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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) preseason forecast estimates 1,400 adult Chinook returning to the terminal harvest area this summer. The low abundance triggered the department to close the freshwaters of Blind Slough for fishing king salmon this season. The last time freshwater was fully closed for a season was in 2013. ADFG ordered the closure according to the management plan for the sport fishery. It is a conservation effort to protect the broodstock for the Crystal Lake...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed two ordinances in their final readings on March 18. The ordinances amended two different sections under chapter 16.12 of Petersburg municipal code regarding the disposal of borough property. The first ordinance amended the municipal code to increase the assessed property value requirement that voters must approve for disposal of borough property from $500 thousand to $1.5 million. Before this ordinance’s passing, voters in the borough had to approve any sale or trade of borough property with an assessed v...
The state ferry system carried 181,000 passengers in 2023, still short of the pre-COVID numbers in 2019 and down substantially from almost 340,000 in 2012 and more than 420,000 in 1992. Overall vehicle traffic also is down, from more than 115,000 in 2012 to 63,000 last year. Much of the decline corresponds to a reduction in the number of vessels in operation, according to statistics presented to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. The fleet provided almost 400 “operating weeks” in 2012, with each week a ship is at sea counting as an...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s ongoing crew shortage has eased up for entry-level steward positions but remains a significant problem in the wheelhouse and for engineers, likely keeping the Kennicott out of service again this summer. As of March 8, the state ferry system was short almost 50 crew of what it would need to put its full operational fleet to sea this summer, which means keeping the Kennicott tied to the dock, Craig Tornga, the system’s marine director, reported to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. That is abo...
When Carol Mooers came to Alaska to teach, she was not compensated for all of her previous teaching experience in Maine and Texas. That is because state law allows only six to eight years of out-of-state teaching experience to be counted when calculating salaries. She is still a school counselor in the Bering Strait region, but said Alaska would be more attractive to teachers like her younger self if that limit did not exist. Mooers testified in support of a new proposal that would allow... Full story
Over the next five years, the Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DOF) is proposing to harvest timber on thousands of acres of state lands in southern Southeast Alaska - including 1,213 acres on Mitkof Island. This preliminary plan was revealed in a Five-Year Schedule of Timber Sales (FYSTS) scoping document outlining the timber sale activity on state land in southern Southeast proposed by DOF, which is available for public comment until early April. It can be viewed at the Petersburg...
Fierce Allegiance officially bought the Ocean Beauty bunkhouse at 18 Harbor Way on Friday, March 15. Owner Andrew Mazzella, 37, confirmed that he is set to buy all property Ocean Beauty has in Petersburg. "Friday was a huge day," he said. "I closed on [the bunkhouse property] and the stipulation to close on this ... was that I wanted to buy everything Ocean Beauty has in Petersburg." Mazzella negotiated with Ocean Beauty for eight months and now has entered into a contract to purchase all of...
E.C. Phillips & Son Inc. is taking ownership of Trident Seafood's plant in Petersburg. The sale will be completely finalized in April. Trident announced on March 15 that the Ketchikan-based seafood processing company is buying the Petersburg plant along with its main bunkhouse, cookhouse, and two housing units. A spokesperson from Trident told the Pilot in an email that Trident and E.C. Phillips are "fully focused on completing due diligence and finalizing the transaction." Trident and E.C....
Alaska lawmakers fell one vote short Monday in an attempt to override the governor’s veto of a comprehensive school funding bill, which included a permanent increase in the state funding formula for K-12 education. The vote in a joint session of the House and Senate was 39-20. A two-thirds majority of 40 votes of the 60 legislators was required for an override. All 20 of the votes to uphold the governor’s actions came from Republicans. A dozen Republicans voted with Democrats and independents in the failed attempt. Even if lawmakers had succeed...
WRANGELL — Clean water advocates believe a seafood consumption survey among Wrangell residents might help in their push for higher water quality standards. Together, the Wrangell Cooperative Association and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission will conduct a survey in Wrangell to determine the quantity and types of seafood community members consume. The goal of the survey is to update the region’s outdated fish consumption rate, said Esther Aaltséen Reese, WCA tribal administrator. The metric is used by the U.S. Envi...
Hosted every other year to promote health and wellness in the community, the Petersburg Medical Center Health & Safety Fair takes place this weekend -and this year's theme is "Nurture Your Health With Nature." The main health fair event will take place on Saturday, March 23 at the community center. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. there will be over 25 fair booths available to visit in the community gym. "We have a lot of local people, as well as some regional folks coming in from out of town that will be...
Trident Seafoods reported last Friday it was “entering the final stages of closing deals for three of its Alaska shoreside plants,” including its operations in Ketchikan and Petersburg. On Wednesday, Trident announced that an agreement has been reached “in principle” for Silver Bay Seafoods to acquire the Trident processing plant in Ketchikan. A buyer for Petersburg’s plant has not yet been officially named, but rumors are circulating that an announcement to that effect is expected to happen this Friday. Seattle-based Trident Seafoods...
