October 1, 2019 Ketchikan Local Election Sample Ballots & Propositions Email statements to editor@sitnews.us Absentee voting began Sept. 16th. Ketchikan Borough Mayor Candidates 3 Year Term, 1 Seat Open Rodney Dial Filed 08/05/19 Candidate's Statement 08/27/19 Sidney Hartley Filed 08/08/19 Candidate's Statement 08/31/19 Michelle O'Brien Filed 08/23/19 Candidate's Statement 09/03/19 Borough Assembly Candidates 3 Year Term, 2 Seats Open Austin Otos Filed 08/01/19 Candidate's Statement 08/28/19 David Landis Filed 08/01/19 Jeremy T. Bynum Filed 08/26/19 Candidate's Statement 09/08/19 Ketchikan School Board Candidates 3 Year Term, 2 Seats Open Bridget Mattson Filed 08/06/19 Candidate's Statement 09/05/19 Jordan Tabb Filed 08/20/19 Ketchikan School Board Candidates 1 Year Term, 1 Seat Open Leslie Becker Filed 08/15/19 Candidate's Statement 08/29/19 Hilary Kvasnikoff Filed 08/16/19 Candidate's Statement 08/27/19 Paul Robbins, Jr. Filed 08/16/19 Candidate's Statement 09/02/19 Kathleen Yarr Filed 08/23/19 Candidate's Statement 09/15/19 Ketchikan City Council 3 Year Term, 2 Seats Open Lew Williams III Filed 08/05/19 Judy Zenge Filed 08/05/19 Spencer Strassburg Filed 08/26/19 Candidate's Statement 09/15/19 Ketchikan: Public Meetings Ketchikan: Upcoming Events Ketchikan: Announcements Ketchikan: Classifieds CLASSIFIEDS Publish Your Ad Click Here Historical Ketchikan June Allen Dave Kiffer Louise B. Harrington Ketchikan Weather Ketchikan's Forecast August Daily Records 2019 July: Daily Records 2019 Ketchikan July 2019 Data Ketchikan June 2019 Data Ketchikan May 2019 Data Ketchikan April 2019 Data Ketchikan March 2019 Data Ketchikan Feb. 2019 Data Ketchikan Jan. 2019 Data Nat Weather Service KTN Ketchikan Tides & Currents Sunrise - Sunset Ketchikan Search the News Ketchikan Alaska

Fish Factor: Upcoming Alaska meeting will provide first glimpse at potential 2021 catches of whitefish By LAINE WELCH - Federal stewards of Alaska’s fisheries will meet in Homer for the first time since 1983 as they continue their pursuit of involving more people in policy making. 

From September 30 to October 10, the Spit will be aswarm with entourages of the 15 member North Pacific Fishery Management Council  which oversees more than 25 stocks in waters from three to 200 miles offshore, the source of most of Alaska’s fish volumes. 

The NPFMC is one of eight regional councils established by the Magnuson-(Ted) Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 that booted foreign fleets to waters beyond 200 miles and “Americanized” the Bering Sea fisheries.

“The council certainly is interested in engaging more stakeholders, particularly from rural and Alaska Native communities, and by going to more coastal communities, it allows them more opportunity for input into the process,” said Dave Witherell, council executive director, adding that in recent years the council has expanded beyond Kodiak, Juneau and Sitka to convene in Nome and Dutch Harbor. 

At Homer, following the lead of the state Board of Fisheries, a first ever “Intro to the Council Process” workshop will be held to make the policy process less daunting. Witherell said that came at the suggestion of the council’s local engagement committee created in 2018.

“It’s quite a steep learning curve to understand all the ins and outs and goings on at a council meeting and what's written in our analyses,” Witherell said. “We're trying to open it up so that someone who may not follow or live and breathe the council process can still participate. We're trying to put it out there in plain language.”

Plain language is also what you’ll find on the revamped NPFMC website.  All postings of meeting agendas, document overviews, etc. are in a “conversational style” and have been consolidated in one place, said Maria Davis, council IT specialist.

 “Some of the topics are very complex so distilling them down into two or three sentences may not be exactly what is happening, but it gives them a large overview. Then you can read the analysis if you're really interested in a lot of the detail,” she said adding that searchable digital content is included back to 2014.

“It's so easy to find documents and it's so easy for the staff to upload their documents,” Davis said. “There's also a public comment portal where you can read comments and you can upload your comments for committee and council meetings under each agenda item. It’s very user friendly and you get a return email that says thank you, your comment has been received and council members and the general public can see it immediately. It's really been a game changer as far as accessibility for the public.”

The council members know that the topics they discuss and the decisions they make affect many who are not directly involved in fishing, Davis added.

