Author: alaskaadmin

An Alaska Superior Court judge in Anchorage has given the state of Alaska permission to shoot bears in Southwest Alaska as part of a plan to boost a local caribou herd.

In a 22-page order, Judge Adolf Zeman said a cull planned for this month may take place while attorneys proceed with arguments about the constitutionality of the state’s action.

With the order, Zeman declined to issue a preliminary injunction requested by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance shortly before the cull was expected to start. The Alliance has filed suit against the state and sought to stop the cull.

“We’re happy with the ruling. We’re happy that science prevails, and we can continue the program,” said Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

May is calving season for caribou in the area, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is planning to kill bears before they can kill caribou calves.

Alaska’s predator control program, which involves killing specific animals in order to boost the number of prey animals like caribou and moose, has been controversial for decades. 

The decision to extend the program from wolves to bears, an act the state says is needed to protect the Mulchatna Caribou herd, prompted a lengthy series of legal challenges starting in 2023, a year after the state killed 180 black bears in the area.

Opponents said the culls violated the Alaska Constitution and did not follow scientific principles. Before Wednesday, two other Superior Court judges had ruled in favor of opponents, halting the program and keeping it halted despite two revisions of a plan authored by the Board of Game and Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 

Now, after a third rewrite last year, the state appears to have the permission it needs to resume the cull.

“Our program is based on more than a decade of research that identifies bear predation on calves during calving season as the most significant factor inhibiting the recovery of the caribou herd,” Lang said in a prepared statement.

“Our bear control program is designed to improve calf survival while not impacting the sustainability of the bears. The program has demonstrated significant success through the highest calf-to-cow ratios since 1999 and a population growth of 30% since bear removal began in 2023. Our program is supported by the Alaska Federation of Natives and many locals in the 48 communities who have depended on caribou for generations. We stand by our science.”

In his order, Judge Zeman said a plan by the Board of Game, known as Proposition 1, may eventually be ruled unconstitutional, but “the court is not in the position, nor does it have the authority, to make that determination at this point in the proceedings. The court simply does not possess the technical and specialized skills to do so.”

The Alaska Constitution states that natural resources are supposed to be managed for “sustained yield,” a principle of management for long-term health. The Alaska Wildlife Alliance had argued that the cull violated that principle.

But Zeman, echoing arguments made by a state attorney, said the principle was “designed to be flexible,” and opponents were viewing it as more strict than intended.

Zeman cited a 3-2 decision by the Alaska Supreme Court in 2022, saying that decision “precludes the court from instructing the state on how it satisfies the constitutional mandate.”

Nicole Schmitt, executive director of Alaska Wildlife Alliance, said her organization is “deeply disappointed by the court’s decision to allow the gunning program to move forward today.”

“The state already killed close to 200 bears under a program which was later found unlawful,” she wrote by email. “We can’t undo the slaughter of those bears, which includes dozens of cubs, and I fear history will repeat itself until these issues can be resolved, again, in court.”

Yereth Rosen contributed reporting for this article from Anchorage.

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Kudos to the Southeast Road Builders’ fire brigade along with the all the others who responded to the fiery demise of my beloved SueBeeSue#6 along the highway just south of Klukwan. Thanks to the unknown driver of the blue pickup who I flagged down and dispatched to alert the SERB crew nearby. Thus, all the onboard fire extinguishers carried by SERB vehicles were promptly emptied topped off by the magical powers of Matty and his big hose knocking the flames down before the gas tank blew. Extra shout out to queen of the day, Helena Muench, who possessed the uncanny ability to drop her stop sign, enter the only phone booth south of the border clad as a fluorescent north-end flagger and appear on the other side donned in full fire turn-out gear driving a fire engine! 

Appreciation for the arrival of both fire departments who then followed with mop up, Dakota Strong for the ride home, and all the others who radio relayed and helped with the efforts. It’s always heartwarming to see neighbors taking care of neighbors and this response could not have had a better ending. Many thanks to you all.

