NATIONALLY HONORED – Sitka High School science teacher Stacy Golden, right, listens as Janet Clarke, Sitka Sound Science Center education director, talks about Golden’s work with students and others on a project to re-articulate a humpback whale skeleton, during a school assembly honoring Golden. A line of students and colleagues took turns sharing anecdotes, giving her flowers and congratulating Golden for recently receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka High School science teacher Stacy Golden has be [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Capping off more than a week of traveling across the [ ... ]
By ANNA LAFFREY
Ketchikan Daily News
Three Southeast Alaskans on Monday gave the first ever “Traditi [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The state of Alaska is bringing in less money than it is spending [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s rates of tuberculosis inched up in the past year, cont [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Alaska legislators and Gov. Mike Dunleavy are planning a series o [ ... ]
By CORINNE SMITH
Alaska Beacon
University of Alaska President Pat Pitney focused on the univers [ ... ]
Sitka Police received the following calls as of midnight last night.
February 3
At 4:14 a.m. a caller [ ... ]
SAIL Friendraiser
Event Tonight
Southeast Alaska Independent Living will hold a Friendraiser event 6:3 [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
An SUV was destroyed in an impressive fire in the 1500 block of Halibut Poin [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Competing in two home games Friday and Saturday, Mt. [ ... ]
By ANNA LAFFREY
Ketchikan Daily News
Votes on state fishery regulations came down on Friday and Saturd [ ... ]
By CORINNE SMITH
Alaska Beacon
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy introduced an omnibus education bi [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Seven years ago, heavy tariffs levied by President Donald Trump a [ ... ]
By Mark Gorman
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sitkans Mark Gorman and his wife Nancy Knapp are in Vientiane, Laos, [ ... ]
Sitka Counseling
Recognizes Teens
For Participation
Sitka Counseling recently presented a check to repr [ ... ]
Sitka Police received the following calls as of midnight last night.
January 31
A third party reported [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Jerrick Hope-Lang, director of the local historic pre [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Students and adults testified to a legislative committ [ ... ]
By ANNA LAFFREY
Ketchikan Daily News
Negotiations over state-managed groundfish harvest, including pro [ ... ]
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced Wednesday that she and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) rei [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
In a series of hearings this week within the Alaska State Capitol [ ... ]
By CORINNE SMITH
Alaska Beacon
The University of Alaska administration and the union representi [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Grant to Assess Sitka Landslide Risks
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys announced Tuesday that the agency has received funding for a comprehensive landslide hazard assessment of the Sitka area.
The landslide assessment, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will include landslide mapping and hazard modeling for about 25 square miles of Sitka, said De Anne S.P. Stevens, chief of the engineering geology section for DGGS.
It will cover the entire populated area of Sitka, including all of Harbor Mountain, the main part of Sitka, the Indian River Valley and out to Sawmill Cove, Stevens said.
“We’re hoping to do slope stability and landslide hazard analysis,” she said.
The interest in studying Sitka followed the Aug. 18, 2015, landslides here that killed three people on Kramer Avenue and caused about $1 million in damage, Stevens said.
The study will use the new lidar data set collected earlier this year under a partnership between the National Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and DGGS, a division of the state Department of Natural Resources.
Lidar is a technology in which laser beams are used to measure the elevation of the ground.
“It allows us to generate a 3-D topographic land level map from which we can strip all trees and vegetation and look at what’s going on underneath,” Stevens said. “It’s incredibly useful for analyzing any sort of land surface process. Things like geomorphology ... looking at unstable slopes, old drainage channels. There’s a lot we can see.”
She said following the slides last year, there was a sudden recognition of “how imminent this sort of hazard is to the community.”
“It’s been known for a while that the area is prone to slides,” she said. She noted that soon after the slides, the U.S. Forest Service flew over the area and counted a total of 45 new slides that resulted from that day’s heavy rainfall on Chichagof and Baranof islands.
“This struck close to home – everybody’s hyper-aware we need to understand the hazard, especially in urbanized areas. ... We really need to take it seriously,” she said.
Stevens sent an email Tuesday to the Sitka Geohazards Task Force to inform the group of the news about FEMA funding. The Geohazards Task Force was organized by the Sitka Sound Science Center after the 2015 slides, and included scientists from a number of agencies in Sitka and from outside the community, Stevens said.
“... We at DGGS are eager to work with all of you to ensure the best possible analysis for the benefit of the safety and wellbeing of the community and people of Sitka,” Stevens said in the email.
She said the community has been supportive of learning more about the hazards. In April the Assembly passed a resolution in support of communitywide mapping.
Sitka hired the geotechnical firm Shannon and Wilson to complete a study of the south Kramer slide neighborhood, and asked for a preliminary assessment of the area above Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary, but City Administrator Mark Gorman said it makes more sense at this point to allow the DGGS work to go forward before more studies are done.
“By doing it comprehensively it doesn’t highlight certain neighborhoods, which may disadvantage and impact land values,” he said today. “I think it’s more even-handed to do it all at once. ... It will be easier to accept the fact that there is an inherent risk whether you’re living at sea level or living on a hill. It’s more responsible approach to do a comprehensive look at the community, rather than piecemealing it out.”
Stevens said she is looking at a two-year time line to complete the studies, and the results will be shared with the public as they come out.
Login Form
20 YEARS AGO
February 2005
The Youth Totem Pole Project blessing of the log ceremony will be held at Sitka National Historical Park visitor center. Pacific High youths and carver Tommy Joseph will be introduced and the story and design of the totem pole project will be presented.
50 YEARS AGO
February 1975
Sitka Volunteer Fire Department reports ice on Swan Lake is 7-9 inches deep and safe for skating. However, officials warn skaters to avoid the end of the lake near Lakeside Grocery, since the ice is thinner there.