“It’s also all the businesses where you live year round and the communities,” she said. “We want to hear from them and we want to make it easy and not intimidating.” 

The industry will get a first glimpse at potential 2021 catches of Alaska pollock, cod, sablefish, rockfish, flounders and other whitefish at the Homer meeting. - More...
Friday PM - September 20, 2019

Metlakatla: VA Funding of Metlakatla Veterans Cemetery Announced - Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it has awarded nearly $1.1 million in grant funding for the creation of a Veterans Cemetery in Metlakatla, Alaska.

This announcement is the culmination of cooperative work between U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Metlakatla leaders, and the VA’s National Cemetery Administration (NCA).

“We’ve been working toward this goal for years and it is a huge achievement for the entire Metlakatla community,” said Senator Sullivan. 

“Every American veteran, no matter where they live, deserves a resting place that commemorates their service and sacrifice to our country. I am incredibly pleased that funding is on the way so that our great veterans in Metlakatla will now have that place,” said Sullivan.

According to the VA, this grant will fund the construction of 48 standard burial gravesites, a flag assembly area, roadway, landscaping, and supporting infrastructure. The project will develop 2.5 acres, enabling the cemetery to provide service for approximately 1,600 Veterans and their eligible family members. 

Senator Sullivan and Metlakatla leadership – including former Mayor Audrey Hudson and current Mayor Karl Cook – worked with VA Undersecretary for Memorial Affairs Randy Reeves to prioritize federal funding for the cemetery.

Reeves was nominated by President Donald J. Trump to serve as the 6th Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs and was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 8, 2017. - More...
Friday PM - September 20, 2019

US & Canada: New study finds US and Canada have lost more than 1 in 4 birds in the past 50 years - A study published yesterday in the journal Science reveals that since 1970, bird populations in the United States and Canada have declined by 29 percent, or almost 3 billion birds, signaling a widespread ecological crisis according to the researchers. The results show tremendous losses across diverse groups of birds and habitats -- from iconic songsters such as meadowlarks to long-distance migrants such as swallows and backyard birds including sparrows.

"Multiple, independent lines of evidence show a massive reduction in the abundance of birds," said Ken Rosenberg, the study's lead author and a senior scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and American Bird Conservancy. "We expected to see continuing declines of threatened species. But for the first time, the results also showed pervasive losses among common birds across all habitats, including backyard birds."

The study notes that birds are indicators of environmental health, signaling that natural systems across the U.S. and Canada are now being so severely impacted by human activities that they no longer support the same robust wildlife populations. 

The findings showed that of nearly 3 billion birds lost, 90 percent belong to 12 bird families, including sparrows, warblers, finches, and swallows -- common, widespread species that play influential roles in food webs and ecosystem functioning, from seed dispersal to pest control. 

Among the steep declines noted:

• Grassland birds are especially hard hit, with a 53 percent reduction in population -- more than 720 million birds -- since 1970. 
• Shorebirds, most of which frequent sensitive coastal habitats, were already at dangerously low numbers and have lost more than one-third of their population.
• The volume of spring migration, measured by radar in the night skies, has dropped by 14 percent in just the past decade.

"These data are consistent with what we're seeing elsewhere with other taxa showing massive declines, including insects and amphibians," said coauthor Peter Marra, senior scientist emeritus and former head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and now director of the Georgetown Environment Initiative at Georgetown University. "It's imperative to address immediate and ongoing threats, both because the domino effects can lead to the decay of ecosystems that humans depend on for our own health and livelihoods -- and because people all over the world cherish birds in their own right. Can you imagine a world without birdsong?"

Evidence for the declines emerged from detection of migratory birds in the air from 143 NEXRAD weather radar stations across the continent in a period spanning over 10 years, as well as from nearly 50 years of data collected through multiple monitoring efforts on the ground. 

"Citizen-science participants contributed critical scientific data to show the international scale of losses of birds," said coauthor John Sauer of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). "Our results also provide insights into actions we can take to reverse the declines." The analysis included citizen-science data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey coordinated by the USGS and the Canadian Wildlife Service -- the main sources of long-term, large-scale population data for North American birds --the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, and Manomet's International Shorebird Survey.

Although the study did not analyze the causes of declines, it noted that the steep drop in North American birds parallels the losses of birds elsewhere in the world, suggesting multiple interacting causes that reduce breeding success and increase mortality. It noted that the largest factor driving these declines is likely the widespread loss and degradation of habitat, especially due to agricultural intensification and urbanization.  - More...
Friday PM - September 20, 2019

New tsunami map tool empowers Alaskans to plan for the worst
By FRITZ FREUDENBERBER
The city of Ketchikan is shown in the Alaska Tsunami Hazard Map Tool. The tool is a web-based map portal that displays potential tsunami hazard zones for settlements across Alaska. The red line represents the estimated maximum extend of tsunami flooding, while the colored portions represent estimated water depth.
Courtesy Alaska Earthquake Center

Alaska’s changes are many, and so fast
By NED ROZELL
Worthington Glacier north of Valdez is among many in Alaska that are quickly transforming into ocean water.
Photo By NED ROZELL

Alaska: Alaska’s changes are many, and so fast By NED ROZELL - If you want to live in a place where nothing changes, don’t live in Alaska.

