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: Visits, anniversaries and record-setters |
| (Charlenes Jones/Chilkat Valley News) Earthworms at the Victory Garden in the Mosquito Lake school on May 10, in Mosquito Lake. |
| In this week’s Duly Noted, the Chilkat Valley News’ Charlene Jones walked into the Haines Borough school district’s building and was directed toward the massive Lost & Found pile by a staffer who wanted to know if it was newsworthy. The result: an (incomplete) list of everything school-aged children in the Chilkat Valley left behind this year including: sparkly high tops, 21 different water jugs, nearly 100 jackets and sweaters, flip flops, snow pants, earrings and more. With summer break looming, the window to retrieve these items is closing. | |
| | The Haines Highway construction project will be on pause for the Memorial Day weekend. From Friday through Monday there will be no delays from construction, though you may occasionally have to pause for a moose or bear. Work resumes next Tuesday.
Tuesday, May 19 |
12 p.m. - Play: How Raven Lost His Nose, then grade promotion at the Klukwan school right after at 12:30 p.m.
6 p.m. Haines High School’s graduation ceremony. The annual parade begins at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20
5:30 p.m. Budget Committee-of-the-Whole, members of the Haines Borough Assembly will discuss the capital improvement project list.
Thursday, May 21
6:30 p.m. the Planning Commission will be meeting to discuss, among other things, a permit renewal for Donnie Turner’s gravel pit, a Haines Friends of Recycling request of a permit for its new recycling facility, a resident’s request for speed bumps to be installed near the corner of View and Front streets in Haines, a discussion about a draft of a landslide risk reduction plan.
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| | Deadline to nominate yourself, or someone else, to serve on a federal Secure Rural Schools advisory committee. These are 15-member committees with 4-year terms. The applications are extensive and details can be found here. The Secure Rural Schools program provides funding for schools, roads and other services to support rural areas which have a tax base limited by the amount of federal land located near them. The funding is substantial, it amounts to millions in payments to Alaska and more than $272,000 to the Haines school district in 2023. Cell-tower proposal. Atlas Tower is proposing building a 140-foot tall monopine telecommunications tower near 52 North Sawmill Road inHaines. Public comments on the potential side effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted to Trileaf Corp, Rachel Bishop at [email protected], or to 2121 W Chandler BLVD., Suite 108, Chandler, AZ, 85224. Or, by calling 480-447-8260. | | Deadline to submit comments on a Coeur Alaska, Inc., request for an authorization for the incidental take of marine mammals as it repairs the Kensington Dock in Berner’s Bay. This is a one-time, 1 year renewal of this authorization that could be renewed and the National Marine Fisheries Service is requesting public comments. | | Early bird deadline for shareholders to vote in the Sealaska Board election. There are several nominees, including the Chilkat Valley’s Karen Taug. | | 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 take reduction plan requirements. The list of fisheries, their categories, and more information about most of them can be found here. | | 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 – up for the possibility of timber harvest. | | 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 7 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].
Have a meeting, public comment period or something else you think Chilkat Valley residents should know about? Submit it here. | |
|  | | The Haines Borough School District is hiring for the 2026-27 school year. Open positions include a half-time elementary music teacher, part-time certified home school coordinator, prep cook and lunch aide, and a certified special education teacher. Send a cover letter, resume, transcripts and references to [email protected]. Call 907-766-6725 with questions. | | PRINT & PINT, Grab a beer and bring your gear. Customize your Beerfest outfit on Tuesday, May 19, from 4 p.m. to close at the Haines Brewing Company. Prices vary according to size. | |
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