KFSK - Petersburg

Feb. 16 is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in Alaska. The holiday honors the civil rights leader Elizabeth Peratrovich, born Elizabeth Wannamaker, in Petersburg on July 4, 1911.

It marks the anniversary of the signing of an anti-discrimination bill passed by the Alaska Territorial Legislature in 1945. Peratrovich was instrumental in the passage of that law during a time when women were rarely a part of the political world and before the national Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Lately, Peratrovich has gained more national recognition with her face on a dollar coin issued by the U.S. Mint last year. She was also the subject of a Google Doodle at the end of 2020 and a biography written for teens published in 2019. Long before that, she was the focus of research for Petersburg resident, playwright and actor Diane Benson.

“My Tlingit name is L’xeis’. I am from the T’akdeintaan clan,” Benson said in a recent interview. “I originate from Sitka actually, where my family comes from. And we are of the Tax hít house. That is the snail house of the T’akdeintaan clan.”

Benson has lived in Petersburg for about a year and a half, long enough to have taken part in the dedication of a new mural on Petersburg’s courthouse honoring the Alaska Native civil rights leader. Peratrovich died in 1958 and Benson never met her, but she did come to know Roy Peratrovich Sr, the husband of the famous figure.

“He used to talk about his wife and all I thought at the time was, wow, this guy really loves his wife! The way he talks about her, he thinks so much about her. Well, it turns out a lot of people thought a lot of her once I got to realize and I’ve learned the history over time.”

Benson also got to know their son, Roy Peratrovich Jr., and said the family generously shared personal letters with her as she researched the civil rights leader. Benson used her research to write and act in her 2001 play produced for the Alaska Native Heritage Center called “When My Spirit Raised its Hands.”  She also acted in the 2009 film called “For the Rights of All, Ending Jim Crow in Alaska.”

Benson said learning about Peratrovich changed her.

“Learning and seeing how Elizabeth had presented herself, especially in reading those personal letters to her kids, I was really struck with how calm and wise she was to use words to make a difference, instead of your fists,” Benson said. “Up to that point, I was probably more fist-leaning. And I was so impressed with the power of oratory and then realizing that’s so much a part of Tlingit culture.”

According to a 1991 history of her life compiled by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Elizabeth Jean Wanamaker went to elementary school in Petersburg. She graduated from Ketchikan High School and went to Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka before studying at Western College of Education in Bellingham. She met Roy Peratrovich in 1931 and they first moved to Klawock, then Juneau in 1941. They had three children.

The Peratroviches were active in the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. Elizabeth also represented the state in the National Congress of American Indians.

The anti-discrimination bill was voted down in 1943 before passing the second time in 1945. There’s no recorded audio of Peratrovich’s famous speech from that year but there are written accounts from witnesses.

Benson said it was really significant to have that bill pass, just decades after Natives secured citizenship and women and Natives the right to vote.

“It was so symbolic,” Benson said. “It made it clear that Native people matter. It made it clear that we have a standard for society that is inclusive and that sent a great, uplifting message. Yeah, we were still going to continue to have problems and some things did change overnight, in the sense that now it felt like oh geez I have to give this person an interview when they come in whether I want to or not, or they’re going to come into my restaurant now. It didn’t mean the feelings changed overnight it simply meant that we had some more opportunity.”

That problem of racial disparity has not gone away and Benson is hopeful that Alaskans will continue to talk about what racism looks like today. But she also wants to be mindful of the style of speech and how that can be important in moving forward.

“We see the state of our nation today, the way words are thrown around, very carelessly and in very harmful ways,” she said. “And I think if we could revisit Elizabeth’s style and remind ourselves that we can put principles before personality and address the principles rather than attacking personalities we might just get a little further and be more successful.”

Benson recommends reading the 2019 book written for teens by Annie Boochever called, “Fighter in Velvet Gloves.”

Listen to Diane Benson read Elizabeth Peratrovich’s famous speech:

Petersburg, like other communities in Southeast Alaska, saw next to zero tourism last summer. But that might not be what’s in store this summer for all communities. Despite a Canadian ban on cruise ships, Petersburg could still see regular visits from small cruise lines this coming season.

Canada’s announcement will affect large cruise ships in the industry, which are mostly foreign-registered. Under U.S. law they must stop at one of Canada’s docks when heading to Alaska.

But for the town of Petersburg, which sees a lot of smaller cruise ships, it may not have much impact.

“Fortunately, most of the small ships that come into Petersburg are US flagged vessels,” said Dave Berg, co-founder of the travel agency Viking Travel in Petersburg. He books tourist trips all over Alaska and helps coordinate the local cruise visits.

