About a hundred people crowded into the cramped Arrivals area of the Sitka airport terminal Saturday evening to welcome home three Kaagwaantaan clan hats held for more than 100 years in a Pennsylvania museum. Repatriation of the Kaagwaantaan Wolf Helmet, Ganook Hat and Noble Killer Hat from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology […]
Posted inNews, Environment & Natural Resources
In new agreement with state, Indigenous landowners soften resistance to Ambler Road
Even after the Ambler Road got a green light from the Trump administration last year, the contentious state-proposed mining haul route across northern Alaska hasn’t been a sure bet. For one thing, the 211-mile road still needs substantial financing — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more than $1 billion. It […]
Posted inCommentary
Alaska salmon run declines are a crisis. Pointing the finger at trawl is misleading.
While some Alaska salmon runs remain strong, sharp declines in others are causing a crisis for numerous Western Alaska communities. Chum salmon run declines will be under the microscope during this year’s North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting, and were discussed in a recent Alaska Beacon commentary. Open debate of how our region’s fisheries are impacting […]
Posted inNews, Energy
Public notice error forces delay in federal oil lease sale in Arctic Alaska
A federal oil and gas lease sale in Alaska that was to have been held in early March has now been postponed for nine days because of public notice mistakes. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Tuesday it has rescheduled its planned lease sale for 5.5 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The […]
Posted inSoutheast News
US Forest Service cancels plan to build Herbert Glacier cabin in Juneau
After proposing to build a new cabin near Juneau’s Herbert Glacier, the U.S. Forest Service released a draft decision last month abandoning it. The cabin site was initially selected due to public interest. It would have been built within a mining claim block across the river from the proposed New Amalga gold mine owned by Grande Portage […]
Posted inNews, Transportation
State offers a free Alaska Highway bridge — for a group that can haul it away
The state of Alaska has a bridge to give away. In a public notice last week, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said it is willing to give away seven spans of the Gerstle River Bridge near Delta Junction, built in World War II for the Alaska Highway. Interested parties have until March 6 […]
Posted inNews
Grant guidelines for libraries and museums take “chilling” political turn under Trump
This story was originally published by ProPublica. A library in rural Alaska needed help providing free Wi-Fi and getting kids to read. A children’s museum in Washington wanted to expand its Little Science Lab. And a World War I museum in Missouri had a raft of historic documents it needed to digitize. They received funding […]
Posted inNews, Public Safety
New hazards to be analyzed in Alaska’s updated statewide threat assessment
The independent federal agency that provides Alaska with utilities, infrastructure and economic support is considering a number of new environmental hazards as it updates its statewide threat assessment. In 2019, the Denali Commission published a detailed listing of climate change-related threats to communities around the state. The document, written for the commission by experts from the U.S. Army Corps […]
Posted inLocal News
Listen: Haines Assembly to consider child care, hiring a state lobbyist
Haines’ upcoming borough assembly meeting will address childcare, the potential of hiring a state lobbyist and cell towers. KHNS reporter Melinda Munson spoke with the Chilkat Valley News’ Will Steinfeld from in preparation for the Feb. 10 meeting. The full agenda can be found here. Melinda Munson: Will let’s start with the issue of child […]
Posted inNews, Government & Elections
Alaska legislators say governor’s fiscal plan is likely dead after first week of hearings
Leading members of the Alaska House of Representatives said Friday that Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s ambitious long-term state fiscal plan has almost no support among legislators and is almost certainly dead on arrival. House leaders spoke with reporters Friday morning, a day after members of the House Finance Committee heard two hours of public testimony on the governor’s […]