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Rarely seen avian visitors drew at least four visitors to Petersburg last week, as birders from several parts of Alaska came in hopes of catching a sighting of a pair of Cattle Egrets. The birds, regularly spotted along lawns in town for more than a week, are not a native resident to Alaska, or to the American continents, hailing originally from Africa. They arrived in Florida around 1953, hopping across the continent to California by 1964 and were first seen in southeast Alaskan in 1981, when...
The Petersburg Vessel Owners Association hosted a presentation by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) exploring long-term halibut trends. IPHC Executive Director Bruce Leaman and quantitative scientist Ian Stewart presented the findings and fielding questions from the audience. The data collected look at halibut stocks from across the Pacific, from Alaska to British Columbia, Canada and south to Washington and Oregon. Stewart said that the IPHC has 100 years worth of data on the Pacific stock of halibut, which help IPHC to exami...
Both candidates to represent Petersburg and other communities in House District 35, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins and Republican Steven Samuelson, had an easy time arriving at the ballot box this year. Both candidates ran through the primaries unopposed in their respective parties and both are veteran campaigners, with Samuelson making another run at a legislative seat after a defeat in 2010's Republican Primary to Peggy Wilson. Kreiss-Tompkins is the closest to an incumbent, prior to...
Little Norway continues to be a welcoming haven for visitors, recently hosting the Alaska Sea Grant conference over Thursday and Friday, where participants convened for an annual meeting of the minds on all matters maritime. More specifically to the local setting, the second day of the conference was a chance for a panel of knowledgeable residents to discuss retaining youth and growing the maritime industries with the full cadre of Sea Grant staff. “That fed into our workforce development plan for the maritime industries,” said Sunny Rice, the...
Tidal Echoes, the literary and art journal of Southeast Alaska, is now accepting submissions for the 2015 edition Attention all artists, authors, playwrights and poets: the University of Alaska Southeast is now accepting submissions for its 2015 edition of Tidal Echoes. It is the only journal of its kind in Southeast Alaska, seeking creators from every town and village of southeast to submit work. UAS students enrolled at the Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan campuses — along with anyone living in Southeast Alaska — are encouraged to submit sam...
Cindi Lagoudakis Position sought: Assembly member, 3-year term Age: 60 Education: Undergraduate coursework, University of California, Berkeley; B.S. in Forest Management, Oregon State University; Graduate coursework in fisheries, University of Alaska Fairbanks Family: "Bill Tremblay, husband; children: Stephanie, Chelsea, Jarrett and Lindsay'' Political experience: "Petersburg Borough Assembly member and vice-mayor Lincoln County, Oregon, Planning Commissioner Alaska State Appointee to the...
When Father Thomas Weise returned to his apartment at Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church after a trip to Wrangell last winter, he was greeted by a chilly sight. "I came home from Wrangell and the water in my tub had frozen," Weise said. "I'm like 'why is my tub frozen?'" To find out Weise took a look underneath the building. That's when he first saw the bare joists supporting the floor and decided it was time to improve the building's insulation, starting from the bottom up. Instead of...
The Petersburg Borough municipal election will be held Oct. 7. Voters will decide who should fill the positions of 37 board and commission slots, as well as weigh in on seven ballot measures. In the coming weeks, the Pilot will publish candidate profiles with information about candidates and their responses about why they're running. This week we profile school board candidates Sarah P. Holmgain, Megan Litster and Jay Lister who are running to fill the board's three open seats and hospital...
“Surprised and disappointed” was the reaction by Senator Mark Begich upon learning that his opponent Dan Sullivan has bowed out of an October 1 fisheries debate in Kodiak. It is the second time this year that Sullivan has declined to participate in the Chamber of Commerce event that has been an election year tradition since 1990. “I can’t recall a time that a candidate has not participated in the Kodiak debate,” Begich said as he readied to head back to DC on Friday. “It’s a must do for statewide candidates. It’s not an option. It’s clear he do...
WRANGELL — With only a month left to prepare, organizers for the 2014 Southeast Conference (SEC) are finalizing an agenda and adding names to the register of attendees. “We're happy to have anyone that wants to come,” said Shelly Wright, SEC executive director. Registration opened at the beginning of the month. The Nolan Center will be hosting the conference, which promotes economic interests and brings stakeholders together to discuss issues for Alaska's southeastern communities. “It is a good draft agenda,” Wright commented. A number of...
University of Alaska Southeast-Juneau Danielle Lane Torrence graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from the University of Alaska Southeast-Juneau on May 4, 2014. Danielle is the daughter of Dan Torrence of Petersburg and Valerie Vlahovich of Fairbanks. She is currently employed at Gastineau Elementary School Rally in Juneau. She is a 2010 graduate of Petersburg High School....
August 8, 1914 – A few days ago Mrs. J Allen going out at the back of the house saw a young black bear. Surprised, she loudly called for Mr. Allen to bring a gun, but having got a warning, the cub and its hide are still intact as it took to the woods with great speed. All of which goes to show what a nice quiet community we have here. Even bears can approach our town without realizing they are near a great city. August 9, 1974 Celebrating Pilot's 40th Year – Peter and Spurg, two hand puppets, explained some of the mysteries of sea life to abo...