Shallow waters near Petersburg limit the size of ships, and the smaller vessels that can get in usually are American. As of mid-February, there were still seven cruise ships slated for 85 port calls in Petersburg between mid-May and mid-September. They plan to carry between 45 to 140 passengers each. However, Berg says, the ships probably won’t be traveling at their full capacity.

“Not only to allow for some social distancing but to reduce crew numbers on board and to have some cabins available to allow people to quarantine should they be having symptoms,” he said.

That’s the plan, anyway. This time last year many cruises were scheduled but didn’t end up happening. The only cruise line that attempted a voyage in the region – Uncruise — canceled its trip after a passenger tested positive.

“Last year, we virtually had nothing,” Berg said.

He believes this summer will be better. Cruise lines are touting stricter protocols, with some even requiring vaccinations for passengers and staff. Berg says those cruise lines cater to an older population who should be able to get vaccinated by the summer season. Also, he says vaccinations should have spread throughout the region’s residents.

“As we get closer to the season we are going to be more confident in that there won’t be a lot of COVID spread from visitors coming to the community,” Berg said.

One company that’s still in limbo as to whether they can make the season work is Victory Cruise Lines. They planned to debut a Southeast cruise running from Vancouver, BC to Sitka. Company representatives met with Petersburg’s borough administration Feb. 3 to talk about their mitigation plans, which included mandatory vaccinations. They were scheduled to have about 140 passengers spend most Saturdays in July and August in Petersburg. However, after the Canadian announcement the regional cruise it’s up in the air.

In an emailed statement to KFSK, CEO John Waggoner said, “We continue working with government officials, fellow cruise lines as well as travel partners and look forward to returning to cruising when policies allow. ”

Berg says there’s an effort to get Congress to grant temporary waivers to the Jones Act, which is the federal law requiring foreign vessels to stop in Canada.

“I’ve seen some letters; there’s definitely talk,” Berg said. “Our senators are researching and they’ve been approached by communities along the way that this is going to be devastating to the Alaska visitor industry.”

In the meantime, places like Petersburg that see smaller cruise ships and more independent travelers could expect some sort of tourist season. Berg says there’s a trend for family-sized groups looking to get away from the crowds during the pandemic.

“People are asking about those types of experiences rather than being on a bus that goes into Denali for instance, with a bus load of people,” he said. “Folks are looking for more opportunity to be able to be in a small group.”

Some towns like Petersburg also have COVID laws in place for visiting ships. Petersburg’s mandate requires captains to get pre-approval from the public health officer with the emergency operations center before docking. The mandate is up for a possible extension at the end of February.

The Centers for Disease Control still recommends people avoid cruises worldwide.

President Biden and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued orders requiring masks for most people traveling on public planes, trains, boats and road vehicles. The measures are meant to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The orders also say transportation companies have to make sure passengers are wearing face coverings while traveling and also in transportation hubs like airports, bus terminals, and seaports.

It’s not a big change from current practice in Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System has required masks for passengers on the state ferry fleet since June. Department of Transportation spokesperson Sam Dapcevich said Tuesday the system has seen good compliance.

“There’s some teeth behind it now,” Dapcevich said of the requirement. “There is the potential someone could be subject to penalties under federal law now but the primary way that we take care of this message on the ferry is by making announcements and having good signage up and reminding people. We don’t have aggressive enforcement but we make sure people know it’s required.”

The orders also mean masking is now required on the Inter-Island Ferry Authority’s service between Hollis and Ketchikan.

The biggest noticeable change with the federal orders is that the mask requirement now extends anywhere on the premises for travel hubs like airports, train, ferry and bus terminals. As of Feb. 1, the Transportation Security Administration is implementing the mandate on airport properties throughout Alaska. That means it’s required to get past the security checkpoint.

A spokesperson for Alaska Airlines said the vast majority of its passengers are complying with a face covering policy that the airline has had in place since August. The airline gives a final warning, in the form of a yellow card, to passengers who continue to refuse. After that, they can be banned from travel on the airline. System-wide, Alaska Airlines reports 342 people in that category. The new federal orders are expected to make it easier on flight crews enforcing the company’s policy and they’re now cited on the airline’s website.

The travel masking requirement also applies to people who have already received the vaccine and people who have recovered from COVID-19. The orders cover anyone who is traveling into the U.S. or anywhere within the country. It does not apply to travel in private vehicles but it does apply to companies offering ride-sharing. There are exceptions for children younger than two years old or people with a disability.

An internal audit by the U.S. Forest Service says the federal agency mismanaged two timber sales. The report blames pressure to meet timber harvest targets. Mistakes meant $2 million less for habitat restoration work on the Tongass National Forest. Auditors also found the sales failed to outline planned restoration work and potentially violated conflict of interest rules among other findings.

