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Forest Service plans to clear and rebuild road to Middle Ridge cabin By Larry Persily Sentinel writer Progress is underway toward reopening the full length of Middle Ridge Road. Sections of the old logging road were overrun in a November 2023 landslide. The U.S. Forest Service is working to complete repairs to the road and reopen access to the Middle Ridge public-use cabin. "We were able to secure some emergency relief funding for work on the Middle Ridge Road," Wrangell District Ranger Tory...
Vanessa Barnes is comfortable letting go. Since she was 5 years old, the high school senior called the wrestling mat home. For her senior project, Barnes was able to share that sense of home with wrestlers on the middle school team and in the peewee program. For the project, she teamed up with fellow high school senior standout Della Churchill. "I planned it before," Barnes said, standing in the back room of the high school art department as she painted a handmade ceramic cup. "I've always done...
The annual Stikine River Birding Festival returns for a weekend of avian adventures April 26-27. Evolving from what was once known as the annual Garnet Festival in 1997, Birdfest will begin at 7 a.m. Saturday, April 26, with people invited to bring their binoculars to a two-hour bird walk on the Muskeg Meadows Golf Course, led by local birding expert Bonnie Demerjian and wildlife expert and special guest speaker Chadd Drott. Drott, a Colorado resident, has been studying wildlife for more than 25 years. He operates Chadd’s Walking With Wildlife,...
A Canadian environmental nonprofit group, long critical of the Red Chris Mine in the northern watershed of the Stikine River, has released a new report that cites increasing underground seepage of contaminants from the mine’s tailings pond. The report comes as British Columbia regulators are considering the mine operator’s application to expand ore recovery by changing to underground tunneling instead of open-pit surface mining. The gold and copper mine started operations in 2015 and sits about 50 miles east of the Stikine River community of...
A majority of Wrangell teachers approved sending a letter to the school board, expressing “no confidence” in the leadership of Board President Dave Wilson. “This action was not taken lightly,” the March 31 letter said. “It reflects widespread concern among educators about Mr. Wilson’s conduct, lack of preparedness, (and) unwillingness to collaborate with community stakeholders. …” Almost 50 people attended a March 24 work session between the school board and borough officials to hash out options amid a severe budget squeeze at the schools. Wi...
Twenty years after Congress passed the REAL ID Act, and after numerous postponements, the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, will require travelers have an approved identification to board an airplane as of May 7. Which means Wrangell residents who don’t have a REAL ID issued by the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles — the cards have a star in the upper-right corner of the license — are running out of time to get a new license. People need to get to the DMV office in the Public Safety Building to fill out the forms and provi...
“Why should the kids have all the fun?” was a significant motivating factor for the Irene Ingle Public Library’s first-ever winter reading program for grown-ups, which wrapped up in March after 11 weeks of page-turning. It was a success, attracting 60 participants who read a combined 1,072 books. Sarah Scambler, library director, said many patrons commented that the summer reading program for kids, which has been offered for the past 30 years, always generates reading fun and excitiement, and adults wanted in on it. The idea had been floated by...
The 2025 Southeast Alaska harvest limit for king salmon will be almost 40% less than last year, a drop of 60,000 fish. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game on April 1 announced an overall allocation of 130,800 treaty king salmon — fish that don’t originate in Alaska hatcheries — for all gear groups targeting kings in waters off Southeast Alaska and Yakutat. In recent years, Southeast Alaska’s all-gear allocation has ranged between a high of 355,600 treaty kings in 2016 down to 130,000 in 2018, Fish and Game records show. The regionw...
As has been routine in recent years, the state has closed the waters in front of the Stikine River to sport fishing for kings or retention of the salmon though July 14. The annual closure is a continuing effort to rebuild the river’s depleted runs. The closure of District 8 covers the waters around the top half of Wrangell Island to the eastern half of Zarembo Island, and up the east side of Mitkof Island. Districts 6, 7, 9 and 10 as far north as Frederick Sound and into Chatham Strait and south of Etolin Island are closed to king sport f...
The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce will move into the Nolan Center, pending the expected approval by the borough assembly later this month. Setting up shop in the Nolan Center will put the chamber in a more visible and heavily trafficked location, allowing better access for visitors. Since 2012, the chamber has been in an office in the Stikine Inn, around the corner from the front desk. “We’re essentially becoming roommates,” said Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director, describing the new arrangement for sharing office space....
Police on Saturday arrested Ethan Robison, 22, on multiple charges after he allegedly hit one vehicle and ran two others off the road before losing control of his own vehicle and crashing off the highway. Police said they received a report about 5:25 p.m. Saturday, April 5, “of a potentially intoxicated driver” in a pickup truck near Evergreen Trailer Park on the north end of the island. “Shortly after, the same truck hit a vehicle at the intersection of Bennett Street and Zimovia Highway,” according to the Wrangell Police Department stateme...
The math of not having enough revenue to cover what the public wants out of state government isn't a shock to freshman Rep. Jeremy Bynum, who left four years of service on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough assembly to start his new job this year as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives. What surprised him is the size of the gap between available revenue and spending desires, said Bynum, who represents Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Hyder, Meyers Chuck, Whale Pass and Coffman Cove. He...
