Sorted by date Results 1 - 22 of 22
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
The Petersburg High School cross country teams traveled to Ketchikan last weekend to open the 2016 season. The boys and girls performed remarkably well to kick off the year, with the boys earning a sixth place finish and the girls taking third overall. Head coach Tom Thompson says the finish for the girls team isn't shocking, but he did have some questions about how they would bounce back after losing two impactful runners from last year's squad. Yet, they still had five girls in the top 12... Full story
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – A dog is back home safe with its owners after a pilot who had just landed a floatplane spotted it struggling in an Alaska waterway and rescued it. Pilot Mike Hudgins pulled the miniature sheltie named Misty from Tongass Narrows on Sunday. The animal had been swimming alone in the channel between the Ketchikan International Airport ferry dock and Taquan Air’s floatplane dock. Hudgins had finished giving a tour to a family when he called out to Misty, who was about 40 yards ahead of where he landed. “She started to turn...
September 2, 1916 – Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Willard made a trip to Farragut Bay the latter part of last week and staked out a homestead claim. They came up last spring from Seattle to Ketchikan in their launch Daisy, and a couple of weeks since to Petersburg. Mr. and Mrs. Willard were at once so favorably impressed with the Petersburg region that they decided to locate, and will make their home here and on their prospective ranch. Mr. Willard is employed at present on the Petersburg Scow Bay road building project. September 5, 1941 – According to...
Thinking outside the box To the Editor: The Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community believes there are better solutions than a land exchange to solve the highly controversial Alaska Mental Health Trust debacle. The exchange is detailed in Senator Murkowski’s Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Exchange Act of 2016 (S.3006). Specifically, what should be pursued instead is either a federal buy-out or a land transfer with the State, not Feds, from existing State forestlands. Clearly, AMHT’s threats that Murkowski’s bill be passed— or else—ha...
Jon Pust comes from a family filled with musicians and artists, including a couple of cousins who are "topnotch painters." Pust used to work construction and drove some truck, but after he taught himself how to carve soapstone and alabaster into wildlife it suddenly became his career. After seeing some soapstone carvings with his wife Dawn, she challenged Pust to try his hand at the craft. "At first I thought she was nuts, but she finally talked me into trying it and I made three or four pieces... Full story
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA) board approved the sale of timber on two parcels they own in Ketchikan and Petersburg on August 24. According to the Trust, the sale will move forward if Congress does not pass legislation this session requiring the U.S. Forest Service to exchange land with equal timber values for the parcels. According to the Trust the two land parcels will be rendered valueless if they are not marketed soon. The parcel of land near Petersburg runs along a section of uplands along Mitkof Highway that is prone...
August 24 An abandoned vehicle was reported at the Sons of Norway parking lot. Suspicious activity was reported on Gjoa Street. There was a call concerning violation of conditions of release on South Nordic Drive. August 25 There was a call concerning violation of conditions of release on South Nordic Drive. A motor vehicle accident was reported at Tango and Nordic Drive. Suspicious activity was reported at 1st and Dolphin Street. There was a call concerning parking at Haugen and 3rd Street. There was a call concerning parking at Dolphin and...
In last week’s article about halibut released it was stated the assumed mortality for released fish was 60 percent, but it should have stated 16 percent. Also a “trawl survey” was referred to as a “troll survey.” The Pilot regrets the errors....
LeConte Glacier is a treasure many locals might overlook, but PHS students have been gaining a new respect for the icy giant for over 30 years now, thanks in large part to Paul Bowen. He is not a glaciologist. He is not a certified surveyor. Bowen was simply a science teacher who's been intrigued by glaciers ever since 1952 when he spent three months living on one while conducting fieldwork. In 1962, Bowen's first year teaching at PHS, it only took a week or two before he asked his new students...
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...
Wheels are already in motion to provide two measures of relief for Alaska’s pink salmon industry, which is reeling from the lowest harvest since the late 1970s. Representative Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak) began the process last week to have the Walker Administration declare the pink salmon season a disaster, which would allow access to federal relief funds. Pinks are Alaska’s highest volume salmon fishery and hundreds of fishermen depend on the fish to boost their overall catches and paychecks. So far the statewide harvest has reached just 36 mil...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Gov. Bill Walker is holding off on implementing an administrative order that was recently at the center of a lawsuit between the state and a commercial fishing trade association. A release issued Thursday by Walker’s office says he is putting a moratorium on the order to allow more time for public input, The Juneau Empire reported. The order, issued in February, called for the transfer of several functions of the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The move is expected to sav...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A bear that mauled two cruise ship wilderness guides during a hiking excursion in Alaska attacked so quickly that there was little time to defend against the animal, the CEO of the cruise ship company said. The attack occurred after the guides and a group of hikers from the cruise vessel Wilderness Explorer rounded a “semi-blind corner” and found themselves between the bear and her cub, UnCruise Adventures CEO Dan Blanchard told the Juneau Empire in an interview published Tuesday. “I can’t express enough about how rapid...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A new report highlights the uncertainty of the University of Alaska athletics programs, with some facing elimination as the university prepares to make drastic budget cuts in coming years. The UA Anchorage and UA Fairbanks programs receive more than half their current budget from state funding. University officials are looking to significantly reduce those funds, The Alaska Public Radio Network reported. The Anchorage campus is getting $5.3 million from the general fund for athletics this year, and university o...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – U.S. Rep. Don Young is updating his financial disclosures to show ownership in a family farm dating to the 1990s and income from oil and gas leases, omissions that a Young spokesman called inadvertent but that Young’s Democratic rival in this year’s election characterized as a betrayal of trust. Young spokesman Matt Shuckerow said Monday that the failure to include the farm prior to his 2015 congressional financial disclosure was an oversight that became apparent after the 2014 death of Young’s brother, Russell, and the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ Juneau police are investigating a theft of four carved Tlingit shields that hung in the entryway of an elementary school. The shields were taken last week between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. “They sort of formed a gathering spot for families who are entering the building and waiting for their children,” Harborview Elementary School Principal Tom McKenna told the Juneau Empire . “It was also a spot where children were photographed to be honored for their achievements.” Anyone with information is asked to cont...
Anne Oak, 93, passed away June 1, 2016 on Maui, Hawaii. An obituary will follow in the future....
