About 50 residents turned out Monday for a meeting on Haines Highway improvements, many speaking against the state’s enviromental assessment and seeking a more thorough analysis of impacts to fish and wildlife. About 20 people testified, most of them critical of the $100 million Department of Transportation project, which will widen the roadway, straighten curves, […]
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King run numbers lowest in 20 years
Mark-recapture surveys in the lower Chilkat River suggest the local king salmon return may be the weakest in 20 years, according to Brian Elliott, assistant area fisheries biologist for the Sport Fish Division of Fish and Game. Through Sunday, the state’s drift nets had caught only 31 mature kings. As the survey typically counts 3.9 percent of […]
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Gillnetters expecting leaner season
Haines commercial fishermen say they’re expecting a dip in chum salmon prices this year and also say they’ll be watching for interception of Haines-bound sockeye by seine fishermen in northern Southeast, as biologists are forecasting a strong return of pink salmon. The Lynn Canal drift gillnet season starts Sunday with a two-day opening in districts south of […]
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Wild Things
The first wave of summer visitors arrived, and not only on cruise ships or in RVs. Dottie the whale was spotted and photographed in Lutak Inlet by Ron Horn on May 7. Dottie is notable for the propeller scars on its flanks and white markings on its dorsal fin. The day before, the Takshanuk Watershed Council migration survey recorded […]
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King salmon return expected low, but inside goals
This year’s king salmon run is projected to be below average but within the Department of Fish and Game’s escapement goal, assistant area management biologist Brian Elliott said this week. About 2,024 spawning kings are expected to return to the Chilkat River, compared to an average of 3,724 counted on the spawning grounds since mark-recapture studies […]
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Diapers, toilet amid riverside dumpings
Volunteers picked up between three and five tons of trash and recyclables from alongside the Chilkat River and channels during the Takshanuk Watershed Council’s annual cleanup event May 4. Brad Ryan, the group’s executive director, said items included discarded large appliances, ranges and refrigerators, and a porcelain toilet containing feces. At 7 Mile Haines Highway, crews found […]
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Klukwan breaks ground at long-awaited culture center
Klukwan youths held cards naming deceased villagers who supported the dream of a culture center but didn’t live to see it realized, then helped turn shovels of dirt at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Center and Bald Eagle Observatory May 8. “These people (on the name cards) took a stand for the […]
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Earth Day includes chicken symposium
A chicken symposium, Farmers Market plant sale, and field trip to a local greenhouse are among the events slated for the seventh annual Earth Day Fair to be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in the school cafeteria. Displays and presentations on recycling, gardening, and energy will be held in an open-house format, with […]
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Wild Things
Spring has sprung, indeed. Hundreds of ducks and geese are headed up the Chilkat River to their breeding grounds. Hundreds of pine siskins and redpolls are flitting about. So far about 25 species of migratory birds have arrived, some to nest and others on their way north. The thrushes are singing along with the bouncy call of the ruby-crowned kinglet and the hooting of owls. Our tough little rufous hummingbirds arrived […]
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Wild Things
There have been several recent sightings of “charismatic megafauna,” the name some give to the big, exciting mammals we all love to see. On March 7, several people sighted humpback whales and orcas in Portage Cove. Gina Randles and Korey Comstock saw the two whales quite close to the cruise ship dock. And early the same morning, a lucky family saw an orca cow and calf breach. […]