Author: alaskaadmin

A lunch break on a gravel bar on the Klehini River wound to a close as Russ Lyman and Joe Ordóñez studied a massive log jam. The duo have guided raft trips in the Chilkat Valley for nearly 40 years.

The tangled pile of trees blocked one channel of the river and had the potential to flip one or both of the 16-foot rafts being used on this expedition. 

The two stood on the riverbank, binoculars in hand, considering the group’s options.

In front of them, the logs were being squished together by the loud, strong current, with branches shaking. The white water below the logs pointed out just how much force was in front of this jam.

They devised a plan to avoid the jam entirely by crossing over two channels. 

Ordóñez and Lyman took over the oars from guides in training and brought the boats across the first channel, where passengers hopped out to scoot the boat over a gravel bar. They then crossed the second channel, sticking to one side and watching the log jam’s immense force as the boat drifted by, unscathed. Lyman approached the situation with calm expertise, as the new guides looked on, learning from each paddle stroke. Passengers gripped the rope on the perimeter of the boat, keeping a steady eye on the jam they had just passed.

Once past the obstacle, Rainbow Glacier Adventures’ newest guides, Lydia Andriesen and Jack Kendall, took over the oars again. This is the duo’s first season as raft guides in the Chilkat Valley.

While looking out for obstacles downstream, Lyman began counting up roughly how many trips he had done on the Klehini and Chilkat rivers. He estimated that he would do roughly 200 rafting trips a year, which adds up to “a thousand” trips on the river. Lyman started guiding on daytrips but switched over to 10-12 day trips on the Alsek and Tatshenshini rivers. Ordóñez also guided these longer trips.

“We spent all summer on those rivers and that’s how you really get good,” Ordóñez told the new guides during their lunch break on a bank of the river around 30 mile of the Haines Highway. 

This June 5 training run for the river guides is something of an annual tradition for raft companies in Haines, helping prepare new guides to manage hundreds of passengers who want to float down the river and see wildlife. 

The upper Klehini River serves as a level-up for new guides, providing challenges that are not as common on the Chilkat River where they most often escort passengers. 

The Klehini has a steeper gradient, more debris and a swifter current than the Chilkat River. 

“I always believe that the guides need to be competent above their level,” said Rainbow Glacier Adventures owner Ordóñez . “They have to be able to perform in a situation beyond what the river is showing them right now.” 

Ordóñez has been rafting in Haines since 1987. He and raft guide instructor Lyman took the company’s newest river guides down the Klehini as part of their preparation for the summer season. 

As guides are giving their spiel, pointing out eagles, bears or other natural sights during rafting trips, they also have to navigate down the river and look ahead to avoid upcoming obstacles. 

Guides also learn how to move with the river, not against it, while paddling.

“You are not stronger than this river,” Ordóñez said. 

Rafting requires knowledge not only of the river but also of its surroundings. Lyman said one of the biggest challenges for guides is learning how to read the river’s ripples, which indicate where the deep water is to avoid unwantedly beaching the raft. 

“With the fast pace of the Klehini, you really got to be making those quick choices and committing to a good line,” said Kendall.

The river changes day to day, week to week.

When Lyman started guiding in 1989, the Tsirku River was running in a completely different area through the forest. Lyman estimated that over the course of 15, maybe 20 years, “it worked its way… across the delta clear to the lower end.” Both the Klehini and Tsirku rivers join the Chilkat River. 

“It shifts around like that real dramatically,” he said. 

The Klehini is also changing, cutting further west toward the forest. Lyman said there is one section where this change is especially visible, in a bank cutting into the forest just after the Porcupine Bridge. 

He estimates that “eventually that’s probably where most of the river will go.”

The river, according to Lyman, is eroding everywhere. 

“Eventually, that little tiny flood channel we were seeing, years from now that could be the main channel cutting back through here,” he said. 

Guides have to learn how to read the river and manage changes that happen daily. 

At one point, passengers on one of the rafts got stuck on a gravel bar. They bounce on the inflated tubes to help push the boat off the bank and back into the current. 

Gravel bars, submerged trees, constantly shifting channels and swift-moving water are some of the obstacles guides face. 

