Author: Robert Woolsey

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is planning to remove Sitka’s Granite Creek from its list of impaired waters next year. Over the past six years, the state has contributed a quarter-million dollars of federal funds to control sediment loads in the stream, which passes through two large gravel mines before reaching tidewater at a state recreation area. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey recently toured Granite Creek with Sitka’s environmental superintendent Mark Buggins. They talked about the success – and challenge – of stream rehabilitation in an industrial area:

The University of Alaska on Friday (5-1-09) awarded Herman Kitka an honorary Doctorate of Humane letters. The 94-year old Tlingit leader was a founding officer of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska in 1938, the first president of the Shee Atika board of directors, and influential in developing the legislation that led to the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. Robert Woolsey attended the ceremony:

Another long-time Alaska cultural institution is undergoing change this year. The Island Institute will hold its twenty-fifth Sitka Symposium this summer, and then close the book on the annual gathering of writers, students, and thinkers. Carolyn Servid and her husband Dorik Mechau are co-directors of the Island Institute, which will continue to run its Writer in Residence and other programs. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey talked with Servid, and with English professor Scott Russell Sanders, about the symposium:

Efforts by the Tenakee Springs advisory school board to recruit new families for the town have met with success. Two families, with a total of six school-age children, are making plans to move to Tenakee Springs after learning about the community through an ad in Craig’s List, and through subsequent media exposure in the Juneau Empire and Anchorage Daily News.

The Sitka Summer Music Festival has named a successor to founder and artistic director Paul Rosenthal. Cellist Zuill Bailey will take over as artistic director for the 2012 season, on the eve of Rosenthal’s seventieth birthday.

Mayor Scott McAdams is bullish on Sitka. McAdams, who was elected to the mayor’s seat on the assembly last October, gave his first “state of the city” address to the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

Gray whales are making their annual migration up the North American coastline. Several have stopped in Sitka Sound for a few days to rest and feed, and at least two have found some choice dining right below the parking lot of the SeaMart grocery store. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey met with marine mammal biologist Jan Straley to learn more about the gray whales’ detour into Sitka Sound.

The Sitka assembly approved contributing $5.9 million dollars in city funds toward the school district next year. At this stage in the lengthy school budget process, the vote is usually considered procedural by the assembly. But a couple of assembly members thought that in light of the ongoing national recession, the schools should look for ways to economize.

Raising the height of the Blue Lake dam is expected to solve Sitka’s energy problems for a decade, but the project may create a few problems along the way. The Sitka assembly last night (4-28-09) approved spending $40-thousand dollars on a fisheries consultant to try and avert at least one problem: colder water. John Blum of EES Consulting in Kirkland, Washington, will begin work this summer. Project engineer Dean Orbison explained the temperature issue:

Although the McDowell report on Sitka's economy contained some unexpected good news, at least one industry sector is anticipating a significant deline in 2009. With 221-thousand passengers coming to Sitka, the cruise industry will see its lowest volume since 2001. Fred Reeder, with Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska, and Camille Ferguson, with Sitka Tribal Enterprises, followed McDowell's report with a look at the 2009 visitor season.