Robin Beaudry

The post Thank you to those who helped extinguish car fire on the highway appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Wednesday, April 22

A caller in Haines reported a scam on social media. They were given the information for the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. 

A driver on Beach Road was given a verbal warning for not meeting requirements to display a license plate. 

An officer put a 72-hour notice on an abandoned vehicle on Beach Road. 

A caller in the 100 block of Dalton Street reported a suspicious phone call. An officer responded and performed a welfare check. 

An officer checked a license plate during a vehicle stop. 

Thursday, April 23

A caller reported a moose on Fifth Avenue. A Nixle alert was sent out. 

An officer issued a trespass notice in the 800 block of Spruce Grove Road. 

Friday, April 24

A caller reported a parking violation on Main Street. An officer contacted the vehicle’s owner. 

A caller in Klukwan reported a vehicle fire. The Haines Volunteer Fire Department and state park ranger responded and extinguished the fire. 

A caller reported a boulder obstructing traffic on Lutak Road. The state’s Department of Transportation and an officer responded. A Nixle alert was sent out. 

A caller on Small Tracts Road was given a verbal warning for not meeting taillight requirements. 

An officer was advised of an abandoned trailer on the side of Mud Bay Road.

Saturday, April 25

A caller reported a person driving a motorcycle on the mud flats near Pyramid Island. An officer took the call. 

Officers were advised of a disabled vehicle on the side of Raven Road. It was not obstructing traffic and the vehicle was later retrieved by the owner. 

A caller reported the door of a public building in the 600 block of the Haines Highway was open after hours. Officers responded. 

Officers performed a tag check on an abandoned vehicle on Second Avenue. 

There were three 911 hangup calls, one canine call, nine EMS calls, and 38 burn permits issued during the April 20-24 reporting period reporting period. 

The post Blotter: April 22 – April 25 appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

After four years of effort, the Alaska Legislature has passed a bill offering additional support for the underfunded organization that offers free legal help to Alaskans facing civil lawsuits.

“We’re so excited,” said Maggie Humm, executive director of the Alaska Legal Services Corporation. 

ALSC is the state’s largest provider of free legal assistance for survivors of domestic violence and abuse. It generally supports Alaskans who are unable to afford an attorney on their own.

Under state law, Alaska must provide criminal defendants with a defense attorney. No such mandate exists in civil cases, so the work falls to the ALSC, a nonprofit that lacks the budget to take on every request for help.

On Wednesday, the state Senate voted 17-3 to pass House Bill 48 and give the corporation 25% of all state court filing fees, up from 10%. The change is worth an extra $400,000 to the corporation.

The change does not affect funding for the Alaska Court System; the fees are otherwise used for general purposes, not the courts specifically.

Humm said earlier this year that ALSC provided legal help to roughly 6,200 Alaskans in 2024. By email on Wednesday, she said she expects another 800-850 people will be helped by the additional money.

Because the House passed HB 48 on a 27-13 vote in February, the Senate’s action on Wednesday will send the bill to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for final approval or veto.

Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, proposed an identical bill in 2023, and while that bill passed the Senate, it never received a vote in the House before the 33rd Alaska Legislature expired in 2024.

That left Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, to reintroduce the bill last year and restart the legislative process. 

By email, Humm said that if signed into law, the bill “helps to ensure that more low-income Alaskans facing issues such as domestic violence, elder fraud, and access to earned benefits receive the legal help they need to protect their safety, stability, and dignity. Investing in legal services benefits all Alaskans by helping resolve problems early, before they become more serious and costly challenges for both individuals and our communities.”

ALSC has been trying since 2011 to pass a bill that reserves 25% of the state’s court fees for the corporation. In 2018, the Legislature passed a measure allocating 10%. 

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

We are a Kodiak family with four children, ages 9 to 17, and have experienced a wide range of educational options in Alaska. Our experiences show me that Alaska’s schools need support to better serve our children.

Our children have attended private Catholic and Christian-based schools, local public schools and boarding school at Mount Edgecumbe. I have also worked in roles that gave me direct experience with private and tribally led preschools.