“One of the biggest things is that the people who are training me have been doing it for 40 years, you don’t often get the experience,” Andriesen said while paddling the raft. 

The Klehini is classified as Class II and sometimes Class III river when water levels are high. Rivers are classified from Class I to Class V, with V being the most difficult or technically challenging whitewater. Class II rivers are defined as straightforward rapids with Class III having more intense rapids.

Andriesen and Kendall were practicing their swiftwater stop with lines. To conduct this stop, guides line up the boat to be at a 45-degree angle from the river bank, and get a bag with rope attached to the boat. Holding this rope, the guides jump onto the dry banks, stopping the raft from continuing down the river. Lyman said that this is a technique that is unique to the rivers in the Chilkat Valley. 

“We have to be able to stop where there’s not an eddy or anything, on our own.” Lyman has been rafting in Haines on and off for 37 years and has been instructing new guides on and off for the past 10 years.

All guides are required to have their wilderness first responder certificate and swiftwater rescue training. Swiftwater training teaches guides to be able to get a boat unstuck, utilize rope work and learn the current.

Every spring, Lyman helps instruct the new round of Chilkat Guides’ guides. This training lasts for nine days. For most of these guides, it’s their first time in Alaska and often their first time rowing. 

Before guides get out on the river, they practice in an on-land raft and then head to Chilkoot Lake or the harbor to learn the basics of rowing. Lyman estimates that usually two-thirds have never rowed before. During training, guides learn how to row a raft, read the river, navigate the channels and perform a swiftwater stop with eight passengers. 

This year, Chilkat Guides trained 27 new guides over the course of nine days and Rainbow Glacier Adventures trained two new guides, all of whom Lyman helped instruct.

The post Raft guides learn the sticks on an ever changing river appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

The indefinite closure of Haines’ popular Chilkoot campground may be coming to an end. 

The Alaska Division of State Parks, which administers the Chilkoot Lake campground, has kept the facility and its 32 camp sites closed this season due to what they say is understaffing. 

Now, state parks has advertised a new park technician position, which, when filled, will allow the campground to reopen, regional superintendent Brad Garasky said this week. The position closes on June 30. 

Even advertising the vacant position had been a major hurdle due to a state government hiring freeze put in place by Gov. Mike Dunleavy last spring. To bypass the hiring freeze, state agencies must get a waiver from the Governor’s office specific to each position they hope to hire for. 

During an assembly meeting last month, mayor Tom Morphet said the community and borough officials would “have to raise our voices a little bit, stomp our feet,” to push the state for a new hire and campground reopening.

The foot stomping has come from multiple sources: 

This winter, the regional State Parks Citizen Advisory Board sent a letter to Dunleavy and Department of Natural Resources commissioner John Crowther advocating for new hiring and campground reopening. 

“Restoring these roles, especially the Parks Technician and associated seasonal support positions, would directly improve day-to-day operations, protect public safety, and strengthen the tourism infrastructure that so many Southeast communities rely on,” wrote board chair and Haines resident Nate Arrants. 

State Parks officially submitted its request to hire for the park technician position on Feb. 27, but for months it went unapproved. 

Earlier this month, borough manager Alekka Fullerton, along with the borough’s state government lobbyist met with Crowther and sent him an official letter earlier advocating the governor approve hiring for the vacant position. 

Yet a third letter came from former Haines Borough manager Annette Kreitzer, who recently announced her candidacy for the state representative seat for the Chilkat Valley. 

In her letter, Kreitzer referred to “a drastic need for a waiver for a park technician to re-open the Chilkoot State Park Campground.”

Kreitzer, a longtime legislative staffer and former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, has pitched her experience and state government relationships as pluses of her candidacy.

“That’s not the way you engage with the state,” she said of Morphet’s feet-stomping analogy. “I don’t doubt others have attempted to call, but connections are important. I have lots of relationships (in state government) that I don’t try to pull on more than I need to or want to, but to me there was no movement on the issue.” 

Meanwhile, her opponent, incumbent Andi Story, said she has been advocating to fill the vacant Chilkoot position for months. 

“I have elevated this request to the last two Commissioners’ attention multiple times,” Story wrote in an email this week. 

Story also said requests for hiring freeze waivers “have been a group effort for quite some time,” citing the advisory board’s letter and advocacy from Haines residents.

Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Lorraine Henry said this week the waiver had been approved by the governor as a “public safety exemption” to the hiring freeze.

Reopening the campground should increase both access to the popular state recreation site, as well as discussions of how to best manage the area. 

Chilkoot Lake is particularly popular due to the proximity of bears to the campground and road. Bear viewing, however, has presented challenges, with reports last year of tourists dangerously close to bears, and citations for tour operators stopping in the road for bear viewing. 

Diane Moore, who has worked seasonally in Haines out of her RV for the last four summers, said she’d ordinarily spend some time at the Chilkoot campground. Instead, she’s currently at the Haines Hitch-Up RV Park, which she also works for. 

“It’s a special place. It’s just beautiful,” Moore said of the Chilkoot area. But, she added, she makes a habit of checking the cruise ship schedule anytime she goes out to the lake in the hopes of avoiding the crowds. 

It was a similar message from Sue Rakes, who has worked as State Parks’ campground host for the last two summers. Rakes spoke to the value of bringing people to the Chilkoot area, but also the importance of safe interactions with bears.  

“I think it’s natural that people want to be tied into nature, they just need the tools to do it,” she added. “When people have that knowledge they want to take on the responsibility of looking out for the welfare of the bears, and they can just be in wonder and enjoy nature.” 

The post Chilkoot campground may reopen this summer appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

The borough is headed to Superior Court over a decision by its own Board of Equalization to exempt a local Episcopal church property from borough tax. 

The dispute surrounds a parcel at 1 Mile Haines Highway purchased in 2000 by St. Michael & All Angels’ Episcopal Church. After the purchase, the church converted a small existing structure on the property into a chapel, and maintains the land, church representatives have said, as a place for members to walk, pray, and meditate.

According to state statute, municipalities may exempt from property tax land “used exclusively for nonprofit religious, charitable, cemetery, hospital or educational purposes.” The borough has granted that exemption to the 1-Mile parcel since it was purchased. But this year, the borough’s contracted assessor, Martins Onskulis, reversed course and removed the exemption. Onskulis has valued the property and building at $241,700.

At issue is what exactly constitutes the “exclusive use” required by statute for the exemption. 

Both sides agree that there are hypothetically clear violations of this exclusive use clause: for instance, if the church had some kind of for-profit, non-religious activity on the grounds. But that’s not what’s happening, and Onskulis doesn’t dispute congregation members’ assertion that the only official activities on the grounds have been religious services. 

Instead, Onskulis has said the religious activities have not been recent, or regular enough to qualify the property for an exemption. If regular services begin again, he said last month, the tax exemption would return. 

In an email to attorney and congregation member Linn Asper in April, Onskulis wrote that “while the statute does not explicitly define (exclusive use), the concept implies an element of temporality and frequency, meaning the property should be used consistently and regularly over time for religious purposes.” 

Onskulis, at an equalization hearing this spring, cited a Fairbanks tax case decided in Superior Court earlier this year as the basis for that reading of statute. But in some ways, it seems to be uncharted waters: Onskulis said he brought the case to a meeting of all the state’s assessors, and his fellow assessors said they had not dealt with a comparable case. 

The church is currently being represented by retired Haines District Court judge Linn Asper. Asper told Onskulis this spring the church had held 72 services at the property since 2000, but none in the last six years. The church holds its regular services at the Chilkat Center. 

Asper disagrees with how Onskulis is interpreting the law. In Asper’s view, the frequency of the services shouldn’t be relevant. 

In an April email, he wrote to Onskulis that “the church concedes there has not been a religious service on the property for some time… however, the term ‘current’ is not in the controlling statute.”

“If the borough can dictate what type of service, how often, where it happens, they’re seeking to control the church,” Asper said this week. “I think that’s a really bad precedent.” 

There are a couple of layers of appeals in the case. The first was the Board of Equalization hearing, in which the church appealed Onskulis’ original decision to remove the exemption. In that hearing, the board — an assembly-appointed body that hears property tax appeals — unanimously sided with the church, voting to exempt the property from tax. 

“It’s not our place to say what someone’s religious experience is,” said board member Brenda Josephson.

