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While most high schools may take a field trip to the local museum or zoo, a select group of Petersburg High School students get to go somewhere a little bit cooler-LeConte Glacier. Each year, students set out to survey the glacier and record how it has moved over time. They're taking what they have learned in the classroom and are applying it in the field. The survey began in 1983 with high school teacher Paul Bowen's surveying class as an opportunity for the top students to get real world... Full story
The Forest Service is bulking up how many permits it issues to the Anan Wildlife Observatory in order to allow as many visitors to the site as people and bears can handle, while also protecting the habitat. And it has a mid-March start date for a contractor to tear down the existing observatory to put up a new one in time for the July 5 to Aug. 25 viewing season. The current limit is 60 permits a day during the season, District Recreation Staff Officer Tory Houser said Friday. That was implement...
John Bisset, 18, was arrested on multiple charges of alleged sexual assault on February 19 according to the Petersburg Police Department. The charges include four counts of first degree sexual assault and one count of second degree sexual assault which all allegedly occurred on December 4, 2021. According to a press release from the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, the AWT Patrol Vessel Compliance conducted a commercial fishing boarding on February 19 near Hobart Bay when law enforcement discovered that Bisset, who was aboard, had an active felony...
An annual 200-acre treatment limit on the U.S. Forest Service's invasive plant management program in the 3.7-million-acre Wrangell-Petersburg district has the agency revamping and possibly expanding its efforts to eradicate foreign weeds that could damage the ecosystem and economy. Since 2015, the Forest Service has been pulling, digging and spot-spraying plants like knotweed and canarygrass that are not naturally occurring in Southeast. But project managers say it's not enough and they need to...
Parks and Recreation has distributed community center membership passes to borough board members and to the staff of nonprofit child care providers as a way to thank them for their service to the community. The idea to give passes to board members was suggested to Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne who said it could serve as a way for the borough to show its appreciation for the service people provide by serving on those boards. She discussed it with Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht w...
Over 200 cars, trucks, and other vehicles assembled Sunday afternoon to take part in a "Freedom Convoy" around Petersburg to voice their opposition to COVID-19 mandates and to advocate for "personal individual rights." The convoy was similar to others that have taken place, most notably in Canada where truckers drove to Ottawa, the Canadian capital, to protest COVID-19 restrictions. The vehicles flew U.S. and Canadian flags along the route and honked their horns as they passed onlookers. Some...
February 3, 1922 Johnas Olson, well known store man and former general manager of the American mail and passenger route, has been chosen as manager of the store of the Trading Union by the Board of Directors and took charge last Wednesday. Mr Olson is relieving C. E. Swanson who resigned recently to engage in business for himself, but what line of business has not been announced yet. Mr. Olson has been a resident of Petersburg for many years and is one of the best known men among the fishing fleet of this section. He for some time was commander...
I’m Ed Wood, and I’d like to discuss the recent completion of the Alaska Mental Health Trust/US Forest Service land exchange, and the impetus since December 2005 behind our group the Mitkof Highway Homeowners Association’s opposition to the proposed timber harvest on the slopes above our homes and property, Mitkof Highway (State Highway #7), and the Tyee hydroelectric utility corridor. These slopes are demonstrably steep and unstable, and logging of any type is likely to exacerbate that instability. “In the event that the Trust elects to purs...
Fur buyer Andy Anderson traveled to trapping camps on buying trips around Southeast. In 1921, he wrote an article about the future of the blue fox industry, predicting it would soon become Petersburg's largest. At that time the U.S. Forest Service facilitated fox farming to make use of "useless" islands. In 1938, while setting traps on frigid Sunset Island, Andy fell from an icy cliff. His companions managed a heroic rescue to get him to their boat for the 8 hr. trip back to Petersburg, braving...
The US Forest Service announced on December 8 that it has authorized silvicultural treatments on 105,224 acres of land in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts to improve the ecosystems of young-growth stands. The goal of the treatments is to improve habitats and timber production in young-growth stands which face issues caused by overstay trees blocking light as forests regenerate after being clear-cut according to Petersburg Ranger District Silviculturist Ben Case. Problems include...
Birders canvassed Mitkof Island on December 18 as part of the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count as they looked to collect data on local bird populations. It was a smaller group of people than usual according to Brad Hunter, the coordinator of Petersburg's bird count. Of the 23 people who participated, 10 people watched bird feeders while 13 split up to cover the group's regular routes near Hungry Point, Sandy Beach, the Beachcomber Lodge, and Blind River Rapids. "It's a lot...
December 23, 1921 Mrs. W.J. Pigg, wife of Dr. Pigg, left for the south on the Spokane this week and will visit for several weeks before returning to Petersburg. G.W. Trubey, of the Department of Agriculture, who has been making a tour of inspection of the dairy herds of the Territory, was in Petersburg this week and inspected all of the milch cows in this section. He left on the Spokane for Wrangell. He reported the herds in this section in good condition. A one ton Ford truck, with pneumatic tires and worm gear arrived and was delivered to...
