Closure of Chilkat Inlet to subsistence fishermen has been extended another week, due to a late and record-low showing of large kings moving into the river, state biologists said this week. “We need to delay the subsistence opening. It’s definitely the case that the run is delayed or late and there’s a good chance (mature […]
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Triathlon to celebrate river to debut July 15
The first Chilkat Challenge Triathlon will kick off Saturday, July 15 as competitors navigate a 35-mile course on boats, bicycles and foot. Registration closes at the end of business, Monday, July 10. Event organizer and clean water advocate Gershon Cohen said he had the idea for the event about a year ago. “We wanted to […]
Posted inNews
Pine foliage disease apparently slowing
A foliage disease epidemic that killed shore pines near 10 Mile and other areas around Haines appears to have subsided, according to a U.S. Forest Service pathologist who visited here last week. An agency website page on the disease in Haines and Skagway called the outbreaks “severe” and “unprecedented.” A Forest Service map shows areas […]
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Kings dribbling in
Recent tracking efforts show low numbers of king salmon returning to Chilkat River, but definitive numbers won’t be known until about the Fourth of July, sportfish biologist Rich Chapell of Alaska Department of Fish and Game said this week. “We’re tracking with the lowest years so far for the number of large kings seen in the […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted
By Cynthia Allen Leonitus Norman Swanson was born at 11:15 p.m., Jan. 21, at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau to parents Stephana and Kyler Swanson. Leonitus weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 21 inches. He joins brother Jason Heine and sister Ella Swanson. Stephana is the daughter of Sandi Ryan of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Mario and Natalie Benassi of Haines. The Swansons have relocated to Haines; […]
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Coho derby details rules
The Haines Sportsman’s Association has narrowed down details for a new coho salmon derby this fall. The group typically hosts a king salmon derby but was forced to cancel it the past three years due to fishing restrictions protecting a diminished Chilkat king salmon run. During its 59th annual association meeting, president Charlie DeWitt outlined […]
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Chilkat Inlet bonfires at issue
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee brainstormed ideas to make beach bonfires safer, backtracking on an earlier position to leave development of Chilkat River beaches alone. Assembly member Margaret Friedenauer said about six months ago, the committee took no action on her request for a better fire area on the beach along Mud Bay Road. “We were […]
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Advisory committee endorses agency call on Tier 3
The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee recommended at its April 27 meeting the state Department of Environmental Conservation take authority over the Tier 3 water designation process. The state is without a mechanism to designate waters for the high-level protection, and is seeking input on what the process should look like. The Chilkat Indian […]
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Plenty of fish to eat, and to study
New eulachon population research in Southeast Alaska rivers may help biologists learn more about the habitats of the small but important fish. Meredith Pochardt, executive director of the Takshanuk Watershed Council, said the organization is contracted by the Chilkoot Indian Association to complete field work with Taal Levi, a fisheries and wildlife professor at Oregon […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Would 50 mph highway be better?
It is a time-honored tactic to claim a project that disrupts a river will only improve fish habitat and not jeopardize it. Current conditions of rivers and oceans on planet earth disprove this claim. One cannot compare Haines Highway project from 25 Mile to the border along the Klehini River to the upcoming project from […]