Ice carving, Canada, snowboarding and the perfect piece of beach glass |
| The perfect beach glass marble. (Courtesy/CharlotteMartin) |
Local artist Charlotte Martin was enjoying beachcombing in town when she found a perfect sea glass marble. Martin says that this is a real hot find for anyone who loves sea glass. She recently returned from a trip to Portugal and said she was very inspired by the mosaics on the trip. This handsome sea glass marble will likely end up as a fish eye in an upcoming piece of art. |
|
| | | | Community Workshop 5-7 p.m. for the Tongass National Forest plan revision. Meet with U.S. Department of Agriculture forestry staff at the Chilkat Center. |
| | |
| | Filing deadline, Tuesday, March 31 | | The deadline to apply for the senior and veteran property tax exemption in the Haines Borough. The form must be filled out online and the borough reports that it does not have paper copies. Call 907-766-6401 with questions. | | PFD filing deadline. Online applications are available through 11:59 p.m. Paper applications can be mailed but must be postmarked by the post office, or have a certified mail receipt no later than March 31. | | Comment deadline, Monday, April 6 | | The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has put out a draft of its 2026 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment report. This report comes out every two years and catalogs the conditions of Alaska’s waters. The Chilkoot Inlet, Lynn Canal, Taya Inlet and Mosquito Lake are all included in the new report. | | Proposal deadline, Tuesday, April 14 The state is looking for someone to take on the M/V Matanuska. The public advisory board for the Alaska Marine Highway System recommended the state retire the 63-year-old mainliner ferry. Now, the Department of Transportation is looking for someone to take on, purchase, preserve or repurpose the vessel in a way that “honors its historic significance while allowing it to continue serving Alaska in new innovative ways.” Some options included in the public notice are: maritime training, tourism, community or cultural use, museum or heritage preservation, or as a research platform. They’ll also accept letters of interest proposing scrapping, dismantling or scuttling the vessel. | | Comment deadline, Thursday, May 7 A preliminary plan for the revision of the Tongass National Forest Plan was published on March 23, beginning a 45-day public comment period which ends May 7. People can view and share their positions on the current state of the Tongass National Forest Plan.
Have a meeting, public comment period or something else you think Chilkat Valley residents should weigh-in on? Submit it here. | |
| | Will Steinfeld here, writing from the start of a four-week stay in the capitol. | | A word of advice: don’t leave the Chilkat Valley on a gorgeous afternoon, and definitely don’t leave it for a place with grapefruit-size balls of slush falling from the sky. | | So yeah, I’m already missing the familiar faces back home (though I am enjoying being reacquainted with an old friend, McDonald’s). | | That aside, I’m really excited for what we have planned here. I’ll still be writing for the CVN, but with a focus on the state legislature, made possible by the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism’s reporter exchange program. | | It’s an interesting time in the capitol. I’m here in the thick of this year’s lawmaking — there’s just about two months left for legislators to wrangle support for bills and put together a budget before the end of the session. | | That means a picture is starting to form about what state priorities are looking likely, or unlikely, to pass. My job will be to figure out what that evolving picture means for the Chilkat Valley. | | As I get my bearings, I’m keeping an eye on some familiar topics: you’ll hear from me about things like education funding, the governor’s bill to reshape timber harvest, and state infrastructure funding for the borough. | | I’m also excited to get some new threads going: topics I haven’t reported on yet, like a recent administrative order that has state agencies slashing regulations statewide. | | These are things I usually report on when they land in our backyard. I’m hoping to figure out why those decisions get made in the first place, and how they get implemented. | | It’ll probably be a slightly different perspective. But my goal is still the same, covering the things that are most impactful in the Chilkat Valley. | | A big part of that I’d like to come from you. Have a topic you’d like to read about in your paper? A question you want me to ask lawmakers face-to-face? Let me know. You can reach me anytime at [email protected]. | | And while I’m gone, go and say hi to CVN’s intern Lizzy Hahn, the other half of the reporter exchange. She’s down from UAF, and she’s an awesome reporter. | | Otherwise, happy spring, and see you all in a month under (hopefully) sunnier skies! | |
| | | | |
