KFSK - Petersburg

All three Petersburg schools closed Tuesday after the announcement of a positive COVID-19 test result for a student at Rae C. Stedman Elementary.

Petersburg’s emergency operations center announced a student and parent tested positive. The student was showing symptoms and recently took part in an activity trip to Juneau not connected to the schools. Other students who went on this trip are being evaluated and tested. The student attended school after returning from the capital city.

The student is in one of the fifth-grade classes at the elementary school. As a result, all fifth graders are instructed to quarantine for two weeks as well as their identified close contacts.

Middle and high school students went home but are back to online remote learning during the closure.

School superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter Tuesday said for other grades, building closures would last at minimum until Thursday morning.

“So at this point then other people around within the school setting or even in the classroom are considered sort of that contact of a contact,” Kludt-Painter said. “And so we wait for public health to guide us on that over this next day or so and that’s why we wanted to just at least a minimum 24-hour closure, do some extra deep cleaning, have some time to make some contact with families and find out a little bit more about where they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact with and all those things. And our public health crew and medical center crew are on that job and so we’re helping them with that information.”

The fifth-grade class will be remote learning during the two weeks of quarantine. The closure of all three school buildings will also allow for an investigation into possible close contacts in the middle and high schools, according to the district.

Kludt-Painter has been anticipating COVID cases in the schools since the return to classroom learning and she praised the response of staff and parents.

“Our staff [is] of course as always, professional and staying calm and just helping to get the kids where they need to be,” Kludt-Painter said. “We just appreciate that. Everybody just is staying nice and calm and we’re not overreacting because we knew this was coming and we’re just going to keep going one step in front of the other and thanks to everybody for their patience and helping us get through this.”

Petersburg now has three active cases and a total of 22 COVID-19 positives combined for both Petersburg residents and non-residents since the start of the pandemic. People with symptoms should call the COVID hotline at Petersburg Medical Center is 772-5788.

A watchdog group hopes a lawsuit will shake loose more evidence of lost revenue from timber sales on the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. The borough government in Petersburg has also sought answers about what’s been done to fix problems, with little response.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is a Maryland-based national watchdog group for current and former public sector workers. In the past, it has published internal documents from the U.S. Forest Service that pointed to problems with oversight, transparency and accounting for timber contracts on Prince of Wales Island and near Petersburg.

In August, the group asked the Forest Service to release its audit of Tongass timber sales under the Freedom of Information Act. That request has yet to be fulfilled, and the group is asking the courts to enforce the law.

The group’s Pacific director, Jeff Ruch, expects the audit will confirm those earlier findings.

“We think it’s timely in that as you know there’s an effort to dramatically expand logging on the Tongass by repealing the Roadless Rule, and that if past is prologue and they’ve lost money on these earlier sales, you may be looking at a new gusher of red ink from new sales,” Ruch said.

Ruch thinks the financials from the audit also should have been included in the recent environmental analysis used to grant a full exemption of the Tongass from the Clinton administration’s Roadless Rule. A decision on opening up more areas of the Tongass to logging and roadbuilding is expected in the coming weeks.

Elected officials and residents in Petersburg have also asked about the extent of lost revenues from past timber sales and what’s been done to correct oversight with sale administration. Alaska regional forester Dave Schmid said last November in a public meeting that the audit was nearly complete. Nearly a year before that, he said the agency was responding to timber sale issues.

KFSK and others submitted Freedom of Information requests for that audit in 2019, but the agency has not produced it.

The Petersburg borough has also sent letters seeking answers, dating back to 2018. Forest Service chief Vicki Christiansen responded in May 2019 that the agency would share more information.

“We look forward to sharing with you those actions aimed to address any findings identified by the audit,” Christiansen wrote.

Appeals to the Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General for a separate external review have so far been fruitless.

In 2016, staff with the Washington office of the Forest Service found, among other things, that timber companies are leaving behind lower value hemlock and cutting more of the high value cedar and spruce, which changes the economics of timber sales and how those are appraised and awarded.

George Woodbury of Wrangell is a board member for the Alaska Forest Association, an industry group.

“The reason it’s not being taken is because we got the long-term sales taken away and the pulp mills, so we don’t have the secondary manufacturing facilities,” Woodbury said. “We are no longer able to use everything that we were before. It’s the result of the environmental challenges and the fact that they shrunk the timber supply so much you can’t have an industry big enough to utilize all the wood.”

The Forest Service says it won’t comment on litigation. It referred inquiries to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond to questions this month.

 

Commercial salmon fisheries in Southeast are looking to be a bust this year, but that’s not the case for Dungeness crab. This summer’s harvest ended up being the second highest on record. But the value of the fishery was not near a record breaker.

Fishermen brought in 5.81 million pounds of crab in a commercial season that ran from mid-June to mid-August.