Shots fired by a person other than an officer may soon be allowed in the Frederick Point East Subdivision area. As it stands, Petersburg municipal code prohibits the discharge of firearms in the area of Frederick Point East Subdivision - calling it "unlawful for any person, except a peace officer or other state or local official performing a lawful duty, to fire or discharge any firearm within the [area]." The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed an ordinance to amend this section of code in its...
Russian fish flooding global markets and other economic forces beyond the state’s border have created dire conditions for Alaska’s seafood industry. Now key legislators are seeking to establish a task force to come up with some responses to the low prices, lost market share, lost jobs and lost income being suffered by fishers, fishing companies and fishing-related communities. The measure, Senate Concurrent Resolution 10, was introduced on March 1 and is sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee. “Alaska’s seafood industry is in a tailspi... Full story
A new state revenue forecast that includes modestly higher oil prices promises to give Alaskans a slightly larger Permanent Fund dividend and the Alaska Legislature some additional breathing room as lawmakers craft a new state budget. The forecast, released Wednesday by the Alaska Department of Revenue, updates a fall estimate and predicts that the state of Alaska will collect $140 million more in revenue than previously expected during the 12 months that begin July 1. That will help legislators as they write a budget bill that must be passed a... Full story
Gears are in motion for the Forest Service to revise its Land and Resource Management Plan - a process that invites public involvement and will take years to complete. The land management plan, or forest plan, provides guidance for future decisions and sets overall management direction. The existing land management plan for the Tongass National Forest was originally adopted in 1997 and amended in 2016. According to the USFS, plans are "strategic and broad in scope" rather than site or project...
The customer line was out the door on opening day at Fire! Bistro - Petersburg's newest restaurant located in the former conference room of Tides Inn. Community members looked forward to eating their fill of gourmet sandwiches, salads, wraps, and smoothies found on a new menu chock-full of flavors missing from the local food scene until Fire! Bistro opened March 5. Owner Chef Juan Herrera is no stranger to the food business. He earned a catering certificate and personal chef certificate from...
A field of snow near the Petersburg Reservoir glistened in the morning sunshine where, at 550 feet above sea level, Forest Service Hydrologist Heath Whitacre jammed a hollow aluminum tube through the snowpack to measure its depth and collect a core sample, making sure to strike the muskeg underneath. The Petersburg Ranger District has monitored two of several snow survey sites in the Southeast region since 1979: The Raven's Ridge site at 1,650 feet above sea level, and the site near Petersburg R...
The Sitka Community Land Trust announced today it has secured $2.17 million in federal funding to build a four-unit apartment building on the property it owns on Halibut Point Road. Trust Executive Director Randy Hughey said he was not expecting the email from Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office telling him SCLT’s project had been included for funding in the consolidated appropriations act that has been passed by Congress. “It took a few hours to sink in,” Hughey said. The funding may take a while to come in, he added, but it will be enough to cove...
Leading Alaska legislators said last week that there’s little appetite for spending from savings to pay a super-sized Permanent Fund dividend this year, likely killing a proposal from Gov. Mike Dunleavy. In December, the governor proposed spending almost $2.3 billion on a dividend of roughly $3,500 per recipient under a formula in state law. That would result in a $1 billion deficit and require spending from the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve, but as a draft budget takes shape in the House, top members of both the House and Senate sai...
A $9.7 million bailout package to ensure that the Juneau School District can cover a nearly $8 million deficit this year and help toward resolving a projected deficit of nearly $10 million next year was approved March 4 by the Juneau borough assembly. The package, consisting of a loan and taking over some “non-instructional costs” from the school district, won final approval after several weeks of consideration by city and school leaders. The Juneau assembly voted to provide the district with an interest-free loan of up to $4.1 million dol...
The Alaska Senate voted without dissent Monday to allow the Department of Natural Resources to stop publishing some public notices in local newspapers. Senators approved Senate Bill 68 by a 17-0 vote. It now advances to the House for consideration. Sens. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; and Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, were excused absent. Before the final vote, newspaper publishers unsuccessfully asked legislators to reconsider their plans. Allowing the state to control its public notice process poses transparency risks, they...
The USDA Forest Service Petersburg Ranger District announced the final decision for the Thomas Bay Young-Growth Timber Sale on Feb. 22. With the specific goal of the timber industry's transition away from logging old growth to harvesting young-growth timber, the Forest Service weighed the regulations, strategies, public input and environmental considerations and selected a plan that will allow harvest of roughly 561 acres of young-growth forest -amounting to about 12.6 million board feet of...
This week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that four school districts in the country would receive the new Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award, for "their trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for their students." Petersburg School District was among those four receiving the national recognition. These awards - part of the Biden-Harris administration's Healthy Meals Initiative (HMI) - celebrate school districts who embrace... Full story
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office (TLO) and State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) met with the Petersburg Borough Assembly Monday night for a work session to discuss platting and plans for a large subdivision project created and proposed by the TLO to the borough last fall. According to the TLO, the South Mitkof Subdivision proposes to subdivide approximately 500 acres of Trust land into 100 lots -each averaging 5-7 acres in size- accessed via public access and utility easements...
