer of the Permanent Fund Corp. Legislative leaders and Finance Committee members are upset at the surprise decision and plan to hold hearings to ask questions. The fund this past fiscal year grew more than 25%, with record returns on its investments. The board on Dec. 9 voted 5-1 to remove Rodell. The five votes came from members last appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The...
The state of Alaska has spent decades trying to predict, forecast and even guesstimate the price of oil in an ongoing effort to help the governor and legislators draft an annual spending plan. If state officials truly could know the price of crude a month, a year, two years out, budget-building work would be much easier. Or at least more accurate. And while Alaska’s budget health, public services, education funding and road maintenance is much more dependent these years on Permanent Fund earnings than on oil revenues, any periods of high oil p...
Once again, Alaska legislators have gaveled back into special session because Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants to show his constituents that he believes in one thing above all else: The largest Permanent Fund dividend in state history. He’s like a wide-eyed kid in the candy shop, only he’s got a record-setting Permanent Fund balance jingling in his pockets and wants to spend some of it to buy chocolates for everyone in the state. Talk about a dangerous sweet tooth that can only decay the future growth potential of the state’s only savings accou...
The first 100 out-of-state health care workers have started arriving in Alaska to help at medical facilities overwhelmed with record patient counts due to surging COVID-19 infections. The state health department has contracted to bring on 470 health care workers, including about 300 nurses, to help the strained workforce. Alaska is using $87 million in federal funds to cover the costs. The first health care personnel reported to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage for orientation on Tuesday. The contractor said the remaining nurses,...
At this point, anything is worth a try. If a healthy life, caring about family and neighbors, and wanting to dream about perhaps someday flying without a face mask isn’t enough of an incentive, maybe a chance at winning the Alaska vaccination lottery will be just the shot in the arm some people need. Literally. The state has decided to use $1 million in federal pandemic aid to offer a lottery — a weekly $49,000 prize for eight lucky adults (age 18 and over) of the 49th state who figure a chance at cash is worth a little ache in the arm. The...
Alaskans have taken a collective leap over the embankment of common sense. We didn't merely leave the road to the Church of Wisdom, we turned to the false political god of the Church of the Permanent Fund Dividend to lead us to the promised land. Think about what Moses would do. Instead of leaving the Israelites on their own for 40 days during his hike up Mount Sinai to retrieve the Ten Commandments, what if he had climbed Denali and returned with a long-term fiscal plan for Alaska, only to see...
