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JUNEAU – As climate change rapidly alters conditions in southeast Alaska, lower snowpack levels have caused a massive decline of yellow-cedar trees. Without an insulating blanket of snow, the shallow roots of yellow-cedar trees freeze during late spring cold snaps. Left behind is a growing expanse of "ghost forests" of dead yellow-cedars, affecting roughly 678,000 acres (nearly the area of Yosemite National Park). The decay-resistant properties of yellow-cedar allow the trees to remain s...
The borough assembly failed to pass a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture and the United States Forest Service at an assembly meeting Monday expressing discontent with the process of reviewing the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest. The letter, which was drafted by Assembly Member Chelsea Tremblay, notes that when the Forest Service presented their six alternatives to the Roadless Rule at a public meeting in November, it seemed as if the decision to go with the alternative six,...
Fish and Game Area Biologist Frank Robbins and Forest Service Regional Biologist Dan Eacker held a lecture on deer and moose harvests and deer density on Mitkof Island last Thursday. Robbins started off the lecture by comparing deer harvests in Unit 1B and Unit 3 from 2011 to 2018. In Unit 1B, the area east of Mitkof Island on the mainland, the average number of deer harvested was 100. In the past five years, the deer harvest in Unit 1B averaged 115. In Unit 3, which includes the Petersburg and...
The borough assembly took a neutral position on the future of the Roadless Rule at Monday's assembly meeting when they voted against a resolution that supported keeping the Roadless Rule intact and a resolution repealing it. Resolution #2019-14 was in support of alternative one of the draft environmental impact statement released by the United States Forest Service regarding the future of the Roadless Rule. Alternative one, or the do nothing option, keeps the Roadless Rule in place. Resolution #...
People in Petersburg know her has their school bus driver or driver's education teacher, but on Friday evening Hoopie Davidson was this year's tree lighter during the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Davidson was born in Petersburg, but moved to Squaw Harbor on Unga Island in third grade with her family to catch crab. The family then moved to Kodiak in time to experience the Good Friday earthquake of 1964, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2 that hit near Prince William Sound. Later...
The roadless rule should remain intact To the Editor: The proposed Tongass exemption from the 2001 Roadless Rule is for the singular purpose of accessing the last bastions of high volume old growth timber, which will be largely exported in the round. If approved, this would be at great cost to taxpayers, and at great profit to Viking Lumber of Klawock and Alcan/Transpac Group of Vancouver, BC-both timber exporters. A recent report by Taxpayers for Common Sense, concluded that between 1999-2018,...
The value of Alaska salmon permits has ticked upwards in regions that experienced a good fishery this year while others have tanked. Not surprisingly, the record sockeye fishery at Bristol Bay has boosted sales of driftnet permits to nearly $200,000, up from the mid-$170,000 range prior to the 2019 season. Another strong run forecast of 48.9 million sockeyes for 2020 with a projected harvest of 36.9 million could increase the value even more, said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. What’s really raising eyebrows, Bowen said, is v...
WRANGELL - Mayor Steve Prysunka travelled to Washington D.C. last week to speak before the Senate Committee on Energy and National Resources. He was invited to speak on behalf of the National Association of Counties, an organization that works to advocate county priorities in federal policymaking. Prysunka spoke last Thursday, Nov. 21, on the importance of the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Program and Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funds. "We're somewhat unique because we're actually the third...
A resolution supporting alternative one of the draft environmental impact statement for the exemption of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest will go before the borough assembly at their first meeting in December after the assembly pushed the vote back by two weeks at their meeting on Monday. The United State Forest Service released the findings of its draft environmental impact statement earlier this month that showed the United States Department of Agriculture supported...
Southeast Alaskans have been given the opportunity to lift the onerous roadless designation from the Tongass National Forest, and yet many have testified to leave it in place. We're astonished. That's not the Alaskan way. Why do we want the federal government to maintain continued control of the Tongass? The roadless designation was put in place as yet another padlock on national forests that were already protected and commercial activity was eliminated or severely stymied. Half of the Tongass...
After officials from the United States Forest Service presented their six alternatives to the Roadless Rule at a public meeting last week and stated the agency preferred a full exemption of the rule in the Tongass National Forest, community members in the audience overwhelmingly spoke out against the exemption. Alternative six, the preferred alternative, would exempt all 9.2 million acres of the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule that set out to protect and preserve inventoried...
November 21, 1919 The Red Cross Roll Call for the 1920 memberships is now under way in Petersburg under the direction of J. W. Maakesad, membership chairman of the local committee. Subscription lists have been placed at various places and the girls of the High School are canvassing the town. The roll call is for the purpose of having the members renew their memberships for the year 1920. It is not a campaign to raise money, but is merely one to keep the membership up. Every true American, whether by birth or adoption, should subscribe one...
