Gatgyeda Haayk, Metlakatla’s Community Garden Champion, recently strolled past a row of shrubs and small trees near the village’s boat harbor. She pointed to two cherry trees rustling in the wind along the shoreline. 

The soon-to-be budding trees were brought to Metlakatla as part of its Community Food Forest Project. That’s an initiative that incorporates fruit-bearing trees and bushes into the village’s public landscapes. So far, Haayk said about 50 plants have taken root around town, from the city’s ballpark to the boat harbor. 

“In like the next three years, we hope to be able to give fruit back to the community,” Haayk said.

The program comes after Metlakatla’s tribal council passed a resolution a few years back that required all beautification efforts in the community to be edible. Not long after, the village received a three-year grant from the U.S. Forest Service to fund the project. The grant is currently in its final year, but Haayk is looking for other funding. 

She said the project has primarily worked with apple trees, but they’ve also planted plum and nectarine trees. The initiative also deals with plants native to the region, like raspberries, gooseberries and saskatoon berries. Haayk has even experimented with plants not usually grown in Southeast, like hazelnut trees, which she said seem to be doing well. 

And increasing access to fresh fruit is important because it’s so limited in the village. There’s just one grocery store on Annette Island, and the vast majority of the produce comes from out of state. 

“I am hoping that the community utilizes this, and then it also inspires other communities to kind of do the same thing, so that we don’t have to rely on the Lower 48 so heavily on our food,” Haayk said.

While most of the program’s trees and bushes are still young and not yet producing, Haayk said she’s educating the village about the project. Once the plants bloom, she said community members can harvest the fruit, with the exception of those at the village’s community garden, free of charge. All she asks is that it gets eaten. 

“It’s astounding how much food gets wasted, and it’s really a shame, because that’s a lot of energy that goes into that little piece of food,” Haayk said. “From being plucked and then takes two weeks of a journey to get up here, it loses so much of its nutritional value.” 

To Haayk’s knowledge, there are no similar open harvest projects in Alaska. Bread Line, Inc., in Fairbanks, has a garden and food forest where people can harvest produce like snap peas, lettuce and raspberries, free of charge.

Haayk hopes that Metlakatla’s food forest will eventually be self-sustaining and inspire community members to plant fruit trees of their own. 

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

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The Ketchikan school district’s $5.4 million debt to the borough was discovered late last year after a district financial audit.

The debt was mainly attributed to an excess of health insurance claims and district overspending. The district and borough agreed in March to a three-year debt repayment plan of $1.9 million each year with 3% interest. That first payment to the borough was set for July. 

But the updated memorandum of agreement now gives the school district an extra year, until 2029, to repay its debt to the borough. School Board President Katherine Tatsuda at the Wednesday night school board meeting said reconfiguring the agreement was a group effort. 

“I just want to say a huge thank you to borough staff and the borough assembly for doing this for us and working with us, and recognizing the difficult work we have done and the very serious work we have done to bring us into a more stable financial position,” Tatsuda said.

According to the school district, modifying the debt repayment structure would allow it more leeway in planning for the next fiscal year. The borough says next year’s school district budget takes into account this new debt repayment structure.

This year’s school district payment to the borough is solely interest – about $160,000. After that, the district will pay nearly $2 million annually through the end of the repayment period. 

It’s not the first time the school district has suggested the idea of allowing it more time to repay its borough debt. It originally asked for a five-year repayment to allow more planning time for school closures and staff cuts, but the borough assembly voted 5-2 for a faster return.

The updated memorandum of agreement also includes an amendment to allow state approved education funding to the borough only be made available to the school district with borough permission.

Assembly member Rodney Dial voted in favor of the new repayment agreement at Tuesday night’s special borough assembly meeting, although he’s concerned about the accuracy of next year’s school district budget. He said that healthcare costs are increasing, and student counts in the district are likely decreasing. 

“So, to think that next year now, that they will be able to pay this, or that they’re going to ask us for a different modification, or that they won’t add more to the debt, or they won’t have a big deficit – those are all risks that we are taking with a smaller and smaller pot of money to fill these needs,” Dial said. “It really goes to the central premise of what so many of us are trying to do and get them to a balanced budget.”

The borough assembly also agreed on Tuesday to set aside an additional $5 million to the borough through the end of the fiscal year, June 30. To do that, the borough is moving $2.9 million from its housing development fund. According to a letter from interim superintendent Sheri Boehlert, the additional funds are needed to meet final payroll obligations, settle outstanding vendor contracts and ensure a balanced budget at the close of the fiscal year. 

Three people provided public comment on the funding increase before the assembly approved it. Paul Hook said he does not agree with extending the repayment plan or giving the school district more money, and believes the district lacks financial oversight. 

“Money doesn’t mean anything to these people anymore,” Hook said. “It’s lost its value because we just find another pile to shovel it into or out of. So, I really implore you to stop your glad hands passing out money to people who don’t appreciate it.”

The district will have to pay that money back, and is needed in part to keep its Local Education Fund above the minimum balance required under borough code. According to the code, the appropriation requires a “finding by the Assembly that extraordinary needs regarding the School District exist.”