A gold miner once told me that. He was referring to new houses that would pop up on the hillside across the valley, but his words ring true regarding natural Alaska, where recent, measurable differences are enough to make you dizzy.

University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers took a few breaths recently to put together a new document. In it, they summarize what scientists have observed in this place that is changing faster than anywhere else in the U.S.

Rick Thoman and John Walsh of UAF’s International Arctic Research Center, with help from editor Heather McFarland, have created the 15-page “Alaska’s Changing Environment: Documenting Alaska’s Physical and Biological Changes Through Observations.”

Team members decided to avoid technical language, and to include no predictions for the future. Here’s part of their current state of the state:

Wildfire seasons with more than 1 million acres burned (black patches the size of Rhode Island) have increased by 50% since 1990.

Before 2004, Fairbanks residents experienced only one summer with more than three weeks of significant wildfire smoke. Since then, we have breathed in five such summers, including in 2019.

The earliest ice breakup in recorded history of the Tanana River at Nenana was on April 14, 2019. The previous earliest was April 20. Nine of the 10 earliest breakup days there have happened since the mid-1990s.

People in the village of Northway felt the sting of minus 30 degree F air about 40 days each year before 1960. In the last 10 years, Northway residents have experienced less than one month per year of such days.

Since 2014, thermometers from Ketchikan to Utqiagvik have recorded from five to 30 times more record highs than record lows. Homer has seen one of the most extreme percentages of record high temperatures since 2014, but all Alaska towns with enduring weather records have experienced way more record highs than lows. - More...
Friday PM - September 20, 2019

DAVE KIFFER: WELCOME TO THE TONGASS ZOO! - We are so totally missing out here!

The other day, I was walking along Park Avenue. In Ketchikan we like to be as obvious as possible. Therefore, we call the road that goes to City Park "Park Avenue." No confusion there.

Back when we had actual docks and not just tourist disembarkation points, we called one of the first streets that went perpendicular to the docks, "Dock Street."

The street that went by St. Agnes Mission was indeed "Mission Street."

The section of Tongass Avenue that passed by the Spruce Mill was "Mill Street." Then we - well not actually me, I wasn't around then - started naming things after people or places and it became a little more confusing, Especially Tongass Avenue which went from Tongass to Water to Front to Mill to Stedman before going back to Tongass again. Bet that really ticks off the Transit Trolls at Google Maps.

And how come Water Street doesn't actually go to the "water?" As a trestle, it does go over the water but not to the water. I suppose it should be called "Overwater Street." Or maybe just call it Trestle Street or just make it a continuation of Front Street.  Go figure. - More...
Saturday AM - September 21, 2019

DAVE KIFFER: The Three RCMs - With the recent passing of Francis Charles "Sonner" Murphy Jr, I can't help but ponder how he, his son and his father have all intersected with my life.

Actually, our family intersection with three Francis Charles Murphy's goes back before me. 

Yes, there was a before me. I had a uncle who once insisted that life did not exist before he did. When confronted with "history" he claimed that it was completely made up - Uncle Milt would have loved the phrase "Fake News."  Uncle Milt's simple response to anything that happened before him was "I wasn't there, so I don't believe that ever happened.:" He died a couple of decades ago. And life has continued on. Go figure.

But I digress.

The Murphys and the Kiffers were both old local fishing families, so they were certainly familiar with each other. As familiar, I guess, as seiners and trollers could be in those days. It wasn't quite like the Hatfield's and McCoys, but generally seiners and trollers didn't spend much time together and they really only agreed on thing. That gillnetters were idiots. So it goes.

But at one point my family lived not far from the Murphys. The Murphys had a young Irish setter that seemed - for reasons known only to it - to keep running off and ending up at our house. At some point, my Dad got tired of returning the dog and just kept it. I don't know if money exchanged hands or what, but we had an Irish setter that my Dad promptly named "Murphy." I think it was just a bonus that he enjoyed shouting ""@!#$&*!@#$&*!@# Murphy get the ~@!#*&~!*@#~!(@# back over here, you @~!#@!(*@#!@(*# dog" at the top of his lungs. - More...
Saturday AM - September 21, 2019

Political Cartoon: Missing Birds
By Pat Bagley ©2019, The Salt Lake Tribune, UT
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.