“We’ve seen a lot of flim-flam outfits come into Haines and someone lives in a house out the road and calls themselves a church and says their property isn’t taxable — I’ve seen that several times,” said board member Jim Stanford. “That isn’t the case here. This is an established Episcopalian church that bought this property to use for religious purposes and I don’t want to be the one to say they aren’t using it.” 

Now, the borough’s appeal to Superior Court seeks to overturn it’s own board’s decision, removing the tax exemption once more. 

The borough filed the appeal on June 10. 

In a court document filed Wednesday, Asper asked the court to dismiss the appeal, including on the grounds that the borough “has not alleged abuse of discretion or other actions of the Board that violate the requirements of the Alaska Administrative Procedure Act.”

The court has not yet scheduled a first hearing in the case. 

As church members await a final decision, they’re putting work into the property to prepare for more regular use, including a newly-built bridge over a stream and a remodeling of the chapel. The work follows what Asper describes as a difficult stretch for the church since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asper said. 

“It gives us hope for the future,” said member Joan Degen of the recent work. Degen was at the property Wednesday mowing the grass. 

“We’re a smaller congregation, lots of older members, many on limited incomes. I hope (the appeal) goes our way so we don’t have to downsize.”

The post Religious use tax exemption headed to court appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

I was schooled to tip the dealer if dealt a win at the table. I’ve benefitted, and the dealer is acknowledged as contributing to my good fortune. 

The Skagway Borough recently won a court decision that saved AP&T customers in Skagway and Haines potential charges of over $4 million, the estimated cost of replacing the broken section of an undersea cable. The decision also denied in part AP&T’s request for a 70% rate increase. Skagway footed the cost of the argument: $767,000. 

In 2023 the Haines Borough resolved to participate in the initial phase of the lawsuit (then $144,000) with $10,000. The check was never written.

Mayor Morphet brought to the Assembly on May 9, news of our failure to write the check, and suggested that the Haines Borough acknowledge our good fortune today by participating in the cost of the lawsuit at the original proportion, or 7%: $54,000. The Assembly said “No!”

What sort of people are we that won’t recognize an action taken by another to benefit us? It doesn’t matter what money we think we don’t have…we would have much less without the willingness of the Skagway Borough to take a risk and step up to the table.  Let’s applaud them and say “Thank You.”

Please call your favorite Assembly member and ask for a reconsideration of the decision to acknowledge more fairly the work of our neighbors for saving Haines’ AP&T ratepayers substantially into our future.

Debra Schnabel

The post We should be pitching in for the cost of the AP&T rate lawsuit appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

This is the second wave of thanks to local Chilkat Challenge Triathlon supporting organizations and businesses (the first wave was posted in last week’s paper.) With your help it was our biggest and best race yet – we couldn’t have done it without your support: Chilkat Inlet Retreat, Olerud’s Market, First National Bank of Alaska, Lynn Canal Conservation, Takshanuk Watershed Council, American Bald Eagle Foundation, Mountain Market, Haines Home Building Supply, and a tip of the kayak paddle to the Haines Tourism Department and the Haines Chamber of Commerce!

Gershon Cohen for the CCT Steering Committee  

The post Thank you for a successful Chilkat Triathlon appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

20 Years Ago

Crystal Cathedrals Water and Sewer Systems is asking the state to approve a 15 percent rate increase for its residential and commercial customers. 

The price increase, the first in four years, is needed to keep up with increased costs of operation, said company president John Floreske, “the cost of doing business has gone up, as it always does,” he said, citing fuel costs as one example of rising expenses.

But the hike, filed May 30 with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, has some customers balking. 

Kevin Reeves, one of the utility’s 56 customers in the service area just out of town, said the increase was unacceptable. “I don’t see how it would be possible for this thing to go through and for it to be called fair.”

The commission is charged with “ensuring that a tariff contains fair and reasonable rates and practices that protect customers while providing utilities the opportunity to make fair returns on their investments,” said Grace Salazar, chief of consumer protection for the RCA. 

30 Years Ago

Haines city clerk Susan Johnston is encouraging the council to declare 13 abandoned boats along Beach Road a public nuisance and to take steps to destroy them. 

Johnston has obtained written permission to destroy the boats from six owners and oral permission from two. In the other cases, ownership has not been determined or the owners are dead. 