We watched as enriching programs disappeared due to budget cuts, and saw situations where students lacked consistent access to basic necessities because of safety concerns, with no real solution on how to help them receive the necessities being blocked from them because of poor staffing. 

In the classroom, we encountered teaching that ranged from uninformed to openly harmful. There were moments of ignorance, and others marked by clear racist undertones and blatant misinformation. When concerns were raised, responses were often minimal, not always from a lack of care, but because the systems in place made meaningful follow-through difficult.

I could write an entire separate piece on what our children experienced, some of it frightening, much of it unacceptable. But it is important to say that in every school, there were teachers and caregivers who still showed up every day for their students and did their best. Too often, their hands were tied by limited resources, and competing demands.

In the end, to keep our children safe and supported, we felt we had no choice but to homeschool.

Like many of us this is not theoretical for our family. This is lived.

What we have learned is that the challenges in our schools are not isolated. They are not limited to one district or moment in time. They reflect something deeper in how our education system was built and how it continues to function today. To understand where we are now, we must look at that foundation.

Alaska’s education system was shaped by the boarding school era and the “Kill the Indian, Save the Man” philosophy, coined by Richard Henry Pratt, which used schools to strip identity and enforce compliance. English-only policies were enforced throughout much of the early and mid-twentieth century under federal schooling systems established after the Nelson Act of 1905, and it was not until 1978, with the Indian Child Welfare Act, that the forced removal of Indigenous children from their homes began to slow.

This isn’t detached history. Its structures still echo through our schools today, in how they function and in the harm that continues to ripple through our communities.

Alaska’s people come from thousands of years of sovereignty; systems of knowledge and education are rooted in the land. These knowledge systems were intentional, place-based, and designed to raise capable, connected humans. Unfortunately, these knowledge systems were replaced by structures never intended to serve Alaska’s children.

That truth can be difficult to face, but it explains why the challenges we see today persist. Many of Alaska’s broader issues are deeply connected to education. When children are required to be in a system from a young age, that system has the power to support them or harm them. Too often, when harm occurs, the response prioritizes compliance over understanding.

When students are failed by the school system, we have to ask what system they are pushed into next.

My work as a cultural educator centers Indigenous histories and the next generations of children. It is grounded in the belief that supported children grow into capable adults. These issues do not only affect Indigenous students. They affect us all.

So, the question becomes, how do we move forward?

It starts with real support. We need honest conversations about past decisions, current funding and long-term change. At the most basic level, schools need enough resources to safely support children. When they do not, harm occurs and is too often left unaddressed due to understaffing and a lack of support systems.

We must also move away from one-size-fits-all solutions. Alaska is vast. Our communities are distinct, and the impacts of colonization vary. Each community holds its own knowledge, its own Elders and its own ways of caring for its people. Decisions made from a distance often create barriers for both teachers and students.

Teachers need space and support to grow in ways that meet their communities. Students need access to activities that keep them connected and engaged. Cultural learning should be recognized as meaningful and essential, not elective.

We also need to face a difficult truth. Teachers are being asked to serve as educators, caregivers, counselors and first responders for children facing abuse, neglect and hunger, while being paid less than many who shape education policy. This is not sustainable. It is not just.

If we continue this path, the consequences will grow — showing up in addiction, incarceration and a workforce unprepared for a changing world. When we talk about the health of our communities, we are talking about our children.

This cannot be fixed in a single legislative session or with one budget decision. It requires long-term commitment, even when the conversation fades.

The decisions being made now ask whether we are willing to invest in our future while facing the uncomfortable truth. That the system we have been funding since the beginning of American schooling in Alaska was not built with Alaska’s best interests in mind.

Our teachers are intelligent, creative and deeply committed. We cannot keep asking them to give more while taking away the resources they need.

If we are serious about supporting our children, we must do more than maintain what exists. We must be willing to change it.

Because our children and teachers deserve a system that genuinely supports them, not one that feeds the private agendas of others.

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