The fate of the waterfront, regulation of helicopter skiing and problems with bears dominated headlines in 2010.
The town also celebrated its second 3A boys’ basketball championship in three years. And it lost millions of dollars in annual revenues when the Alaska Legislature chopped the voter-ratified cruise ship head tax.
“He walked in like he owned the damn place,” Bear Den mall owner Dave Shackford said of a brown bear that entered his Main Street restaurant in late August. Bears showed up in town in the spring and seemingly grew bolder, toppling dumpsters, ripping into smokehouses and peeling siding off one Fort Seward home to reach their quarry by late summer.
Shackford’s bruin worked a claw under the bottom of a garage door and hoisted it up to investigate pastry cooking at the Bear-ritos bakery. “You can smell it if you’re in back, but this is cutting it kind of close,” Shackford said.
Bears bit into new sections of Lily Lake water line, forced changes at the FAA Road landfill and prompted a “bear summit” between enforcement agencies and residents, resulting in passage of the town’s first bear ordinance. It requires residents to more tightly control their trash.
Along the Chilkoot River, an unidentified sport fisherman became the poster child for bad behavior around bears, using a cell phone to snap a photo of a sow looking down at him from just a few feet away. State park officials cited the photo at a recent meeting aimed at tightening management at the stretch of riverside described by one state official as an “engine” of the local tourism economy.
The state hired Shannon Donohue, its first permanent bear monitor for the corridor, in June, but she and volunteers were overwhelmed by August crowds. “You can’t cite one or two people. You’d be fining 100 or 200 people a night,” wildlife trooper Ricky Merritt said, describing the enforcement headaches.
The year ended with state talk of new roads or controls at Chilkoot, as well as an investigation into the shootings of two brown bears discovered at 19 Mile in the fall.
Taking a section of Port Chilkoot Beach for a $2 million restroom and parking lot project also drew concern from residents, including school students. The assembly approved filling .75 acres of tidelands in February, but the outcry didn’t start until March, when flagging posted at the beach showed the extent of planned construction.
“It’s just a crime to me to see beachfront taken away from the public,” said lifetime resident Randa Szymanski at an April 13 assembly meeting, where 30 turned out to save the beach. Mayor Jan Hill blocked a request for more assembly consideration of the issue, however, saying the public process had been served.
Residents also weighed in on Picture Point, a five-acre strip of beachfront that includes two scenic pullouts used by residents and visitors for decades. An assembly majority blanched at the $750,000 asking price and the piece went to a private buyer, but the assembly may have one more opportunity to carve off a chunk of the land for use by the public.
Meanwhile, advocates of an expanded boat harbor brainstormed options for improving the existing basin and Chilkat Natives worked to hold on to their tour boat and private dock at Portage Cove, negotiating a purchase from their village corporation to their tribe.
Helicopter skiing, a three-month activity, generated news all year long. Industry advocates blasted changes by the borough assembly to increase flights but require tracking of routes by GPS. One company’s subsequent, deliberate violation of those limits – and borough talk of penalties – led to a legal challenge and finally a new borough effort to manage the activity, this time outside of assembly meetings. By year’s end, a third company was seeking its own allotment of flights, further complicating the picture.
In the spring, outerwear retailer Eddie Bauer unveiled a Haines-themed line of extreme skiing gear, a publicity coup for the town. In the fall, critics blasted award of the Haines Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year title to the firm that flouted the borough’s laws, calling it a joke.
The Chamber’s award was in line with a new direction for the business group, which concluded a mission-seeking exercise with a decision to become more active in borough politics. Chamber officials testified for the industry at borough meetings and wrote a five-page report to the assembly warning of weakness in the local economy.
Despite dour projections, the economy appeared to be in rebound. Capital projects, a slight upswing in the depressed tourism and real estate sectors, and the highest salmon prices in nearly two decades boosted incomes. Even deckhands made money fishing. Prices jumped due to declining volumes of farmed fish, new salmon products and increased demand for wild fish.
Mining also contributed. A handful of residents found work at the Kensington project, which started production in June, and others hired on with Constantine Metal Resources. The Canadian firm spent $2.5 million exploring the Palmer deposit near 40 Mile. The soaring price of gold even drew a reality TV show featuring greenhorn miners digging for drama – and ratings – in the Porcupine goldfields. Residents cashed in by renting equipment and housing to film crews.
A state report on the Haines economy issued in September determined construction was providing one-third again as much in wages as tourism. The report also showed total wages here increased in 2009 over 2008 and that health care provides almost as much in local wages as tourism. “Though relatively small, the Haines Borough has a diverse economy with a mix of industries,” state economists found.
