Author: Robert Woolsey

High gas prices won’t be an issue for at least two more Sitka motorists – and neither will the vehicle registration problems that have dogged the first electric car owner in town. Students in a community schools class are mid-way through retrofitting a Nissan pickup truck and a Geo Metro passenger car with high-power electric conversion kits. When these two vehicles roll out in a few days, there will be no telling them apart from any other car on Sitka’s roads. For complete information about the kits used by the class, visit http://e-volks.com/index.html

Naturalist Richard Carstensen thinks that the conservation movement’s emphasis on protecting roadless watersheds in the Tongass may have come at too high a price. The Forest Service in January released an amendment to the Tongass Land Management Plan that calls for re-opening timber harvests in the remaining old growth stands in previously-logged watersheds – areas Carstensen calls “hammered gems.” In the second part of a two-part interview, Carstensen talks with KCAWs Robert Woolsey about why he believes logged areas should be conserved, and why that opinion presents a challenge to the environmental community. Part 2 of 2. To read the 29-page essay by Carstensen, and co-author Bob Christensen, go to http://www.seawead.org/content/view/31/9/

The state Department of Education and Early Development has named Sitka resident William Hutton as Director of the state-run boarding school in Sitka, Mt. Edgecumbe High School. Hutton will take over the helm on July 1st. He replaces Bill Denkinger, who announced his retirement in February.

One of Southeast Alaska's leading naturalists believes that some of the region's most-heavily logged watersheds remain some of its most ecologically productive. After spending three years ground-truthing decades-old clearcuts, Richard Carstensen says many prime watersheds are damaged -- not destroyed -- and should not endure the additional logging called for in the recently-amended Tongass Land Management Plan. Part 1 of 2 with KCAW's Robert Woolsey

A landmark Southeast fishing lodge has bounced back, after a fire destroyed a major portion of the facility last September. Melissa Marconi Wentzel reports how Leonard’s Landing in Yakutat is rebuilding and anticipating a good season.

The Forest Service recently wrapped up a log cabin construction project in Sitka that could represent a shift in how the agency manages the Tongass. With a dwindling timber economy, the Sitka Ranger District is looking for new ways to maximize the forest’s resources, while supporting fish and wildlife. The agency last month (May) hosted a two-week log cabin construction class utilizing young growth Sitka spruce trees. The trees were harvested as part of a watershed restoration project in Sitka’s Starrigavan Valley. Melissa Marconi Wentzel reports how Forest Service staff and others hope the project will jump-start a new wood products industry in the nation’s largest national forest,

A Sitka resident’s efforts to register her electric car may lead to a change in state law. About three months ago KCAW’s Robert Woolsey took a spin with Megan Pasternak in her new ZENN car when it arrived in Sitka. Although the ZENN, or Zero Emmission No Noise vehicle, was equipped to travel at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, Pasternak has had to settle for a much less convenient 25 miles per hour in order to get the ZENN registered. Pasternak believes Alaska should join two other states in paving the way for medium-speed cars.

The '09 budget for the City of Sitka is balanced – after some determined cutting on the part of both the assembly and the city administrator. The assembly entered the budget process with a deficit in the general fund of about $4-hundred thousand dollars. Over the course of three special meetings in May, the assembly worked to close that gap, but ended up divided over their role in the process.

The Food Network's Alton Brown, and Bon Appetit food editor Kristine Kidd spent an afternoon (5-22-08) trolling for kings in Sitka Sound, and touring the Seafood Producer's Coop. Both say they plan to promote Alaskan salmon to their audiences.

Sitka’s rural status may be in jeopardy, again. Under federal law, rural communities in Alaska have a subsistence priority in the management of wild resources. But for communities or areas that straddle the eligibility requirements, that priority is up for review every ten years. The Federal Subsistence Board held its last decennial review in 2006. At that time, Sitka narrowly retained its rural designation. The Alaska Outdoor Council is calling that decision into question. The Council last year appealed the Board’s ruling. That appeal is now up for review.