The city also needs permission from the state Department of Transportation to take action within the state’s right-of-way. 

Johnston wants a legal opinion on whether the boats can be auctioned off. Inquiries about buying a boat or boat parts came in after the city obtained permission from owners to destroy the boats. 

The date of destruction will be published in advance. 

The council became concerned about the city’s liability last summer, following an incident of arson on one of the boats. 

40 Years Ago

Puns aside, it definitely was a “dog day afternoon” at the bank last Thursday. 

With 10 pooches, ranging from a five-pound Cairn terrier to a 90-pound golden retriever, as special guests, the Haines bank had its first Dog Fest in the back room last week. As bank employees sipped wine and mixed drinks, the guests chowed down on several boxes of treats and didn’t seem to mind sharing a communal water bowl. 

“It’s amazing that there’s this many different types of dogs and not one fight,” said Harold Hopper, husband of assistant vice president Nicki Hopper, “they get along better than people.”

Banker Dick Flegel wasn’t too sure the Dog Fest would be peaceful when he spent Thursday afternoon shopping for dog treats and toys in preparation for the party. He was worried. He made no bones about that. 

Asked if this would be the first annual Dog Fest, Flegel quickly responded, “we’ll have to see how it goes. It could be more than we bargained for,” conjuring up images of good old-fashioned dog fights. But that wasn’t to be. The canine guests were bathed, brushed and on their best behavior. Some dressed up for the occasion, in necktie, a lei and bandana. Others apparently thought it was a “come as you are” party. 

There were the customary comments about dogs and owners looking like each other as well as drawings, from a dog dish, of course, for prizes. And there was one dog who decided to leave a deposit at the bank. 

The post This Week in History: Water and Sewer rate increase, dogs in the bank and more appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Saturday, June 7
A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported harassment at a public location.

Sunday, June 8
A caller in the 400 block of Main Street requested to speak with an officer about a trespass notice.
A caller at Port Chilkoot Dock reported a brown bear in the area. Alaska State Troopers (AST) were advised.
A caller in the 40 block of Barnett Street reported finding a child without a parent.

Monday, June 9
A caller on Mud Bay Road reported a vehicle in the water way leaking fuel. , Police, fire, Public Works and the harbormaster  responded. AST and the Coast Guard were advised.
A caller in the 900 block of Comstock Road reported their vehicle being vandalized.
A caller on Young Road reported a speeding motorcycle  passed them on the roadway.
A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported a cruise passenger missed the deadline for ship departure. The person was located.

Tuesday, June 10
A caller on Mud Bay Road reported vehicles had been speeding through the detour route all day.
An officer on Mud Bay performed traffic stops and issued five verbal warnings for speeding.
A homeowner in the 600 block of Small Tracts Road reported a false alarm at their home.
An officer at the downtown harbor  assisted another agency.
A caller on Haines Highway reported a large tree branch in the roadway obstructing traffic. An officer cleared the roadway.

Wednesday, June 11
A driver in the 1000 block of Haines Highway received a verbal warning for tail light requirements.
A caller in the 200 block of Main Street reported personal items missing. The caller’s property was found.

Thursday, June 12
A caller in the 600 block of Small Tracts Road reported a missing camera. The camera was recovered.
An officer at Haines Highway and Fair Drive performed a traffic stop and issued a verbal warning for speeding.

Friday, June 13
A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive reported witnessing an intoxicated person driving a vehicle.
A caller at 9 Mile Haines Highway reported a vehicle driving very slowly and swerving a bit.
A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested officers check on a family member.
An officer in the 400 block of Main Street witnessed a minor vehicle accident and responded.
A caller on Piedad Road reported a driver going at a high rate of speed toward town.
Callers at 25 Mile Haines Highway reported the sounds of explosions. The Klehini Valley Volunteer Fire Department responded. Haines firefighters were on standby.
A caller in Haines reported a lost cell phone. Item description and contact information was obtained.
A caller in the 400 block of Union Street reported a domestic dispute.

There were four 911 hang-up calls, three canine calls, two EMS calls and 44 burn permits issued during this reporting period.

The post Blotter: June 7 – June 13 appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.