Besides new dock restrooms, the Haines Borough moved ahead with several projects in 2010. It adopted a downtown revitalization plan, replaced its main water line into Lily Lake, tore down school buildings, took ownership of the Crystal Cathedrals utility, and made noticeable improvements to local parks and public buildings. At year’s end, leaders had negotiated a new fuel tariff against the backdrop of increased diesel shipments to the Interior.
In assembly politics, the second local election in as many years will be decided by a judge. Write-in candidate Karen Hess sued the borough in October, claiming assembly seat winner Greg Goodman was wrongly seated because he didn’t meet the borough’s residency requirement for candidates.
For the borough school district, a dispute with the borough over how best to heat Mosquito Lake School continued for months, overshadowing educational issues and straining relations between school board and borough officials. The borough settled the matter by installing the system favored by its staff, and paying for the project with its own funds.
The district also adopted a strategic plan, met “No Child Left Behind” standards, built a $275,000 roof over a playground and wrote a survey to track the success of school graduates.
The year was one of achievements and setbacks for the valley’s Native community. The Chilkoot Indian Assocation hired its first biologist and initiated a pioneering study of the local eulachon population. It also advanced its housing project, offered programs to local youths and restored more than a dozen Tlingit gravesites at a historic cemetery near the airport. But personnel issues and board infighting slowed progress for the tribe that in recent years expanded its programs and holdings.
Chilkats launched a remake of a historic “longtail” canoe and opened the village’s Hospitality House, a critical element of Klukwan’s plans for attracting tours and eventually building a museum for priceless artifacts. But one element of those plans, keeping control of Klukwan, Inc.’s shuttle ferry and cruise dock, is now part of a legal battle the corporation faces over spending from its general income trust.
A shareholder survey earlier in the year showed support for dissolving the trust that constitutes most of what is left of the once-mighty corporation.
In local sports, no story approached the phenomenal march to the state championship by the Haines Glacier Bears, led by senior Kyle Fossman. The Bears’ perfect season included winning all their conference games before notching three more at the state tournament. In the final match-up against the favored Nome Nanooks, Fossman stole the ball twice in the final minute of play. His diving grab with one second left on the clock iced victory for the green and white Glacier Bears on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Other sporting feats included twin state discus titles for Haines High School seniors Jesse Piper and Fran Daly, and Kelly Hostetler’s second, 360-mile run from Skagway to Haines.
Changes came to the valley’s culture in 2010. Cigarette smokers were forced out of doors in January. Cell phones — pivotal in two local rescues – became more common. Helicopter rescue of a stranded, snowfield hiker that cost federal taxpayers more than $100,000 underlined the efficacy of satellite phones and locator devices. Public radio station KHNS, once the town’s hub and main source for daily information, struggled for support in an era of media diversification and fragmentation.
Milestones in 2010 included arrival of the first resident raptors at the American Bald Eagle Foundation, Heather Lende’s resignation as cross-country coach after 17 years and several team titles, and closure of Helen’s Shop, a Main Street landmark for 56 years. The borough also put up the town’s first pooper-scooper stations.
Residents fascinated by nature and the outdoors had plenty to talk about. They included the attack of the thrips, a record-breaking warm and dry September, and a pollen release so heavy that clouds of the stuff on the horizon looked like an approaching rainstorm. Eulachon returned in abundance on both sides of the peninsula, a rarity in recent years.
While subsistence fishing in July, Carson Buck brought up what may be the first sturgeon harvested in Chilkat Inlet. A month later, tour guide Jono Greene spotted a white bear cub along the Chilkat River above Wells.
The year-end also brings remembrance of residents and former residents who died. Obituaries printed in 2010 included those of Harriet Stickler, Craig Flory, George ‘Tiger’ Stevens, Tom Jackson, Suzi Butz, Gloria Morey, Lolajean Bradley, Russ Walton, John Rudd, Darry Howard, Paul Morgan, Gene Zimbrich, Clyde Bell, Neil ‘Doc’ Ramsey, Rick Markee, Toni Melnychuck, Charles ‘Snuffy’ Paddock, Andrew Williamson, Vivian Menaker, Mike Saunders, Carol Ann Morris, Erma Slater, Jim Wheelock, Charlie Brouillette, Jo-Ann Caron, Barbara Kelly, Debbie Walker, Holly Ramey and Corlene Rose.
Customs and border protection officer Jason Allgood disappeared while tending a subsistence fishing net near 25 Mile.
Finally, the year past also brought some unexpected gifts. The bald eagle foundation received an anonymous donation of $100,000 as well as the 14-acre Henderson farm, acreage that will be used for re-training eagles to fly.
A Juneau store gave Joe Poor 120 apple trees he was looking to plant around town.
On Sunday, Aug. 15, residents were treated to sunny, 80-degree weather that coincided nicely with a town barbecue picnic and portrait. More than 500 turned out on Main Street for lunch, music and a chance to visit with neighbors.