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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...
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a final Alaska Roadless Rule that exempts the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 provision that prohibited road construction, road reconstruction and timber harvests. The Record of Decision identifies the selected alternative, provides the rationale for the decision, and explains that the exemption does not authorize any specific projects in Alaska. Proposed projects must continue to comply with the 2016 Tongass Land Management Plan and be analyzed under the N...
WRANGELL, Alaska – The walkway and ramp of Roosevelt Harbor Dock on Zarembo Island is closed to public use as of Oct. 16, 2020 to ensure public health and safety. The closure order is effective until necessary repairs are completed. The float remains open to use for mooring. This closure is because of structural deficiencies found during a routine inspection by a licensed engineering firm contracted by the USDA Forest Service. The pin and hanger assemblies are severely deteriorated from normal use (wear and tear). For more information about t...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. government ignored the requests of some Alaska Native groups to uphold national Roadless Rule restrictions in the Tongass National Forest, tribal officials said. The U.S. Forest Service recommended lifting the rule completely and is expected to make the decision official before the end of October, CoastAlaska reported Friday. The agency started a 30-day clock last month to completely exempt Tongass National Forest from the 2001 regulation. “It's just another broken promise to tribes as far as we're con...
October 15, 1920 Petersburg for the greater part of the week has been a lightless and waterless town. The light and power plant shut down entirely on Tuesday while Robert Allen and his force of men were relining the generator and the old engine with the new one. After tearing out the generator it was found that the shafting was badly worn by the five years of hard usage it has been given and it was necessary to turn it down and put in a bushing. This necessitated the shut down of the plant. All stores report an exceptional sale on lamps and...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska conservationists are urging state and federal officials not to reopen wolf hunting season around Prince of Wales Island. They are imploring officials to do so in order to allow the population of wolves to recover from last season’s record harvest, CoastAlaska reported. Much of the island is part of the Tongass National Forest, which makes state and federal governments in charge of managing hunting and trapping. The U.S. Forest Service had postponed the federal subsistence wolf season until Oct. 31. The sta...
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to exempt the country’s largest national forest from a ban on timber harvests and road building in roadless areas, a move conservation groups denounced Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under which the Forest Service falls, announced Thursday the upcoming release of a final environmental review identifying a preferred alternative to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the so-called Roadless Rule. Once the review is released, at least 30 days must pass before a final decision is made. The Tong...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Alaska has faced its share of monumental challenges. The testing of all incoming travelers, providing relief for devastated tourism businesses, creating a new unemployment program from scratch. Yet none compared to the challenge of protecting our critical seafood industry and the communities that rely on their economic production. We commend Alaska's seafood industry for successfully navigating the most difficult season Alaska has ever experienced. Captains,...
Ripple effect To the Editor: It is my hope that when you read my words that you resolve to do better things. We need to start fostering our own indigenous lands and people. This man made aquifer is failing underneath our feet. Recognize that if we don't do more the Black Lives Movement is a moot point. Indigenous people are never going to be able to start healing if we don't do more. As whites we fear loss because the veil of shame is a thing our forefathers gave to us, shame based guilt is a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service issued a deadline to the operator of an Alaska island boat shop to tear down the historic complex and leave, but the owner said the agency’s demands are unrealistic. The federal agency ordered Sam Romey to vacate Wolf Creek Boatworks on Prince of Wales Island, CoastAlaska reported Thursday. Tongass Forest Supervisor Earl Stewart said in an Aug. 14 letter that the boathouse and shop building must be removed by Dec. 15. Ownership of the land parcel occupied by the shop is scheduled to be tra...