The new cabin at the end of the Raven's Roost Trail was opened for reservations on December 16 and has already seen use according to Cabin and Trails Program Manager Paul Olsen with the U.S. Forest Service. Built by Rainforest Contracting, it is larger than the previous cabin and about 1.2 miles closer to the trailhead which was also reconstructed to make it more accessible to hikers. The new cabin is more family-oriented than the previous one, which was showing signs of decay. It also features...
An unexpected, strong weather system sent high winds tearing through Wrangell, snapping three Southeast Alaska Power Agency poles which blocked the highway at City Park and knocked out power to most of Wrangell for much of Tuesday and Wednesday. Petersburg buildings, businesses, and homes also went dark Tuesday afternoon from approximately 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. At 2:19 p.m., Utility Director Karl Hagerman reported that Petersburg was running on diesel generators while awaiting a report from...
The United States Forest Service announced plans Monday to improve three sites within the Tongass National Forest's Petersburg Ranger District. According to decision memos released by the USFS and signed by Petersburg District Ranger Ted Sandhofer earlier this month, the three sites include the Blind River Rapids, Crane Lake Trail, and Ohmer Creek. The first memo authorized the construction of a replacement shelter at Blind River Rapids and the addition of a picnic table. According to the memo,...
Petersburg's annual Parade of Light and Christmas tree lighting ceremony will take place on Friday. The parade portion of the event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Administrator Mindy Lopez, but it returns this year and will feature beloved characters spreading holiday cheer. The parade will start at 5:30 p.m. near Trading Union and will head south along Nordic Drive towards the municipal building. 15 minutes before the parade,...
Former and current secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, who was instrumental in reimposing the 2001 roadless rule on the Tongass National Forest in 2011 and is planning to reimpose it again before Nov. 1, has announced “a new Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy “to help support a diverse economy, enhance community resilience, and conserve natural resources.” This is to be “a collaborative process to invest approximately $25 million in financial and technical resources in sustainable opportunities for economi...
Proposition #2 passed during the October 5, 2021 municipal election, allowing the Frederick Point East subdivision to be removed from Service Area One after it gathered the necessary majorities of Service Area One voters and Frederick Point East voters. The next step in the process is to code properties in the subdivision to the right tax code according to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht who said the tax assessor is in town if the borough needs a second pair of eyes to help with the...
The United States Forest Service is proposing to combine three Resource Advisory Committees in the South Tongass region according to Alaska Region Secure Rural Schools Coordinator Kevin Hood. The Wrangell-Petersburg, Prince of Wales, and Ketchikan committees face problems with lack of quorums at meetings, preventing business such as approving recommendations for the allocation of federal Secure Rural Schools funding. The merger would see the three RACs be consolidated to form a new South Tongass...
WRANGELL-The U.S. Forest Service got to most of its Wrangell-area work projects this past summer, with one big job pushed into next spring. The Anan Wildlife Observatory— which has reached the end of “its structural lifetime and needs replacement,” the agency’s website says — was supposed to be torn down in October, Corree Delabrue, U.S. Forest Service information assistant at the Wrangell Ranger District, said. Tory Houser, the recreation, lands, minerals and heritage staff officer for the Wrangell and Petersburg Ranger Districts, said deco...
Petersburg Borough's Service Area One boundaries could shift depending on how people vote on Proposition 2 on the October 5, 2021 ballot. The proposition seeks to remove Frederick Point East Subdivision from Service Area One by reducing the service area's boundaries. The proposition can be voted on only by residents of Service Area One. The proposition requires a majority of residents in Service Area One and a majority of residents in Frederick Point East to vote yes to pass. Proponents of the...
Comments from Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht's performance evaluation reflects strong support from the assembly. The ratings on the evaluation suggest some of Giesbrecht strongest skills are managing resources and problem solving. Assembly Member Dave Kensinger said Giesbrecht has done an excellent job with the borough's budget. Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor said his Parks and Recreation fee schedule was a great idea that allows children to access all the facilities. Assembly Member Jeff...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A Canadian mining company has been looking for precious metals on Chichagof Island in southeast Alaska. Millrock Resources, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company, several years ago applied to the U.S. Forest Service for drilling permits to renew exploration on claims that once made up the historic Apex and El Nido gold mines. However, the exploration never happened. CEO Gregory Beischer said the company wasn’t able to secure financing. The mines produced precious metals in the early 20th Century. Some exp...
September 2, 1921 The fall term of the Petersburg Public Schools will begin September 6, 1921. The Junior High School as organized, consists of grades Seven, Eight, and Nine. The primary object in this plan is to make less noticeable the step from the eighth to the ninth grade, and so lessen the mortality that occurs in the school life of the child. Although the average length of the school term in the United States is a little over 160 days, the average child attends 120 days or about three-fourths of the time. With no schooling the child has...
Construction on a new cabin along the Raven Trail is currently in progress according to Cabin and Trails Program Manager Paul Olsen. The 16' by 20' cabin is about 1.2 miles closer to the start of the trail than the old cabin and is being built by local contractor Rainforest Contracting. The cabin has a covered deck which faces the small pond below it and an outhouse nearby. "It's more family oriented, you know, it's got a lot of space down low and then it's got sort of a loft area for...
