Author: Robert Woolsey

Proponents of statewide ballot proposition 4 – the Clean Water Initiative – have enlisted an unusual ally in their efforts to block the Pebble mine project. Bruce Switzer has worked in the mining industry for about thirty years, as a consultant and reclamation contractor, and for the last ten years as a senior executive in charge of environmental permitting and compliance. His most recent post was as director of environmental affairs for Cominco , the Candian firm which operates Alaska’s Red Dog mine. While Switzer is unapologetic about his long involvement in mining, he’s become one of the most ardent critics of the Pebble project. He stopped by KCAW on a recent trip through Southeast to explain why he’s throwing his weight behind the Clean Water Initiative:

It’s been over a decade since the internationally acclaimed wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino was killed by a grizzly bear—but residents of his native Japan, and his adopted homeland of Alaska, still mourn his loss. A memorial totem pole will be erected in his honor on August 8 at Halibut Point Recreation Area. Andi McDaniel reports.

It’s been a year since Fortress of the Bear invited two orphaned bear cubs into the enormous cement tank it has adapted into a wildlife exhibit. Recently, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game utilized the Fortress cubs to help solve a field research dilemma. Reporter Andi McDaniel brings us this report on how the mission—and reputation—of the Fortress is progressing.

Kodiak representative Gabrielle LeDoux says Alaska needs untainted leadership in congress. The two-term republican legislator, and former Kodiak borough mayor, is making a bid for her party’s nomination to the seat currently held by Don Young.

The Federal Subsistence Board has rejected a challenge to Sitka’s subsistence status brought by a statewide sportsman’s advocacy group. The board on Tuesday (7-29-08) announced that the Alaska Outdoor Council’s “request for reconsideration” of Sitka’s rural determination did not meet the threshold for action on the issue.

Petersburg resident Steven Samuelson is challenging incumbent Peggy Wilson for the republican party nomination to District 2 in the Alaska House of Representatives. House District 2 represents Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Pelican, and surrounding communities.

KCAWs Andi McDaniel attended a recent Saturday work party at Stratton Library, to find out what happens when the oldest college library in Alaska shuts its doors.

A barge that appeared to have run aground near Magic Island in Sitka on Sunday (7-27-08) was in no danger – it was laying fiber-optic cable. Telecommunications company GCI is midway through running a 750-mile fiber-optic cable between Southeast Alaska’s major communities. Sunday was Sitka’s turn.

On an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon at Raven Radio, Celtic sounds drifted down from Castle Hill into the windows of the Cable House. The music lured reporter Andi McDaniel up there with her recording equipment, and she returned with this audio postcard.

The Sitka roundabout is back – possibly as a public advisory question, or possibly as a straight assembly decision – depending on how the vote breaks at the next regular assembly meeting. The roundabout issue resurfaced during a special meeting of the assembly early Tuesday evening (7-22-08) – this time as much a cost-savings measure as a matter of traffic safety.