Kyan Stead talks a lot about practice. If there are two things the high school senior excels at, it's basketball and welding, two talents reliant on tedious repetition. And while that may deter some folks, Stead embraces it. For his senior project, he organized a wood and metal art table at the Nolan Center's holiday community market last December. He sold student projects and other creations students made in shop class. From cutting boards to coat hangers, he sold about $2,000 worth of goods. A...
"The roof is on fire, and I feel like nobody is actually paying attention," teacher Mikki Angerman said at a joint work session between the borough assembly and school board on March 24. Nearly 50 members of the public attended the meeting, and Angerman's impassioned speech to the school board exemplified the widespread frustration with the district's handling of its large budget shortfall. The meeting coincided with the release of the district's third draft of next year's budget. Business...
Without a real plan, Olivia Strano found herself in the right place at the right time. When she walked away from her work as a yacht stewardess and onto a Wrangell dock last summer, she felt she had found her home. "I've been searching for my place for 10 years, and Wrangell is everything I've been looking for," she said. While she was working a variety of jobs to make ends meet, she asked locals what was something that Wrangell needed but didn't have. Music, music venues and more bands were...
It’s even better than a raincoat, it’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and the musical is coming to the stage at the Nolan Center this weekend. “If you’ve never seen a show, this is the one to see,” director Haley Reeves said of the community theater production, the fifth play since volunteers resumed putting on shows in December 2022 after an absence of more than 20 years. “Joseph” retells a Bible story about a large family and one young man’s journey and later reunion with his brothers. “It’s not a boring show,” Reeves sa...
Spring started a month ago, but better to wait until any remaining snow is gone and the temperatures are a little warmer before embarking on Wrangell’s annual community cleanup. The cleanup event is set for 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 19, with crews collecting their gear and heading out from the Evergreen Elementary School parking lot. “People come in and get bags to collect trash at the place of their choice,” said one of the volunteer organizers, Paula Rak, who has been helping with the community cleanup the past 40 years. The organ...
Prompted at a work session with the borough assembly last week to gather more public input into its long-term budget plans, the Wrangell school board is seeking volunteers to serve on a special committee. The school board announced March 28 that it is seeking letters of interest from people willing to serve on an ad hoc committee “to research long-term budgetary considerations,” such as a four-day school week, consolidation of the district’s three schools or other measures to cut expenses. “This is your opportunity to be a part of what could l...
A software problem with the borough’s transition to cloud-based servers resulted in missed auto payments for some Wrangell utility customers in March. Instead of the autopays going through as normal they went nowhere, and the April 1 account statements will show a delinquency for March, explained Jackson Pool, the borough’s finance director. “Please be assured that all late fees related to this issue will be waived,” Pool reported in a March 26 announcement of the problem. Wrangell has about 1,150 residential and commercial utility accounts cov...
DaNika Smalley and Amber Wade traveled to Juneau last month to go back in time. The pair conducted research at Sealaska Heritage Institute, the Tlingit & Haida Central Council archives and at the Alaska State Museum. Their four-day trip was covered by grant funding through Museums Alaska with additional support from the national nonprofit Henry Luce Foundation and the CIRI Foundation, established by the Native corporation for the Cook Inlet region. Smalley oversees collections for the Wrangell M...
Sealaska, the regional for-profit Native corporation for Southeast Alaska, has scheduled a meeting for its shareholders from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, at the Nolan Center. The corporation is holding shareholder meetings across Southeast this spring, leading up to its annual meeting scheduled for June 21 in Kake. The Sealaska board of directors will be at the Wrangell meeting, said Christian Gomez, communications lead for the Juneau-based corporation. Tables will be set up in the civic center for shareholders to collect information and...
The beach between City Park and Heritage Harbor reopened to the public last week after a closure of more than six months to repair damage to the community’s sewage outfall line. The borough last month collected and tested samples from the beach to ensure the area is safe for the public. “Results of those tests have come back within regulatory compliance and historical averages,” according to a March 28 announcement from City Hall. A boat owner last September pulled anchor in front of the beach area, damaging the deepwater outfall line from...
A couple of Wrangell kids scored victories in the state Elks Hoop Shoot competition. Jude Johnson placed second in the state among boys 10 and 11 years old, with his score of sinking 15 of 25 free throws at the Wrangell event. Connor Blake placed third in the state among boys 12 and 13 years old, with his score of making 18 of 25 shots. They were among the half-dozen kids who placed first in Wrangell’s annual Hoop Shoot in November. Their scores were sent to the state director, who ranked their record against first-place finishers from the 1...
Alejandro Calvillo, 24, was being held in the Wrangell jail last week on extortion and coercion charges for allegedly threatening a victim in an attempt to collect $1,000, Wrangell police said. Bond on the initial charges was set at $10,000, and the suspect was held pending his next court date on April 1, Police Chief Gene Meek said March 27. Police arrested Calvillo on March 23 — a day after the alleged crime — after stopping him just past where Front Street changes into Shakes Street. The victim reported to police on March 22 that Cal...
It was always going to be tough for City Hall to follow up a fiscal year that brought in over $50 million in federal and state funding, but 2025 hasn't exactly gotten off to a rip-roaring financial start. Congress' failure to reauthorize funding for the Secure Rural Schools program means that the borough is beginning to build next year's budget in a $800,000 hole after losing the federal aid; the pending launch of Sitka's new haul-out boatyard could take business away from Wrangell's economy; an...