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August 10, 1923 – Henry McCloskey, 20 year old native boy, was shot through the index finger of his right hand this week at Allen Bay when a 25-35 rifle was accidentally discharged. The young man was fishing and had stuck his rifle butt in the mud. He reached for the gun and in pulling it toward him the piece was accidentally discharged, the bullet striking McCloskey in the finger. He was brought to town and the member was amputated by Dr. Jones who also injected tetanus antitoxin as a preventative of lockjaw. August 6, 1948 – New fac...
Scientists and staff with the U.S. Forest Service are hopeful that the blackheaded budworm outbreak that began three years ago throughout the Tongass National Forest is beginning to decline. Data collected earlier this year revealed not only the extent of the damage done by the half-inch insect but evidence showed the worms are dying off. Elizabeth Graham, an entomologist with the Forest Service, said in a news conference on July 20 she has seen firsthand that there is lower activity of the bug...
After just barely falling short of his goal last year, Andrew Simmonds managed to complete a seven-mile swim across Frederick Sound on July 15. Simmonds-a physical therapist at the Petersburg Medical Center-started his crossing at Petersburg's Sandy Beach at 7:01 a.m. His first steps into the water marked the beginning of what would become a seven-hour long battle that pushed him to his limits. However, the challenge truly began for Simmonds when he arrived in Petersburg back in October 2021...
John Edgington was born in southern California and after high school he went to Alaska for the first time as a summer stream guard for the Department of the Interior, before Alaska statehood. After meeting and marrying the love of his life, Michale, at Oregon State University, John completed his Masters degree in fisheries at University of Idaho. He became a biologist for the State of Oklahoma and after the birth of his daughter Sarah, the family moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, where John worked... Full story
WRANGELL - Competitors made of the toughest stuff have less than a month to train for the Tongass Toughman Triathlon in Wrangell. Triathletes put their endurance, strength and fortitude on display in a contest which covers a combined 72.2 miles of water, pavement and earth. The race, which will unofficially kick off the Fourth of July festivities throughout town on July 1, starts with a swim of 1.2 miles to City Dock from a starting point out in Zimovia Strait. Once athletes reach the dock and c...
Myra Arlene Sarber passed with her family by her side April 14th in Sunnyside Oregon. Myra was born the sixth child of seven in Spokane WA, to Thelma Irene and Faber Sebastian Wondzell. In 1951 her family moved by steamship to Wrangell in the Territory of Alaska. 1955 brought a consistent and loving stepfather, Albert Ronning. She married her lifelong love Homer Sarber in Petersburg AK, in 1962, and they settled down in Ketchikan to raise their family. Myra and Homer lived in Ketchikan for 35... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service is still seeking volunteers to fill out seats on the South Tongass Secure Rural Schools Resource Advisory Committee (SRS RAC), but with the deadline to apply fast approaching the committee is at risk of not having enough members to hold meetings. According to the Forest Service, RACs review proposals for projects on National Forest System lands, provide advice to the department, and vote on recommendations for the allocation of federal Secure Rural Schools Act funding to...
A press release this week announced that Petersburg Medical Center Youth Programs will offer expanded summer programming to better meet the community's needs by providing additional options for childcare. Kinder Skog, the popular outdoor forest school, will expand to include a "Forest Kindy" program designed specifically for five and six year olds. Following a recommendation from the State of Alaska Childcare Program, Kinder Skog will transition from a licensed childcare program to a recreationa...
The U.S. Forest Service is seeing a nationwide push for new employees as they expand their operations, driven by an increase in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. "So all this additional funding gave us additional work and we need additional people to do that," Petersburg District Ranger Ray Born said. The Petersburg Ranger District is hiring mostly for technician positions including biological technicians to conduct surveys and recreation...
The Tongass National Forest has approved the Organized Village of Kake's request to use a U.S. Forest Service facility at Portage Bay as a cultural healing center according to an announcement from the department last week. The OVK plans to establish a program centered on cultural healing that would provide counseling to people struggling with alcohol, substance abuse, and other issues and reconnect them with their cultural identity. The program would be based out of the Forest Service's...
Unsettled Science To the Editor: This letter is in response to Sam Bunge’s response to my letter two weeks ago. The contention is based on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) petition. Sam’s letter states according to Wikipedia.”The authenticity and methods of the petitioners as well as the signatories credentials have been questioned, and the project has been characterized as a disinformation campaign engaged in climate change denial.” My response: according to the University of Pittsburgh Library system,...
The Biden administration will ban new logging roads and most development in much of Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The decision, which repeals a 2020 USDA action under the Trump administration, continues a quarter-century of action and counter-action over development in the region, which contains the world’s largest temperate coastal rainforest and is home to more than 72,000 people. “As our nation’s largest national forest and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the... Full story
The Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts are seeking comments for nine proposed cabins as the U.S. Forest Service looks to construct new cabins in areas that are closer to communities and accessible by road or saltwater. According to the project's scoping letter, the Forest Service plans to redistribute the cabin system on the Tongass National Forest to meet increasing demand and to make cabins easier to travel to and easier to maintain. The four proposed cabins in the Petersburg area...
