KNBA Newscast for September 23, 2015
Tlingit Haida Cultural Center
By Lisa Phu, KTOO
The Tlingit and Haida Central Council announced plans on Thursday to open a cultural immersion park. Next year, the shuttered Thane Ore House is expected to be transformed into a new Juneau tourist destination.
Myrna Gardner, the council's business and economic development manager, said the park could offer teachable experiences for Native youth and guests. They'll see weaving and master carvers working with apprentices on totems and canoes.
" They'll not only see a living culture, they'll be able to talk to the artists...Our plan is to not only strengthen our culture and the connection with our youth but also share our culture with the guests that travel into Juneau,” Gardner said.
Plans include a gift shop and restaurant that serves traditional foods--like blueberries, salmon and Hudson Bay tea. As many as 100 permanent jobs could be created.
President Richard Peterson said that's part of the business model. The immersion park will draw employees from the Central Council's existing vocational program. He hopes, eventually, it will help Central Council become more self-sufficient.
"You can't have a program live off grants forever. Part of that sustainability is that economic development engine kicking in for tourism, kind of solves each others' problems,” Peterson said.
The city owns the land and solicited project proposals. Central Council beat out pitches from caterer Abby's Kitchen and Liquid Alaska Tours.
Peterson said, as the final design plans come together, it'll be done with careful thought and planning.
" I want to make sure that what we do is culturally sensitive and culturally appropriate. I don't want to do something that's a parody of our culture. This has to be something that's done right,” Peterson said.
The $1.3 million Tlingit-Haida immersion park is slated to open next summer.150921 Akiak Erosion, 3:08 pkg: Dog Musher Mike Williams lost approximately
50 feet of land yesterday in less than two hours, as it eroded into the Kuskokwim River. Worked with son-in-laws to save seven of his sled dogs. Incident is a part of larger issue of erosion on Kuskokwim.
Erosion
By Lakeidra Chavis, KYUK
Last Saturday night, an Akiak resident watched approximately 50 feet of his land erode into the river in less than two hours.
Just as it was getting dark Saturday evening, Akiak resident and Iditarod champion Mike Williams, stepped outside to see his dog lot falling into the Kuskokwim River and seven of his sled dogs being pulled into the water.
“They were beginning to choked,” Williams said, “but they’re alive, they’re okay now. They got them just in time.”
Williams says the dogs were hanging by their chains, their bodies dangling over the eroding banks.
“We had to pull them out, they were in they’re chains and they pulled them out,” Williams.
Williams’ son-in-law went outside to check on Williams’ 60 sled dogs when he realized something wasn’t right— the lot was eroding into the riverbank, and quickly.
“This is about the most I’ve seen in recent times in Akiak,” Williams said.
Williams was able to rescue and relocate all of his sled dogs, but he lost a refrigerator that stored dog food.
What Williams experienced is called mass erosion.
"These are tough times for all of us, and hopefully a lot of erosion projects will be funded to help fix all of this stuff,” Williams said.
Areas along the Kuskokwim are no strangers to erosion, especially in the era of Alaska’s climate change. But in Akiak, erosion commonly occurs during breakup season, when the river flows faster, not in late September.
Chris Maio, an Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, studies coastal geography and says Saturday’s erosion is abnormal.
“I certainly think that is what I’d categorize as an extreme erosional event," Maio said.
Maio says that high rate is a result of three elements: the river’s natural composition, warmer weather, and high rainfall.
“Forty-five, 55 feet in the matter of a couple of hours, is certainty a really dramatic rate of erosion," Maio said.
The sediment in communities along the Kuskokwim is composed primarily of silt, a fine gradient. And it’s held together by permafrost.
When the temperatures rise, the permafrost melts, weakening the riverbanks. When a heavy rain comes, it can tear the land away.
Williams says it had been raining a lot before the mass erosion, raising the river, but he says the weather Saturday night wasn’t particularly windy or intense.
In 2009, the U.S. Corps of Engineers conducted an erosion assessment of almost 200 Alaskan communities.
According to the assessment, Akaik is losing about an acre of land a year, and the village’s communications hub will be lost within 30 years to erosion.
Researchers conclude that the potential damages could cost more than $18 million dollars.
Akiak City Administrator Ivan Ivan, says the city has developed a mitigation plan, and recently applied for a disaster relief grant through FEMA. If awarded, the grant will help relocate about nine homes close to the river.
But he says, they're still waiting to hear back.
Sitnasauk CEO
By Ellen Lockyer
Sitnasuak Native Corporation’s board is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Strutz as CEO, effective as of Sep. 18. Strutz has been part of Sitnasuak’s team since 2013, beginning as the CEO of the Corporation’s subsidiary, Sitnasuak Financial Services, LLC. He assumed the interim CEO role of Sitnasuak in April of this year.
Strutz will maintain Sitnasuak’s momentum of strong financial stability by drawing upon his 20 years as President of Wells Fargo Bank Alaska, N.A. and its predecessor, National Bank of Alaska, with total service of 42 years. Wells Fargo Bank Alaska, N.A. is the largest bank operating throughout Alaska.
Sitnasuak is the largest of the 16 village corporations in the Bering Straits region and headquartered in Nome.