The August 2020 internal agency audit found problems with oversight and administration of two large timber sales on the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It only saw the light of day after Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued for it.

Jeff Ruch, Pacific director of the Maryland-based watchdog group said the report only tells part of the story.

“The report concludes that the problems were motivated by pressure to meet timber sale quotas but doesn’t explain pressure by whom, what about that pressure, how was it manifested, which officials were responsible,” Ruch said. “And that sort of cryptic, unspecific kind of finding makes it difficult for the Forest Service to use it as a basis for reform.”

The report was done by an oversight branch of the Forest Service’s Washington office. It reviewed the Big Thorne Stewardship Contract, awarded in 2014 to Viking Lumber on Prince of Wales Island. It found the agency underestimated the volume by more than 10%.

By law, the Forest Service isn’t allowed to put out timber sales that don’t pencil out for companies. If the cost of getting the wood out of the forest and to market is more than its worth, then it’s a no go. But the report says the agency was incorrect in its valuation of the timber, “making it possible for a positive value and ultimately helped the Tongas and the Region obtain its annual timber sale goal.” In the end, it effectively reduced the overall contract amount to around $2 million to Viking, to avoid a lawsuit from the company.

The report did not find that low-value hemlock is being left uncut in the woods, as prior agency analysis had found. It states that “the contractor is cutting every decent hemlock in the forest.” The report does not include any mention of the Tonka timber sale near Petersburg that was flagged in prior internal reviews for sale oversight problems.

The agency also reviewed the state of Alaska’s Good Neighbor Authority Agreement from 2017. That agreement allows the state’s Division of Forestry to do the preparation, administration and oversight for logging on federal lands. Under that pact, nearly 30 million board feet on Kosciusko Island in the southern Southeast was awarded to Alcan Timber of Ketchikan. But the auditors were concerned over potential conflict of interest in the deal. That’s because the same unnamed person doing the appraisal for the state later contracted with the purchaser to do preparation work for logging. The report says that could give a person with privileged details of the sale the ability to gain financially.

Alcan’s Eric Nichols said a state employee with 40 years experience in Southeast Alaska did the appraisal and retired from the state after it was awarded to Alcan. That employee got an ethics clearance from the state and started a forestry consulting company doing timber sale layouts, Nichols writes in an email. And he says that people with this experience are “very hard to find with the downward spiral of the timber industry.”

The Forest Service’s report also notes problems with the state’s software for estimating timber, valuation of those trees and the agreement’s omission of habitat restoration work that is supposed to accompany the logging.

Environmentalists seized upon the critical audit to question the Forest Service’s timber management practices on the Tongass. Sally Schlichting is with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council in Juneau. She said the 20-page audit’s findings are concerning.

“They really call into question whether the other timber sales that the Forest Service has planned are being properly developed and whether there are other issues out there with other timber sales that are not being properly managed,” Schlichting said.

Forest Service officials declined an interview. In a statement, the agency says it’s updating its policies to clearly define roles and responsibilities, strengthen internal controls over timber sales, improve oversight of the program, and provide additional training for employees. The full statement read:

“The USDA Forest Service takes seriously its obligation to ensure the accountability, integrity, and effectiveness of the work we perform. During routine reports on timber sales, the agency discovered some inconsistencies, which were addressed by Alaska Region 10 and validated through an internal audit. To ensure future work is completed in a consistent manner, Alaska Region 10 has already or will soon update its policies to clearly define roles and responsibilities, strengthen internal controls over timber sales, improve oversight of the program, and provide additional training for employees. We are confident we have sufficiently developed a plan to achieve more efficient and effective oversight of timber sales to help meet agency goals. The final report was released internally on August 18, 2020, and is now publicly available on the Forest Service website.”

State forester Chris Maisch was not available for an interview Monday. An agency spokesperson referred questions to the Forest Service. The timber industry group Alaska Forest Association also declined to comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the impact of the lost value from the timber contract. The $2 million reduction is not paid by taxpayers but impacts the habitat and restoration work that could happen on the Tongass National Forest.

Southeast Alaska’s 2020-2021 commercial Dungeness crab harvest is the second largest on record — and one of the few recent bright spots for Southeast fisheries.

A few areas of Southeast’s commercial Dungeness crab season are still open through February, but most areas closed at the end of November. The estimate for the fall harvest is 813,000 pounds. That’s down slightly from recent years. But the 2020 summer harvest was so large — 5.87 million pounds — that it still makes the total season harvest the second largest ever.