Since 2018, an ongoing insect outbreak has been killing the foliage of hemlock and Stika spruce in the Tongass. The Wrangell area is among the most affected. Though residents have expressed concern at the island's gray and red-spotted hillsides, state entomologist Elizabeth Graham shared reassuring news with the Wrangell and Petersburg communities at an online forum last Wednesday. The hemlock sawfly and western blackheaded budworm populations have likely reached their peak, and though the...
The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public input on proposed cabin projects in Alaska made possible through funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Of the $18 million allocated to the Forest Service for recreation cabins and historic buildings, $14.4 million will go toward cabin projects on the Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Over 50 cabin projects have been proposed across Alaska. And though only a handful will be funded, projects in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger...
WRANGELL – The U.S. Forest Service spent last week showing that the wildlife at Anan Creek aren't your average bears. From the chilliest to the chunkiest, the inaugural Anan Bear Awards were posted via Facebook from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, honoring nine bears for their unique personalities. Paul Robbins, public affairs officer for the Tongass National Forest, said the awards are modeled after the Katmai National Park and Preserve's Fat Bear Week held at the same time. In that event, National Park Serv...
WRANGELL—“Not happy” was how Borough Manager Jeff Good described his mood last week when he received word that Wrangell was left off the list of Alaska communities sharing in $27 million in the final round of federal pandemic assistance funding. Wrangell was not alone in receiving nothing. Juneau, Sitka and Anchorage also came up empty. The funding formula was based on federal acreage within each borough, with population and economic conditions, such as poverty levels and unemployment, factoring into the formula. “I think Treasury got it wron...
(AP) - A landslide triggered by record rainfall significantly damaged three homes, prompted the evacuation of about a dozen residents and caused power outages in downtown Juneau, Alaska's capital city. Geological assessment teams determined Tuesday that favorable weather has returned the threat level to pre-slide levels. The city's public works department was preparing to begin removing debris, city spokesperson Meredith Thatcher said. Of the three homes, one was completely destroyed as it came...
ALPS Federal Credit Union, with headquarters in Sitka, and Tongass Federal Credit Union, with headquarters in Ketchikan, announced today they're seeking regulatory approval of their intent to merge. Tongass Federal Credit Union is a $150 million credit union with nine locations across Southeast Alaska, including Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Thorne Bay, Klawock, Wrangell, Hydaburg, Kake, Hoonah and Haines. ALPS is a $75 million credit union and operates locations in Sitka and Petersburg. The merged...
Look around Southeast and you will see a lot of evergreen trees that aren't so green. Southeast Alaska's hemlock and spruce trees are fending off an assault by a number of pests and diseases, most notably a caterpillar that causes the conifers to turn reddish-brown. The main culprit is the western blackheaded budworm, a moth caterpillar that feeds on hemlock and spruce needles, according to U.S. Forest Service Alaska Region entomologist Elizabeth Graham in Juneau. Graham said Southeast trees...
A new triathlon club sponsored by Parks and Recreation is welcoming interested community members of any skill level to train for upcoming races. Scott Burt, who organized the group and is in the process of becoming a certified Ironman coach, believes the club will provide a supportive environment for people who want to train in the sport. “I just saw Parks and Rec as being a perfect venue to be able to bring all of these people together that share a common interest so that we could train together, so that we could benefit from each other’s exp...
WRANGELL-If visitors read the bear-sighting sheet at Anan Wildlife Observatory, which the workers fill out every season, bear names would sound more like tax forms: 7-05-A, for the first bear spotted on the stream to fish on July 5, and 7-05-B, for the second bear spotted on July 5. Well, humans only do so well with numbering systems before our penchant for nicknames kicks in: Casino, Crack and Scuba Sue, to name a few. Bear naming can be a controversial issue, Dee Galla, outdoor recreation...
Attendees to the upcoming Séet Ká Festival in town should leave with a wealth of knowledge because the goal of the event is to increase cultural awareness for, and uplift, the Indigenous people of Séet Ká Kwáan. The event spans five days, Feb. 10-14, and the idea for it came largely from Avery Sakamoto, a busy, local Lingít advocate. Last spring, Sakamoto was invited to join the Rainforest Festival Committee, and it only took a couple days after the first meeting for inspiration to strik...
WRANGELL - SEARHC's announcement last week that it was shuttering the 21-year-old Alaska Crossings program in Wrangell, a wilderness therapy program for at-risk children that the health care provider took over in 2017, disappointed much of the community. The news release cited rising costs. Spokesperson Maegan Bosak, senior director of lands and property management at SEARHC offices in Sitka, said Friday she didn't have an operating cost for Crossings but would ask the finance department for the information. "Health care systems throughout the...
January The assembly approved of a COVID-19 dashboard which tracked cases in the community. Local businesses received a total of $15.08 million in aid in the first round of COVID-19 aid released through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. PMC vaccinated approximately 350 residents aged 65 or older at a vaccine drive in the community gym. PMC was given permission by the borough to apply for a second PPP loan totaling $1.8 million. PMC applied and received a loan of...