Representatives from the United State Forest Service presented a draft environmental impact statement at a public meeting last week that listed a full exemption of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest as the preferred alternative. In Jan. 2018, then Gov. Bill Walker submitted a petition to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting that Alaska be exempted from 2001 Roadless Rule, according to Dave Schmid, regional forester for the Alaska region. Perdue instead asked the USFS...
The federal government’s plan to raze more roads through the Tongass National Forest is facing strong headwinds from fishermen, Native groups and coastal communities throughout Southeast Alaska. Over 220 Southeast Alaskan fishermen signed a letter to the Trump Administration last week opposing the abrupt push to exempt the Tongass National Forest from a roadless rule in place for over a decade. The exemption would release more than 9 million acres from protection and open nearly 200,000 acres to logging. The U.S. Forest Service made the a...
Rainforests under siege To the Editor: The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists notes it’s 2 minutes to midnight. They list the unfolding climate catastrophe to be just as much an existential threat as that of nuclear war. A nuclear war can start with one push of a button. But our unfolding climate catastrophe started long ago with daily acts of denial by our elected officials in the service of extractivism — rather than the public interest. Regardless of whether it is raining outside, Southeast Alaska has been facing “se...
Mike Payne, a local resident was part of a hunting trip last Friday when a skiff capsized in Duncan Canal around 1 A.M. that resulted in the death of Doug Larson. Payne said that Larson and Charles King were bringing the rest of their hunting buddies warm pizza when the wind and tide became too strong and pulled the skiff back to shore. Payne couldn't see the duo in the dark, but at one point he heard a yell. "We called out, but through the wind and tide they couldn't hear us or us hear them,"...
WRANGELL - Monday, Oct. 7, members of the Forest Service and high school oceanography students, boated over to the east side of Wrangell, near Channel Island, to retrieve the remains of a gray whale that washed up back in June. The whale, a 30-foot male, was one of the victims in a UME, or "unusual mortality event" that has seen numerous gray whales die. According to NOAA, as of Sept. 30, there have been 47 gray whale strandings in Alaska, or 212 across the whole American, Canadian, and Mexican...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge in Alaska has halted a timber sale planned within the country’s largest national forest while the merits of the case are argued. In a written order, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said conservation groups had raised questions about the adequacy of a review underlying the planned sale on Prince of Wales Island. Gleason barred the U.S. Forest Service from activities implementing the sale, including opening any bids or awarding any contracts, until further order from the court. She acknowledged age... Full story
Members of the United States Forest Service met with the public last week to receive feedback and discuss the Central Tongass Project. The project encompasses many different projects in four categories: watershed restoration, recreation management, vegetation management and access management. Project Leader Carey Case said by lumping multiple projects together, the forest service will be able to work more efficiently. Goals and objectives of the project were identified in the 2016 Tongass Land...
James Richard Schramek, 70, died at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage on August 28, 2019 from an unexpected GI bleed. On November 9, 1949 Jim was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Richard and Elaine Schramek. He was raised in Richfield, Minnesota. Attended Richfield High School and played Football and Baseball. In summers, he worked on the Arndt family farm in Owatonna, Minnesota. Jim followed the Schramek family's passion for camping, hunting and fishing. Deer, ducks, geese, squirrels, if... Full story
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has been America’s canary in the coal mine for climate warming, and the yellow bird is swooning. July was Alaska’s warmest month ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sea ice melted. Bering Sea fish swam in above-normal temperatures. So did children in the coastal town of Nome. Wildfire season started early and stayed late. Thousands of walruses thronged to shore. Unusual weather events like this could become more common with climate warming, said Brian Brettschneider, an assoc...
August 22, 1919 On last Saturday afternoon, the local committee which was investigating to find evidence of profiteering among the local merchants met and reported that they could find no evidence of anything in that line in Petersburg. In fact, some things were selling here cheaper than in Seattle. It was found that rents were not unreasonable, that coal was selling for $16 per ton when actual costs to the merchant delivered to the home was $14.78 per ton, and meats and staple groceries were all found reasonable. August 18, 1944 For...
An approximately 65-foot tall European Mountain Ash tree fell in a windstorm on Sunday, Aug. 18 in Steve and Desi Burrell's front yard at 802 N. Nordic Dr. Desi was in her living room on her computer when the tree came crashing down just after 10 A.M., narrowly missing her home. Only a second story window was damaged by the tree. Desi said the United States Forest Service took a core sample of the tree last year and found that it was over 88 years old and in good condition. Steve was back in...
Smokey the Bear was happy to pose for a picture with guests at his birthday party held behind the United States Forest Service Building on Friday. Back row from left to right: Smokey the Bear, Aurora Barker and Lucia Worhatch. Front row from left to right: Isabeau Barker and Martin Barker....
This week, nine Mitkof Middle School students are participating in a summer science camp through the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center that introduces them to science related jobs in the community, while getting them to experience the outdoors. Monday began with an introduction to the camp and safety procedures. Bjorn Stolpe with Petersburg Search and Rescue spoke to the students on how to prevent getting lost in the forest and what to do if they should get lost. A wildlife biologist with the...