“What we saw last year was a big harvest, it was a big season poundage-wise,” said Joe Stratman, Southeast’s lead crab manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The total season harvest for the summer and fall fisheries is 6.68 million pounds. That’s far above the ten-year average, which is 3.28 million pounds but just under the record breaking year of 2002-03.

The total season was worth $11.49 million. That’s mainly because a lot of crab were caught. The price paid to fishermen was below recent years. The fall averaged $1.88 per pound, and the summer $1.70. That’s about a dollar less per pound than 2019, which averaged $2.79 per pound, and less than other recent years.

“Even though the price was slightly better in the fall, what we saw in summer and fall prices was down quite a bit from the recent three seasons, anyway,” Stratman said.

Most of the Dungeness crab were caught in the summer fishery, from June 15 to Aug. 15, which is typical because conditions are safer and more fishermen are participating. In the fall fishery, the main areas were open for all of October and November. There are still some fishermen crabbing in a few of the areas still open, but Stratman says it’s not likely that the harvests will change enough to compete with the 2002-03 record year.

Managers rely on Dungeness harvest data because they don’t do separate surveys on the species in Southeast. Harvests have been good in recent years compared to other species of crab. Commercial red king crab fishing has been closed in recent years, and commercial Tanner fishing is limited to about a week a year.

But commercial fishing for Dungeness is open for four months a year in many areas, and the population seems to be holding.

“I think it’s safe to say we have steady and reliable, annual recruitment into the fishery,” said Stratman. “We’ve got a steady amount of crab that are entering the fishery every year, recruit crab that are legal for the first time, and we don’t have any large gaps in our recruitment.”

The Southeast area with the highest harvest in this fall’s fishery was District 12 in northern Chatham Straight, with 123,000 pounds. The highest participation in the fishery was District 8, near Petersburg and Wrangell.

The next crab fisheries in Southeast are for Tanner and golden king crab, in mid-February.

Many high school music students in Southeast Alaska cannot practice or perform together this year due to COVID-19 protocols. Some music classes, which are normally large in size, have been canceled altogether. But that hasn’t stopped the annual Southeast Honor Music Festival from taking some shape. Instead of meeting in person, virtual band and choir performances were created for the first time.

Here is the sound of 56 high school band students playing the same song from their own homes. The piece was recorded separately in videos and then all mixed together:

They’re playing the song, “Rushmore” in honor of the election year

In normal years, top music students from around the region come together for the Southeast Honor Music Festival in the fall — 60 students in band and 60 in choir. They rotate the town so the festival visits a new community every year. And it’s competitive. Students audition through recordings, which are judged by a group of regional music directors.

https://youtu.be/xqP6CAd-FXk

This year was a bit different. It was virtual, with all students performing solo at their own homes and then the videos were combined. The finished product was released Jan. 21.

It was Matt Lenhard’s idea and he coordinated the event. He’s been the music director at Petersburg School District for the past 23 years.

“I had the idea because back in August I took a band conference,” said Lenhard. “Attendees at this conference got to participate in something like this. We had music, we played our part, we put put it into a drop box and a company called VirtualChoir.net put something together, pretty impressive, in 24 hours.”

Lenhard thought something like this might work for students this year too. Through Zoom conferences with other music directors in the region, he knew this year has been totally different.

“Every school in this region has something different going on,” Lenhard said.

In Petersburg’s case, students are in small class pods so most music classes are not being offered. The only class at the high school is the smaller jazz band, which meets in the morning before school, and there are no music classes at all at the elementary school. The focus has been on the middle school students, who meet in smaller groups.

The virtual project included 56 high school band students and 28 choir students. Lenhard says it was more challenging for some schools to participate depending on their situation.

“Music programs across Southeast, we’re in some tough times with this covid,” Lenhard said. “You know, if you have a band of 50, you’re not meeting together.”

For the virtual honor festival, the teachers decided to pick their own students. Lenhard went with veteran musicians mostly in his jazz band because he has contact with them.

The virtual choir performed a song called “Let the River Run.”

https://youtu.be/we_6vaaufP8

Wearing earbuds, the students sang or played instruments along with a professional recording of the song with a click track or what are audio cues to stay in sync.

Lenhard ended up filling in on a few percussion spots, playing drums and the upright bass. He says the teachers chose music that would be fitting for the unusual school year.

“Here we are in this pandemic, and what music is, is about getting together and working on music and performing it for an audience and we can’t do that,” said Lenhard. “So, some inspiring music to practice, inspiring music [that] when you saw the final product you’d go, ‘Wow, this was worth it, this was worth it.’”

The virtual honor festival went so well the music directors are considering something similar for the annual Southeast Alaska High School Music Festival in April, also known as Music Fest. On a normal year, that event can draw around 500 to 600 students from around the region.