Joe Stratman leads crab management in Southeast for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

“What was taken this summer is more than double the previous ten year average,” he said.

The summer harvest was so good that it’s higher than nearly all other full-season harvests, which also include the fall and winter fisheries. This year was only topped by the record year of 2002-2003.

Managers knew that it was going to be a good season after the first week, when fishermen brought in a record 1.51 million pounds. There were also more fishermen than usual participating in the fishery this summer, with 192 permit holders fishing.

But the value of the fishery was less than many other years. This summer, the average price was $1.67 per pound. That’s about a dollar below the ten-year average. And this year’s total value of $9.81 million was about three million less than last year, when the average price was $3.01 per pound.

Stratman says it was still a good value year, but it could have been far better if prices were closer to normal.

“Total value-wise, it exceeds the previous ten-year average due to the fact that the harvest poundage was so high, but the average price of a $1.67 this year is less than the 10-year average.”

The state doesn’t track individual weights of Dungeness crab, but Stratman says fishermen reported the crab were high quality this summer.

“I have heard, anecdotally from fishermen, that individual weight on the crab and crab size was larger than usual,” Stratman said. “By every indication, I heard that crab quality was quite good.”

With the summer season ending close to the record, managers predict that the full season has a chance to break the record. Using figures from the start of the season, they estimate a total season harvest of 6.61 million pounds. To break the record, the harvest has to surpass 7.3 million pounds from the year 2002-2003.

“It’s possible,” Stratman said.

The fall season opens on October 1 for all of Southeast. Most of the region will close November 30.

Petersburg’s borough government will ask the state to seek a disaster declaration for economic losses from this summer’s dismal salmon season. The numbers are not yet final, but a combination of low prices and low returns has the summer of 2020 shaping up to be one of the worst in decades.

The numbers of salmon caught in the region this summer are some of the worst since Alaska became a state.

“As far as the net fisheries go in Southeast, the net fisheries being the drift gillnet fishery and the purse seine fishery, we are looking at some all-time lows for salmon harvested in those fisheries,” said Troy Thynes, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s region one management coordinator for commercial fisheries.

The pink salmon harvest looks like it will be the lowest since 1976. The chum catch is looking like it could be the lowest in three decades as well. And the region’s sockeye harvest could finish around 100,000 fish total, also among the lowest in decades. Thynes said prices have dropped since last year, especially for pinks, chums and sockeye salmon. By the end of August, his early estimates put the value of the purse seine catch region-wide at just eight million dollars and the gillnet catch at just seven million dollars.

“The region 10-year average for the seine ex-vessel value is about $73.5 million,” Thynes said. “So this year’s value of eight million (dollars) is considerably less than that. And then the gillnet ex-vessel value, the recent 10-year average is about 27.4 million and right now we’re looking at around seven million, again very preliminary and we still have ongoing fisheries. These numbers will change.”

For further comparison, the salmon harvest last year topped 101 million dollars and the year before 133 million.

Casey Flint is president of the Petersburg Economic Development Council. That board voted in late August to send a letter supporting Petersburg’s request.

“Oh, I think this will have a huge rippling effect on the economy in town,” Flint said. “It’s just less money circulating in town. It’s less landing taxes. The fishing industry is just the cornerstone of our economy here and when the fishing fleet suffers, the whole town is going to follow right along.”

The council’s letter said the economic impact will be felt by fishermen, seafood processing companies and companies that support the fleet, along with the municipality.

Petersburg’s borough assembly this month voted to send a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state’s Commerce, Community and Economic Development Commissioner Julie Anderson. It asks the state to gather data on economic losses and request a declaration from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. It also asks the Congressional delegation to pursue disaster relief money. The letter highlights tariffs on seafood that China has imposed in response to U.S. tariffs. It also singles out imports from Russia while exports to Russia are embargoed. The letter says both factors have hurt prices for Alaska’s catch.

Assembly member Jeff Meucci had heard some critical feedback about the tone of the letter.

“You know we have our hand out again. I don’t think we can continually ask the federal government to bail us out year after year here,”Meucci said.

He wanted the letter to reflect market pressures on dive fisheries and other parts of the local economy. Nevertheless, he voted to send the letter along with the other four assembly members at this month’s meeting. The assembly also had a brief discussion about requesting research funding Southeast salmon and herring stocks.

Meanwhile the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week announced $530 million dollars in relief payments for fishermen impacted by tariffs.

The last disaster declaration that included Southeast Alaska fisheries was in 2016, when pink salmon returns were low around the Gulf of Alaska. But the region’s catch of pinks that year was over 15 million fish, more than twice the expectation for this year’s final tally.

Other communities may also seek a fisheries disaster declaration. The governor’s office says so far it’s received one other request, from Chignik.

