This editorial first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News:
Gov. Sean Parnell’s vision for Alaska includes the restoration of Wrangell’s Chief Shakes Island, including a tribal house and totem poles.
Gov. Parnell, in conjunction with Sen. Bert Stedman, appropriated $250,000 for the project this past legislative session.
The Chief Shakes Historic Site in Wrangell’s harbor is listed on the National Historic Register. It was built in 1940.
Sealaska Timber Corp. donated Prince of Wales Island cedar trees to the restoration.
Ketchikan’s Willard Jackson of the Tongass Tribe participated in the festivities surrounding the arrival of the initial shipment of giant cedars for the island’s restoration.
The old tribal house will be replaced and a new one will include a carving facility, and retail and office space. It will be located on property donated by the Tlingit and Haida Housing Authority.
The Wrangell Cooperative Association, the Stikine River-area tribe spearheading the project, hopes to attract master carvers to the carving facility to train local carvers.
The project is expected to be completed by May 2013, when a dedication is scheduled.
This is a historic preservation project that Ketchikan can support with the same enthusiasm it does its own; it’s the Southeast’s history and integral to the future of the region.
Comments (6)
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Goes to the Senate. Parnell only signed it because he was forced to. Stop pandering.
again AK citizen money used to fund a private, racially based
enterprise. I'm all public money being used for restoration when the restoration is open to the public without racial bias.
This is public money being used to restore buildings for tribes that receive federal funding already. The restorations will not be open and responsible to the public either.
There is no difference between using public funds for a Native only project or a Black only project or a White only project.
Prev note;Funding Son's of Norway Hall - perhaps racially based?
For pete's sake! The legislatively funded Chief Shakes Island project is a part of Alaska's Native heritage, which is a shared one by our first cultures. Just as is the Russian influence in Sitka, in Kodiak and elsewhere is part of our shared heritage yep some of the buildings in Sitka you guess it, legislatively funded. I guess funding for those cultural influences in the past might have been considered Communist assistance under this line of thought. And funding for a Son's of Norway hall renovations (legislatively funded) and fishermen commemoration, obviously this is somehow a socialist conspiracy in the capitalist community of Petersburg to boot. And those foreign (outside) prospectors, we'd better not honor them either with monuments either, lest someone think we are for illegals.
Lat is right about one thing;
Lat is right about one thing; Gov. Sean Parnell is not “for” Alaskan Natives
Sean Parnell sabotaged Alaskans right to have a Coastal Management Program he lobbied our legislative house reps to "expire" the Alaska state coastal management program thus silencing the voice of all Alaskans.
Lets hope the giant cedars are not old growth trees.
Highflyer, I could be wrong, but...
One would think you don't find many "giant" cedars in young or second-growth forests. :-)
At any rate, I don't think you'll find anyone in the State disagreeing that preservation of an Alaska Native cultural site justifies their use.
mediawatchdog
Your comment about not finding "giant cedars" in young or second growth is correct. An old growth forest is also the source of large trees that bring a huge price on the international market.
An old growth forest is a much different ecological system than a recently clear-cut or second-growth forest. An old growth forest takes anywhere from two hundred to four hundred years to grow and mature. People say our northern forests are a "renewable resource." That is true, but the fact is that an old growth forest only "renews" after centuries.
Let's let what remains of our old growth forest be kept as a special ecological system. Let those who wish to harvest timber do so from former clear-cut or second growth.
Of course, that is just my opinion.