Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s deep budget cut proposals and the ensuing battle for ferries, education, community assistance, public radio and a slew of other services dominated headlines this year. The town celebrated the Haines Glacier Bears cross country team after it won the state championship in October. The debate over borough-wide policing persisted another year. The […]
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Local groups protest Ring of Fire management plan
The Bureau of Land Management may expand allotted helicopter landings on the 320,000 acres of mountain terrain in the Chilkat Valley from 300 to 11,000 annual landings (5,500 in the Haines), though local protesters believe that might negatively affect mountain goat habitat. In October, BLM released its final environmental impact statement for the Haines amendment […]
Posted inLocal News, Haines Borough
Borough Briefs
Quarterly sales tax collections down Sales tax collections submitted to the Haines Borough for the first quarter of 2019 are down 3.6 percent, or $17,000, from the same quarter last year. Borough manager Debra Schnabel said the reasons for the dip are a poor heliskiing season, costing the borough about $8,000, and the borough assembly’s decision to no longer […]
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Craney article printed in West Hungary
The University of West Hungary published a textbook last month which included an article by local artist Katie Craney. She wrote about artists’ unique ability to see and communicate climate change. Craney, a decade-long Southeast transplant from Wisconsin, said the northern hemispheres’ rapidly changing climate has been both blatant and inextricable in her work. She […]
Posted inNews, Climate
‘Snow Drought’ bodes ill for ski season
For the past three seasons, drought conditions have marred the heliski industry, which depends on adequate snowfall. Snowfall in Southeast is 50 to 80 percent lower than average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the problem of abnormally low snowpack has become so pronounced that the National Drought Mitigation Center coined a new […]
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2018 required residents to face difficult truths
The surfacing of what many residents described as a decades-long open secret shook the town this year: allegations from multiple men of sexual abuse by former school official Karl Ward. Craig Loomis, the first man to speak publicly, was contacted by several others who had similar experiences after he implored those affected to reach out […]
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Should ‘public safety’ be nixed from tourism code?
The Tourism Advisory Board discussed staff-recommended revisions to the borough’s business licensing code Tuesday that would eliminate references to protecting public safety and welfare, disallow the transfer of commercial tour permits and eliminate an automatic allowance of 25 percent growth to tour operators. The borough’s Title 5 code addresses not only business licensing but tour […]
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Ring of Fire plan still open for comment
The Bureau of Land Management is soliciting comments from Haines residents as it starts work again on the Ring of Fire Resource Management Plan. Eight BLM representatives hosted an open house April 4 to gather comments and answer questions on the “Haines Block,” which encompasses about 320,000 acres of BLM-managed lands mostly northwest of town […]
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Do political whims hamper commercial tour permits?
The Haines Borough Assembly voted last week to approve an ATV tour permit for Alaska Excursions after a process pregnant with controversy. One assembly member voted to support the tour, even though he was against it, because he feared the borough would be sued should it deny the permit. But if the borough can be sued for […]
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Northwest Wild Sheep and Goat Council data back in ordinance
The Haines Borough Assembly voted 5-1 to include Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council management recommendations for borough staff to overlay when it considers amendments to the commercial heliski terrain map. Members of the parks and recreation advisory committee and the tourism advisory board voted 6-5 at a joint meeting earlier this year to strike the language from the […]