Seafood companies bring thousands of seasonal workers to Alaska’s fishing towns every year, but this year’s summer workers were largely unseen. In Petersburg, due to COVID precautions, workers were restricted closed campuses — they were only allowed to go between the plant, dorms and cafeteria. Some workers said they felt resigned to it. Others said it felt like jail.

There are two major processing plants in Petersburg: OBI Seafoods — formerly Petersburg Fisheries, Inc — and Trident Seafoods. But before we get to the plants, we should start with the fishermen.

Nick Rahaim is a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat. During the pandemic, he and other fishermen have to stay on deck, away from the seafood processing workers who come on board to offload the catch.

“It’s been compared to the NBA bubble, like Disney World in Florida,” Rahaim said. “While it is a bubble, it’s very different because on the one hand you have people making millions, on the other you have people making close to minimum wage.”

Inside the closed campuses, workers process and can millions of pounds of salmon, halibut, black cod and crab for the market. It’s long days, but that’s why they’re here.

The seafood workers get paid $12.17 an hour, which works out to about $18.25 dollars an hour for overtime. Usually, overtime is guaranteed. They work up to 16-hour days, seven days a week, for as long as the fish keep coming.

This year’s season was defined by COVID precautions. Like many around the state, Petersburg’s seasonal workers were not permitted to leave company property.

“This might actually be worse than jail, because in jail you can actually walk around,” one worker said.

I spoke with over a dozen workers about the closed campus system, and feelings were mixed. You’re going to hear from a few of them in this story, but I’m not including any of their names to protect them from potential retaliation.

An OBI human resources manager threatened one worker while I was interviewing him, reminding him that he signed paperwork saying he wouldn’t share proprietary information.

OBI management denied there was a gag order on workers or that there would be internal retaliation for speaking with the media. They said they were concerned with potential COVID exposure and worker safety. But KFSK’s numerous requests for comment or to arrange interviews with workers were not returned.

Some workers said that at the beginning of the season, they were quarantined in Seattle for a few days, tested for COVID, then flown up to Petersburg. But the workers I spoke to were only told about the closed campus when they arrived for orientation.

“I knew we had to be in quarantine, but I didn’t know … they told us we couldn’t leave,” he said. “Because the residents didn’t want to chance us coming in and bringing it in. You know we’re like, well, maybe we don’t want to get it from them,” he said.

OBI workers quarantined in two dorms across the street from the plant located at the end of Main Street, across from North Harbor.

For some, what was meant to last 14 days extended to 21 days because of a potential exposure. I asked them how they passed the time. One worker said there wasn’t much to do – they slept, watched YouTube and played games, but there wasn’t any TV.

“For fun? Chess! I’ve actually become a good chess player,” he said. “Before I came here, I didn’t know how to play chess at all. And we play poker and ping pong.”

Trident booked the Tide’s Inn hotel for their workers’ local quarantine — the owner of the Tide’s Inn is also a manager at the Trident plant — and workers were not allowed to leave their rooms. There was a security guard outside, to make sure. The company provided meals, laundry and cleaning, according to management. Later, workers lived in dorms about one mile south of the downtown plant, next to Tonka Seafoods.

Trident did not respond to requests for comment on quarantine or closed campus conditions.

Both OBI and Trident decided on the closed campus plan and submitted it to the state and borough prior to the season. After quarantine, COVID protocols included everyone wearing masks, staying in smaller work groups, regular testing and temperature and symptom checks every day before starting work.

I talked with one Trident worker on his way from a coffee break at a cafeteria building about one block from the plant. That route was technically “on campus,” though we were on the public sidewalk a few steps from Main Street.

“How do you feel about the closed campus system, and having to stay on campus?” I asked.

“It’s a little bit difficult,” he said. “Because you just feel like you’re locked up. But hey, we came here to work, so. You came over here to work so you forget about everything, you’re on the move … Probably next season will be better, hopefully it’ll be better.”

As the summer wore on, news of coronavirus outbreaks in other Alaskan plants became a warning for workers and bolstered the companies’ the need for closed campuses, according to workers. In late July, Seward reported the worst outbreak — over half of the 252 workers tested positive, shuttering the plant for a few days. There were also outbreaks in plants in Anchorage, Juneau and Kodiak, disrupting the industry for fishermen, seafood companies and workers alike.

But unlike the NBA bubble, Petersburg’s seafood processing plants were not exclusive. Employees who are Petersburg residents and don’t live in the dorms can come and go freely.

One OBI worker said he was frustrated to see local residents move freely between the plant and town, go get coffee or lunch, and therefore risk COVID transmission.

“It’s a double-edged blade, and they’re treating it as it’s not,” he said. “Because higher management people walk around without their mask, or you know, down around their neck, so it’s like, what’s the difference? And then I heard a few days ago that one of the higher management people caught a worker at the bar, and they fired him. Because he was at the bar! Like, what’s the difference between you being at that bar and him being at the bar?”

