Author: Robert Woolsey

Bert Stedman is running unopposed for a second full term in the Alaska senate. He’ll appear on the November 4th ballot as the lone candidate for Senate District A, which includes Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, and most of the communities in between. The Sitka Republican was first appointed by governor Frank Murkowski in 2003 to replace Robin Taylor, who left the senate to take a job in state government. Stedman was elected in his own right in 2004, and joined a rare bi-partisan majority coalition that gave him co-chairmanship of the powerful senate finance committee. KCAWs Robert Woolsey met with Stedman recently to discuss the senator’s outlook on his next term:

Sitka Community Hospital is facing a critical staff shortage. The departure of Dr. John Totten has left the facility without a regular general surgeon. The impending departure of Dr. Graham Chelius in January will leave the hospital without full-time obstetrical services. The Sitka assembly was scheduled to discuss the issue at its regular meeting last night (10-28-08), but the item was postponed until November when hospital board president Jeff Johnston could be present. While it likely could be a matter for an executive session, assembly member Nancy Cavanaugh – as hospital liaison – framed the issue for her colleagues and the public:

Dave Atkins is the Woody Biomass Utilization program manager for the US Forest Service in Missoula, Montana. He is a participant at the Southeast Alaska Wood Energy Workshop taking place in Sitka on October 29th and 30th (2008). He spoke with KCAWs Robert Woolsey about the prospects for biomass energy in the Tongass.

The Department of Fish & Game’s decision to close the hunting season for does on the first of October on northeast Chichagof Island was unprecedented. The closure came over a month earlier than last year’s closure of the same area in November, and two months before the department closed down hunting for does in the entire game management unit comprised of Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof islands. Area management biologist Phil Mooney says two hard winters in a row, following several years of mild winters, high deer abundance, and over-foraging, all contributed to the crash in the population. Mooney spent a week in August working on the road system in the closed area between Tenakee Springs and Hoonah. He spoke with KCAW’s Robert Woolsey about what he found there.

Scientists with the International Pacific Halibut Commission are confident that a new strategy for counting halibut will improve the outlook for both the fish and the fishermen in Southeast Alaska. Dr. Bruce Leaman, executive director of the IPHC, recently toured Southeast communities to talk with commercial and sport fishermen about new changes to the commission’s survey methods, and what those changes may mean for the future of halibut stocks.

New Mineral claims worth billions of dollars in iron ore and other precious metals have recently been staked near Yakutat. The claims cover approximately 49,000 acres of mostly federal but some state land. Some local residents are concerned about the effects mining would have on the area, including its proximity to the Situk river and impacts on Yakutat’s fishing industry.

The two candidates for legislative seat representing House District 2 in Southeast Alaska met last week (10-17-08) for one of the most intense political forums of the campaign season. Four-term incumbent republican Peggy Wilson of Wrangell, and her challenger, democrat Lily Herwald of Sitka, discussed issues in front of the entire student body of Sitka high school on Friday, October 17th. The half-hour venue was organized and run by students in the Alaska history class.

Three of the ten students asking questions at Sitka High School were members of the team’s champion debate team. Here’s how Charles Hart, Amy Parrent, and Berett Wilber sized up the performances of Representative Peggy Wilson and the democratic challenger, Lily Herwald.

The Department of Energy says the average age of the scientific work force is over fifty-five and within ten years these baby boomers will be retiring, shrinking the number of scientists in the US to half what it is now. A formal paper written by the office of fusion energy sciences has since alerted other agencies to the issue, and in response, there’s an effort underway to get more kids interested in science and technology, starting at a young age. A recent science show in Sitka called “Totally Electric” aimed to do just that. The Science Education Technology Partnership was sponsored by Homeland Security, office of science and technology, General Atomics, Envisioneering, Shee Atika Corporation and local businesses and teachers.

While everyone’s seen those pictures of Alaska’s brown bears feeding on salmon running up streams, not everyone has seen the real thing up close – and probably no one supplies their own fish. Students at Sitka’s Blatchley Middle School recently held a read-a-thon to raise money to bring Ben Michaelson to town next spring. Michaelson is the author of “Touching the Spirit Bear” and other noted works of natural history writing aimed at kids. As their prize, the eight top fund-raisers last week (10-15-08) visited Sitka’s Fortress of the Bear with some live salmon from a nearby hatchery. The Fortress’s two brown bears were orphaned last summer, and had never learned to fish. KCAW student reporter Ryan Apathy sends this audio postcard from "fishing school" at the Fortress of the Bear.