Southeast Alaska: Klawock workshop prepares for the 2014 Paddle to Celebration Canoe Journey - A three-day Canoe Paddle Workshop was recently held in Klawock in preparation for the 2014 Paddle to Celebration Canoe Journey. The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) in partnership with the One People Canoe Society hosted the workshop April 28-30.

Day 3 of the Paddle Workshop. Pictured left to right: Karen Lawton, Cyndi Reeves, Tim Booth, Jeannie McFarland, Everett Athorp, Ken Yates, Jim McFarland. Front: One People Canoe Society carvers, Jim Zeller, Doug Chilton
Photograph courtesy SEARHC

The primary focus of the workshop was on making paddles for the Klawock Canoe to use during the 2014 Paddle to Celebration Canoe Journey. A goal of 15 paddles was set initially, but the group was able to make twenty-three paddles in just 3 days making the event a huge success. The extra paddles allowed for a set to be donated to the Klawock Tribe.

The Canoe Journey is an important cultural event for tribes around the Pacific Northwest. The event shares native art, culture and history as well as brings tribes together from around the region to celebrate their heritage and share songs, dance and food.

Nations from the coast of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington state participate every year in these Tribal Canoe Journeys. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 06, 2014

Southeast Alaska: Federal Subsistence Board Closes Stikine River Subsistence Chinook Salmon Fishery - The Federal Subsistence Board has closed the May 15 - June 20, 2014 subsistence Chinook salmon fishery on the Stikine River and delegated authority to the Wrangell District Ranger to reopen the fishery if the in-season Chinook salmon terminal area abundance estimate allows a directed fishery.

The 2014 pre-season return estimate for the Stikine River is 26,000 Chinook salmon. The U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty stipulates that a directed Chinook salmon subsistence fishery is not authorized if the pre-season run estimate is less than 28,100 Chinook salmon. As a result, the Board has closed the 2014 subsistence Chinook salmon fishery.

The Board also authorized the Wrangell District Ranger to reopen the season if the weekly in-season abundance estimate exceeds 24,500 Chinook salmon, as allowed for in the Treaty. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 06, 2014

Columns - Commentary

DAVE KIFFER: Sing a Song of Old Ketchikon - A while back, a perceptive reader emailed me.

“So Dave, you seem to know everything about Ketchikan. And what you don’t know you just make up.”

Well, I’m not so sure about that last bit but he was right about me knowing everything!

He was curious about whether or not Ketchikan has its own song.

Of course that got me cogitating.

Yeah, yeah. I can hear both of you readers out there saying “everything gets him cogitating. Anything to be doing anything other than real work or making the world a better place. He’d just rather be sitting around playing with his brain, or whatever that dense object is that’s holding his ears apart.” - More...
Tuesday PM - May 06, 2014

JEFF LUND:

Not surprisingly, I discovered I’m only a mediocre man compared to their standards and have little hope. I’m not rich enough to do or have done things like sleep under a mosquito net on a boathouse in the Amazon, ride a yak across Mongolia, or take a dirt bike to Patagonia; no occasions in southeast Alaska require me to own my own tuxedo and I would rather spend money on fly-tying materials or .270 rounds than a “weekend bag.”

The lists also had recommendations about appropriate social settings for a man my age. In November my buddy Abe and I returned from a successful hunt and stopped by Don’s place to hang a buck. We socialized there for a while discussing shots, and ways to butcher deer. Close enough? Editors of magazines who compile lists of locations where men can accomplish social feats rarely travel to a place like Don’s barn. Even if they have, the recommendation is a simple visit, rather than commitment to the lifestyle in which one would consistently encounter such a place. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 06, 2014

MONEY MATTERS: 10 STEPS TO A SECURE RETIREMENT By Mary Lynne Dahl, CFP® - Retiring, for most people, means to stop working for a wage. However, when you stop working, you stop getting a paycheck. So, then what? How will you pay the bills and preserve your lifestyle? This is the most important issue for anyone who is facing retirement. If you have not been saving and investing for this goal, you better wake up and get started now!

If you have been saving and investing for this goal, there will come a point when you will have to measure whether the money you have accumulated for this purpose is going to be adequate or not. This article will show you how to do this, step by step, using an example at the end of the article. First, however, we need to explain some basic concepts so that our example makes sense.

Decades ago, a retiring worker would have his or her Social Security, possibly an old-fashioned pension and maybe a little bit of savings, and this was usually enough. Guess what? Things have really changed! Today, very few workers have a pension. Many are unsure of Social Security, and of those who do expect to get it, most do not expect it to provide them with a lot of security. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 06, 2014