Fishermen won’t need special permits to hose off their decks thanks to a bill moving through the US Senate. That’s garnered a big sigh of relief from harvesters across the nation and kudos to a rare show of bipartisanship by coastal lawmakers, notably Senators Begich of Alaska and Marco Rubio of Florida. “The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act extends a moratorium that was already granted to the commercial fishing industry from 2008, and it’s been up every couple of years. It would extend this moratorium indefinitely so commercial fishing vessels...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Southeast Alaska's watersheds are changing quickly, and researchers are working to figure out how, why, and what those changes mean. Sanjay Pyare, Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Systems and Landscape Ecology, Sonia Nagorski, Research Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences, Brian Buma, Assistant Professor of Forest Ecosystem Ecology, and other researchers affiliated with the University of Alaska and the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center _ including graduate and undergraduate students _ on a recent F...
Salmon takes center stage in Alaska every summer, but many more fisheries also are going on all across the state. The world’s biggest sockeye salmon run is expected to surge into Bristol Bay any day, where a catch of about 17 million reds is projected. Elsewhere, the annual summer troll fishery in Southeast Alaska kicks off on July first with a target of just over 166,000 Chinook salmon. Lots of crab fisheries are underway each summer— Dungeness fishing began on June 15 in Southeast where a harvest of 2.25 million pounds is expected. The reg...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly joined the City of Kupreanof in sending a letter to the University of Alaska President requesting the suspension of contract finalization for timber sales on South Mitkof Island. The first timber sale is located adjacent to Banana Point and the Wilson Creek Recreation Area and the other is along the Wrangell Narrows across from Keene Island. “These timber sales will likely result in the increase of severe landslide potential, loss of critical deer winter range, and visual impacts to the Wrangell Narrows Scenic By... Full story
Trollers in Southeast Alaska provide fresh king salmon nearly year round, but the runs of reds and kings to the Copper River mark the “official start” of Alaska’s salmon season. On May 15 the fleet of more than 570 fishermen set out their nets on a beautiful day for the first 12 hour opener amidst the usual hype for the first fish. “We’ve got a lot of people riding around in the sky checking out the conditions, and a lot of people are getting ready to move the fish to other places for First Fish celebrations,” said Kim Ryals, executive d...
April 11, 1914 – How far can flies, mosquitoes and other disease-bearing insects carry the germs which make them so much dreaded? At one time it was thought that their activities were limited to a radius of a few hundred feet from their breeding places and that even a high wind would never waft them more than a mile or so away. The experts in charge of Cleveland's anti-fly campaign, however, have discovered evidence to prove that flies are carried by the wind over water for six miles, and it seems reasonable to suppose that over land, the l...
Alaska’s salmon catch of 273 million salmon set a record last year – and so did the number of salmon returning home to state hatcheries. The 2013 Fisheries Enhancement Report by the AK Dept. of Fish and Game shows that a return of 112 million hatchery reared salmon contributed 36 percent to the state’s total salmon harvest. The breakdown by species was 63% for chum salmon, 38% for pinks, 23% for Chinook salmon, 22% for cohos and 5% of Alaska’s sockeye salmon catch can be credited to hatchery returns. Unlike farmed fish, which are crammed...
During the Petersburg Borough Assembly’s Feb. 14 meeting, Mayor Mark Jensen reported the following: On July 14, 2013, the Alaska Redistricting Board adopted new boundaries for the Alaska legislative house and senate districts. The Division of Elections adjusted the boundaries of existing voting precincts to align them with the legislative district boundaries. Petersburg Borough is in the Petersburg/Kupreanof Precinct. The Division of Elections is accepting comments on the proposed regulation changes until 4 p.m. March 3, 2014. The Alaska D...
Bait is always a big expenditure for many fishing businesses and pollock could help cut costs for Alaska halibut longliners who fish in the Gulf. Researchers have tested pollock in two projects to see if it might replace pricier chum salmon as halibut bait. Fish biologists use over 300,000 pounds of chums in their stock surveys each year, costing nearly half a million dollars. The baits are used at more than 1,200 testing stations from Oregon to the Bering Sea. A pilot study three years ago in the central Gulf and off of British Columbia...
The Petersburg Land Selection Committee is asking the borough to pursue legislative action regarding the state’s recent calculation of land entitlement for the Petersburg Borough. According to Alaska Statute, newly formed boroughs are entitled to no less than ten percent of the “maximum total acreage of vacant, unappropriated, unreserved (VUU) state general grant land within the boundaries between the date of incorporation and two years thereafter…” Committee member Liz Cabrera said the committee feels the state’s determination is inadequat... Full story
Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard again in 2013 to ramp up its message to policy makers, most of whom still tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance to the state and beyond. What is that message? That “the industry” is made up of thousands of small businesses – the fishing boats that each supports one or several families. That the seafood companies in coastal towns provide one of the state’s biggest tax bases. And together, fishing and processing provide more jobs in Alaska than oil/gas, mining, tourism and timber combined. S...
WRANGELL — An Alaska Division of Insurance ruling will effectively cancel a widely used medical evacuation membership plan across Southeast. The ruling, issued in a letter of judgment Nov. 12, effectively invalidates the Airlift Northwest’s Alaska AirCare membership plan. Airlift Northwest is a subsidiary of the University of Washington, and until mid-November the Alaska AirCare membership plan was designed to eliminate co-payments for emergency medical costs in Southeast. Wrangell citizens typically use a combination of plans to cover the cos...
When one thinks of Southeast Alaskan wildlife the tendency is to imagine the grumbles and crashes of humpback whales, bears, moose and wolves trampling through muskeg and salmon ripping up sloughs and stReam. But Joshua Ream lives in a different wild. He turns over logs and peers into shallow ponds looking for and documenting native amphibians. “I chose to work with amphibians here in Alaska because there’s relatively little known about the species we have and a lot of people don’t even realize that they occur here,” Ream said. Ream, a wildlif...
