Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 635
The United States Forest Service has ended its comment period for 2023 outdoor project proposals. The comment period, which closed on July 6, allowed for the USFS to receive input from members of the community on what projects they would like to see completed in the near future. There are over a dozen 2023 project proposals listed in the Petersburg District, which includes Mitkof Island, Kupreanof Island, and Thomas Bay, with suggestions for even more given by the community. "We have an...
Baird Glacier's large glacial outwash could be seen on Sunday, consisting of ice, gravel, and sand. The outwash supports plant and animal life in the ecosystem according to the United States Forest Service. People can no longer climb onto Baird Glacier from the terminal moraine as flooding has broken up the terminus. Small rafts must be used to paddle across the lake to access the ice fields...
July 22, 1921 The coal famine, which has been in force in Petersburg since almost the first week of the steamer strike, was broken last week when the freighter Redondo arrived from the south and unloaded several hundred tons of Nananimo coal for local dealers. The delivery cars of the Trading Union and Hogue & Tveten have been kept busy since that time delivering the stack of coal orders which have been piling up. Practically every business house and residence in the city were entirely out of coal but fortunately the weather has been extremely...
July 15, 1921 Buschmann’s first addition to Petersburg will be placed on the market within the next few weeks, according to John Thormadsater who is in charge of the land. H. P. Crowthert, civil engineer, arrived from Ketchikan on a recent boat and is in charge of the platting of the land which will be laid off into lots and blocks. The lots will be 50x100 feet and the streets will be of the same width as the present streets in town which they will be a continuation of. The land being platted is located on the Buschmann homestead south of town...
Susan Erickson was unable to hold onto her title of womens' logrolling champion. This year Anna Early (a summer worker with the Forest Service) rolled Erickson into the water and became the new womens' champion....
A lease the United States Forest Service holds on a plot of land near the 8 mile marker of Mitkof Highway that was once the site of an experimental fur farm will be ending in June 2022, ending a 43-year occupation of the site. District Ranger Ted Sandhofer said the decision to end the lease wasn't the Forest Service's, but the University of Alaska's, who holds the title of the property. The local Forest Service activities haven't been as prominent on the site since the early 1990s when its tree...
June 24, 1921 In the United States district court the jury in the case of Dr. George F. Dickinson against the Town of Petersburg brought in a verdict for the plaintiff. The plaintiff asked for $1,857 plus 8 percent interest for professional services rendered to the people of Petersburg during the epidemic of smallpox at the town in the fall and winter of 1919. June 21, 1946 The Civilian Conservation Corps buildings at Twin Creek are to be sold to the highest bidder, it was announced this week by the local Forest Service office. Started in...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The federal government announced plans Friday to “repeal or replace” a decision by the Trump administration last fall to lift restrictions on logging and road building in a southeast Alaska rainforest that provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon. Conservationists cheered the announcement as a positive step. Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy criticized it and vowed to use “every tool available to push back.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans were announced on a federal regulatory site with little deta...
The Borough Assembly held a work session with staff from Alaska's federal delegation to discuss Alaska Natives Without Land legislation that will be introduced to the United States Senate in the coming weeks. The meeting is part of a series of work sessions the delegation is hosting throughout the region to gather feedback regarding the latest version of the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act. Sen. Lisa Murkowski originally introduced the act in...
Frederick Point East – Ordinance 2021-08 To the Editor: This letter is in rebuttal to Finance Director Jody Tow's comments during the May 3 assembly meeting regarding Ordinance 2021-08 which seeks to remove Frederick Point East (FPE) from Service Area 1 because Service Area 1 mill rates do not accurately reflect the actual borough on-site services provided to FPE. Service Area 1 services, such as road maintenance, police protection, trash service, etc, are not provided to FPE. Ms. Tow's o...
After last year's festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 62nd annual Little Norway Festival is slated to begin May 13. "I think everyone can't wait for it to happen," said Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Administrator Mindy Lopez. "There's some excitement in the air." Prior to the festival, free transportation across the Wrangell Narrows will be provided on May 8 for the City of Kupreanof Celebration Day from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. The United States Forest Service is also hosting a...
April 15, 1921 That the water power development on Cascade Creek, Thomas Bay, fifteen miles from Petersburg is among the largest projects in Southeastern Alaska, is shown by the report on Mining Developments and Water-Power investigations in Southeastern Alaska just issued and copies of which have been received. The investigation of the water resources of southeastern Alaska was begun by the Geological Survey in operation with the Forest Service in 1915 and was designed to determine both the location and the possibilities of water-power sites....
The construction of a new Raven's Roost Cabin is expected to begin this spring and be completed by the fall, according to Paul Olson, cabin and trails manager with the United States Forest Service. The current Raven's Roost Cabin sits at the end of the 4.2 mile long Raven's Roost Trail, but the new cabin will be built at about the three mile mark of the trail. Olson said in a presentation to the Petersburg Rotary Club on March 24 that by moving the cabin closer to the trailhead, the USFS hopes...