He said that to buy things like personal items or medications, all requests had to go through the human resources office. They even have to take a shuttle four blocks from the dorm down Main Street to the plant.

Trident responded to requests for comment with a statement saying that “having a monitored, secured, and restricted access has been recognized by the State of Alaska as key elements of an effective community and workforce protection plan.” The statement thanked the employees for executing it safely.

Some workers quit outright when they learned about the closed campus. According to the workers I spoke with, some were also fired for breaking the rules, like walking a few blocks down Main Street to the ATM.

“People tend to come up to Alaska to get away from things and be free,” an OBI worker explained. “Because you know, Alaska, one of the frontiers that is still remaining. And they come up here, can’t do anything, everything’s locked down, super strict, and they have no way to relieve any stress, or anger, and it just builds and builds and builds until they finally pop and then they go home.”

Workers come from far-flung places across the U.S. and the world: Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ukraine, the Philippines, Sudan, Nigeria and others.

Many workers stayed and managed through the season to secure their paychecks, which could be up to $1700 a week. They also had a housing refund — half of the $20 per day it cost for room and board — to collect at the end of the summer, and the company paid airfare back to Seattle.

“At the end of the season, like the people you see right now, it’s the survival of the fittest,” one OBI worker told me. “The people you see right now, we had to thug it out, we had to obey by the rules and suck it up because they’re going to fire you. The littlest, like right now, they’re trying to fire people from the littlest things … But I mean, like I said, you gotta be smart, you know. You gotta be smart.”

This worker said he endured, and the paycheck made it worthwhile. Others said the benefits did not outweigh the cost. Still others said they would be back next summer, and hoped the fishing season picks up.

This fall, with the pandemic restricting student contact, Petersburg High School has had to modify how student athletes practice and play. But one sport that is holding nearly normal practices is cross country. And on Aug. 22, Petersburg’s cross country team participated in its first ever virtual meet with other schools around Southeast Alaska.

Cross country is a non-contact sport that happens outside, so many high schools have gone ahead with their seasons in a near-normal way.

“This is the sport to be in this year for sure,” said Debby Eddy, Petersburg’s assistant coach.

She says practices have been like other years except for daily screenings and temperature checks.

“Once we get all the screening done, it always feels pretty normal,” she said.

But Eddy said cross country meets are a different story. Petersburg participated in its first virtual meet Aug. 22, hosted by Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kalé. Other Southeast schools participating included Thunder Mountain, Sitka, Ketchikan, Mt. Edgecumbe and Metlakatla.

All of the teams timed their own 5K races at home and then shared them. Eddy says the schools used a formula to come up with the results, including variables such as the runner’s times from previous years.

“No system is perfect, but in this sense it was better than nothing,” she said. “So, it was a great opportunity for the kids to see kind of where they lined up with people in Southeast so far.”

The meet’s results showed the girls from Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kalé finished first and took eight of the top ten spots. Sitka girls took second and Ketchikan third. The boys from Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kalé also finished first, taking six of the top 10 spots, while the Ketchikan boys took second and Sitka third. Petersburg and Metlakatla are in smaller school divisions, but the meet was open to all school sizes.

Petersburg’s Uriah Lucas took third place individually, with a time of 17 minutes and 20 seconds.

There may or may not be traveling to in-person meets this year for high schools. That will depend on the COVID-19 situation in towns that are hosting meets. But Eddy says that Petersburg is keeping the calendar as it is for now, including hosting a regional track meet at the end of September.

“That will be an exciting thing if that can happen for us,” she said.

Possible scenarios include each team running the race course separately to keep contact numbers low.

“It’s definitely not going to look the same,” Eddy said. “The athletic directors and such are all talking about this. We’ve been at the Petersburg meets where there’s over 100 kids racing. We may have to change our course because the distance, the width of the course, has to be at least six feet so that’s a new rule that’s begun. So, yeah, things are definitely going to look different if we race with other communities.”

Overall, Petersburg’s team is smaller this year and they’re pretty young, says Eddy. But she says they are working hard every day at practice.

“They’ve just got such good resilience,” Eddy said. “I mean, they’re able to just adapt to whatever, I’m just super impressed. I feel they would love to race, they would love to travel and do that fun stuff that we do but in the midst of all that, they’re making the best of it. I’m very proud of them.”

Other sports — like swimming, volleyball and wrestling — will start up next month for Petersburg High School. The school district’s Athletics Director Jaime Cabral said in an email that practices for those sports will operate very differently than in previous years. The teams will be following mitigation plans for each sport and location. Each team will have a meeting prior to the start to go over all the protocols that are in place, as well as screening requirements and limitations on numbers.