A look back—and the week ahead in the Chilkat Valley.
Take a look around and let us know what you think by leaving a comment here and if you have meetings or deadlines you’d like to see included, send a note to Rashah McChesney at [email protected]. |
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Duly Noted: Hidden paintings, fast runners and a magic show |
| Canadians Connor Cooper, left, kicks the hackey sack as Jason Dagger, Kaelen Lewis, Nate Schmidt, and Ashton Underhill look on while standing in line for the 32nd annual Beerfest in Haines. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) |
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Tina and Darrel Jerue are selling fry bread for a good cause. Darrel Jerue’s father has an aging Jeep he’s been driving for years. There are a lot of things wrong with it, including that exhaust leaks into the car. The Jerues found a replacement car and set to work with the plan. As columnist Charlene Jones writes, they picked the week of The Great Alaska Craft Beer Festival and Chilkat Challenge Triathlon to sell fry bread.
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Deadline to submit comments on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Mammal Protection Act List of Fisheries for 2026. The National Marine Fisheries Service is required to post its proposed changes to the list every year. The fisheries service has to categorize every commercial fishery into one of three categories based on the level of mortality and serious injury to marine mammals that occurs in each fishery. The fishery’s classification determines whether people who participate in it have to follow certain registration rules, have observers on their boats or implement reduction-plan requirements. The list of fisheries, their categories, and more information about most of them can be found here.
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The state has put out a draft of a new management plan for the Haines State Forest. Alaska’s Division of Forestry is taking comments via email at [email protected], or by physical mail. The forestry division started the process of amending the plan in early 2024 to include a new carbon offset program passed by the legislature, but in 2025 the scope changed and residents learned that the division intended to open the entire Haines State Forest – with the exception of the eagle preserve – for the possibility of timber harvest.
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Last day to comment on the Division of Mining, Land and Water’s decision to issue a 25-year lease to Glacier Construction (Southeast Roadbuilders) for a 25-year lease of just over seven acres of state-owned tidelands to construct a barge-landing area between the ferry terminal and land owned by the Chilkoot Lumber Company. The cost would be a minimum of $1,000 a year. Written comments can be submitted to DNR, Division of Mining, Land and Water, Southeastern Regional Office by mail at 400 Willoughby Avenue, P.O. Box 111020, Juneau, AK, 99811-1020 or to Laurel Smith via email at [email protected].
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The Department of Environmental Conservation’s 2026 air quality monitoring network plan is out for public comment. This is a plan the state agency submits to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. While DEC’s air quality monitoring efforts generally focus on large population centers and places with historic air quality concerns, there is some monitoring done in rural Alaska. The agency operates “pods” that measure particulate matter in 71 communities across the state, including in Haines at the Chilkoot Indian Association on 3rd Avenue. Recent results from that air quality monitoring show the air quality is satisfactory and can be found here. Comments can be submitted to Rochele Rodman at DEC’s air quality division office in Juneau.
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4 p.m. the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is looking for beneficiaries and their caregivers to talk about their experience receiving health and disability services in Alaska. Zoom details here. Comments will be taken through September 12th, written ones can be submitted to [email protected].
Have a meeting, public comment period or something else you think Chilkat Valley residents should know about? Submit it here.
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