Hook also expressed concern about areawide property taxes for schools, which are deposited into the district’s Local Education Fund.

But Caitlin Jacobson, a librarian at Kayhi, said she supported extending the school district’s repayment plan. She said the school district’s staff has needed help from the borough for “a long, long time.” 

“It is not an adequate education system,” Jacobson said. “By agreeing to this payment, we’re keeping us barely alive.” 

This is the third time the assembly has adjusted this year’s school district budget – once last year and again in March. The assembly earlier this month also greenlit dedicating a portion of the borough’s taxes imposed on lodging to the Local Education Fund.

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post Ketchikan school district now has extra year to pay $5.4 million debt appeared first on KRBD.

President Trump signed a law last Tuesday that permits the transfer of approximately 180 acres of federal land to the Cape Fox Corporation. 

The Saxman-based Alaska Native Village Corporation says previous legislation prohibited it from owning land within six miles of Ketchikan’s city limits. That requirement made it so the land that could be claimed by Cape Fox through the Alaska Native Claims Settlements Act, or ANCSA, had little economic value due to the mountainous terrain, or was otherwise unavailable to them, like the Annette Island Indian Reservation. The bill allows Cape Fox to receive land in the Tongass National Forest that fulfills the remaining land entitlement set under previous legislation and consolidates the Corporation’s selection. 

The land that is now available connects plots that had previously been transferred to Cape Fox. According to a statement from the organization, the plan is to develop a road and transmission line linking the Mahoney Lake hydroelectric site to the Beaver Falls Power Grid. The goal for that project is to bring renewable power, jobs and energy development to the region. They hope to start conducting feasibility studies within the next year.  

The Cape Fox Land Entitlement Finalization Act was introduced by Representative Nick Begich and supported by Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.

This is the first time the House has passed the bill and the second time the Senate has passed it. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski first introduced the bill two years ago. In a press release, she said Cape Fox was at an “incredible disadvantage” with the land it was forced to claim under ANCSA, and she is grateful to her Senate colleagues who set aside differences to pass the bill. 

Thomas Harris, Board Vice President of Cape Fox Corp., said in a statement that reaching this long-sought after goal “represents the potential to create Ketchikan’s very first 40-mile tourism corridor loop stretching from downtown Ketchikan ports, along South Tongass Highway to Saxman and Mountain Point, alongside George Inlet to Beaver Falls, past George Inlet Cannery, up to Mahoney Lake, onto White River, up the Harriet Hunt Road, back down past Ward Lake, on through to Ward Cove and then along North Tongass Highway right back to downtown Ketchikan.”

Cape Fox is in the process of formalizing the selection notice to the Department of Interior and plans to have it submitted this summer.

The post New law resolves long-standing land entitlement issue for Cape Fox Corp. appeared first on KRBD.

Ketchikan’s public works department has released the results of a recent city restroom survey. The survey sought public input on the construction of a new public restroom on Creek Street, which could begin at the end of the summer.

Feedback from the more than 200 residents, visitors and business owners was mixed. Concerns among those who filled out the survey included maintenance costs, congestion on the boardwalk and how a restroom will match the historic aesthetics of Creek Street. Several survey takers suggested alternative locations for a new public restroom, like Stedman Street and Thomas Basin.

Nearly half of those who filled out the survey said the new restroom should have 3-5 stalls. Many also feel the restrooms should be separated by gender. Nearly 40% of those who participated in the survey feel the new restroom should be open year-round.  

The need for more public restrooms in downtown Ketchikan has been a talking point at city council and borough assembly meetings for over five years. There are currently six public restrooms in the downtown area, most of which are only open in the summer months. Construction of the new restroom will be paid for by commercial passenger vessel funds from both the city and borough. Those are funds collected from cruise ship passengers that can only be used for projects that benefit the tourism industry. The restrooms could cost upwards of about $1 million to build. 

If constructed, the new restroom will likely be located between Dolly’s House and Niblick’s General Store on Creek Street. The restroom survey results will be reviewed by local historic organizations, who need to approve the location before construction moves forward. 

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post Results of downtown restroom survey are mixed appeared first on KRBD.

Tickets are available for KRBD’s Annual Fourth of July raffle and the prizes this year are CASH MONEY! Support community radio in southern Southeast Alaska with your purchase and enter for a chance to win!

Tickets are $10 each. Only 4,000 tickets will be sold.

You need not be present to win.

FIRST PRIZE: $5,000

SECOND PRIZE: $2,500

THIRD PRIZE: $500

Purchase your tickets at the station: KRBD 1101 Copper Ridge Lane, at Parnassus Books & Gifts, or the KPU Telecommunications office.

Call 907-225-9655 to purchase over the phone.

Or purchase online below:

CoastAlaska Permit # 1783

The post KRBD’s Annual Fourth of July Raffle Starts Now appeared first on KRBD.

To submit a local photo, send it to photo@krbd.org. You can vote for your favorite Photo of the Day submission by going to our Facebook page and hitting “like!” We announce a new winner each week, and the winner gets a bag of Raven’s Brew coffee (prize must be picked up at the station).

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