Dave and Sally Riemer were students at Shaker Heights High School in Ohio when they had their first date in 1952. The two had attended a choir picnic together, but looking back, Sally said the most memorable aspect of that day was the 1931 Ford Model A that Dave picked her up in. "He had to crank it up," said Sally. Dave was a junior in high school when the couple had their first date, and Sally was one year behind him. After graduation, they both attended colleges in different states and their...
A 2020 audit of the Alaska Region timber sales program by the Forest Service Financial Compliance & Oversight Branch of the United States Department of Agriculture concluded that two timber contracts in the Tongass National Forest had been mismanaged. According to the audit, the timber sale cruising, appraisal, sale preparation and contracting program for the Big Thorne Stewardship Contract (BTSC) and the Kosciusko Good Neighbor Authority Agreement (KGNAA) weren’t always managed in accordance w...
A portion of Tonka Mountain was stripped down to the bedrock in a landslide on Nov. 1, as a result of heavy rainfall and soil saturation, according to District Ranger Ted Sandhofer, with the United States Forest Service. The normal amount of rainfall over Petersburg for Nov. 1 is .48 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but on Nov. 1, 2020, 4.17 inches fell. The above average rainfall led to increased soil saturation on Tonka Mountain and ultimately the...
By 1923, the U. S. Forest Service managed 140 fox farm permits on the Tongass National Forest, covering 78,000 acres. Petersburg along with Haines-Skagway, and the Mendenhall Valley and Lemon Creek area in Juneau were pioneers in the industry. Fashion dictated demand, with markets as far away as New York and London. Silver fox was a prized commodity over blue or red. From the beginning foxes were fed commercial fish scraps, but even so, finances were challenging. It was common for farms to engage in bootlegging--rumored to be the actual...
December 31, 1920 Looking back over the past year, it seems to us that Petersburg has taken a rapid stride to the front since we last extended to you the season’s greetings. More new houses and homes have been built than for several years before: the Petersburg sawmill was taken over by new owners and had a successful season: the road between Petersburg and Scow Bay was nearly completed: the new reduction plant at Scow Bay was built and operated the latter part of the season: the cold storage plant at Scow Bay was nearly completed: the capacity...
Cecilia Tavoliero, with Alaska Natives Without Land, addressed the Borough Assembly at their meeting on Monday to answer questions brought up by the community about recent legislation that would transfer local lands to an Urban Corporation. The Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act would amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) to allow native residents in Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg and Tenakee to form Urban...
JUNEAU, AK – This year’s Together Tree, a 16-foot Lodgepole Pine harvested from Petersburg on Mitkof Island, was delivered to the Governor’s Mansion in Juneau late last week. The Together Tree’s arrival continues a multi-year tradition of highlighting the special relationships between the USDA Forest Service, Alaska Native Peoples, the State of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard and rural communities in southeast Alaska. “We are honored to continue the tradition of the Together Tree, and all it symbolizes. We come together each year with local com...
The Borough Assembly approved a letter on Wednesday to Alaska's congressional delegation asking they postpone enacting a bill that would transfer borough land to a Urban Corporation in order to gather the opinions of local residents that would be impacted by the decision. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Fulfillment Act of 2020 looks to authorize land transfers to five Southeast Alaska native communities that did not receive land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971...
Phyllis (Bright) Kimbal was born in a log cabin in Winder, Idaho to Charles Leland and Sarah (Kendall) Bright. She worked as a Civil Service examiner, legal secretary, and a resource specialist for the Forest Service for four different national forests. Next to raising her family, her greatest joys came from her involvement in school activities at Preston High School where she was the Pep Club president and later was active as a member of the Bountiful Chapter of World Champion Sweet Adelines... Full story
Rae C. Stedman Elementary School brought on board six new teachers this year as the school looks to create smaller class sizes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the building. One of the new teachers is a face some students may already know. After teaching at the Mitkof Dance Troupe, Kaili Swanson decided she wanted to do something to help the community push through the COVID-19 pandemic. She received an emergency teaching certification through the state and started teaching kindergarten....
Kathryn (Kay) Crozer, 85, passed away on Oct. 5, 2020. She was born on April 16, 1935 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Celia (Dolan) and Leo Joseph Doherty. She attended Girls' Latin School and received her nursing degree from the Faulkner Hospital School of Nursing in Boston. Her adventuresome spirit led her to Sitka, Alaska, where she worked at Mount Edgecumbe Hospital and met her husband Edward Allen (Al) Crozer, a forester. They married in 1961 and were together for 44 years until his death in... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved the Petersburg Rotary Club's request to begin construction on their Sandy Beach playground project at their meeting on Monday. As part of the project, trees will be removed and trimmed to make room for the new playground equipment. Contractors had begun cutting down trees several weeks ago in preparation for the construction, but the tree cutting came to a halt when Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht became aware of some concerns from the community. In an...
