Services Set For
Nels H. Lawson
Services for Nels Herbert Lawson will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at the ANB Founders Hall.
The nearly lifelong Sitkan died peacefully at his home on July 8. He was 79.
High PSP Levels
At Starrigavan
Blue mussel samples collected on July 3 at Starrigavan Beach have substantially elevated amounts of paralytic shellfish toxins above the FDA regulatory limit, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Environmental Research Lab has announced.
PSP symptoms include tingling in the lips and fingertips, numbing of arms and legs, nausea, difficulty breathing. Seek immediate medical care or call 9-1-1.
To report PSP cases, contact the Alaska Department of Epidemiology at 907-269-8000, or after hours at 800-478-0084.
Climate Connection:
SEALASKA CORPORATION’S CARBON SEQUESTRATION PLAN WINNER FOR CLIMATE AND SHAREHOLDERS
By Libby Stortz
The Tongass is the nation’s largest national forest at 16.8 million acres and is one of only six relatively intact temperate rainforests globally. It stores more carbon than any other national forest. Scientific studies tell us that preserving the remaining old growth will help limit the impacts of global climate change.
Enter Sealaska and the California Cap and Trade Program. Sealaska manages around 360,000 acres in SE Alaska. Sealaska is setting aside some of thousands of acres of old growth trees, to stay intact for over 100 years. It’s the first carbon bank the State has approved for market.
How it works: Big polluters in California have an allowance to release a pre-planned amount of carbon each year. For each metric ton of carbon, companies can use that allowance or buy carbon offset credits. The credits represent an actual thing – carbon stored in uncut trees belonging to Sealaska. The California Air Resource Board doesn’t allow companies to go over the set cap, even with allowances and carbon offset credits. According to Andrew Mallot, CEO of Sealaska, the income for not cutting trees, is expected to be in the millions of dollars and they have a first buyer. Those Carbon Credits will support Sealaska, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people, communities, culture and homeland. While there’s no utopia or a single solution awaiting us, we can all make changes and compromises that will help us get our carbon footprint down to a liveable size.
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Libby Stortz is a member of Citizens Climate Lobby
Class of 1969
Reunion Listed
The Sitka High School class of 1969 will hold a reunion July 19-21 in Sitka.
A wildlife cruise will be 2-4 p.m. Saturday, July 20. Extras seats are available for any Sitka High alums or community members who would like to participate. The fare for the cruise will be calculated according to the number of individuals who sail, with a maximum fare of $60.
Attendees should be at Crescent dock at 1:30 p.m. To sign up or for more information call Jan Love at 747-5608.
Kaagwaantaan
To Meet Sunday
Sitka Kaagwaantaan will meet 3 p.m. Sunday, July 14, in room 114 at Blatchley Middle School to plan a remembrance/cultural service for clan leader Nels Lawson.
For information call or write robylittlefield@gci.net or 738-4004.
‘First Responders’
Alaska Day Theme
Alaska Day Festival planners will meet 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 16, at Centennial Hall.
“Frontier First Responders” is the added theme this year for Sitka’s mid-October community commemoration of the official transfer of Russian claim in Alaska to the United States which occurred at Sitka on Oct. 18, 1867.
Photos and implements of those who came to the rescue in bygone days are being collected.
The Alaska Day Committee meets each third Tuesday of the month. Persons having comments about festival activities or new volunteers are invited to attend the meetings or contact Chairman Ted Allio at 747-5124 or Vice Chair Steve Dalquist at 752-0750.
Cellists to Perform
Students of the Sitka International Cello Seminar will perform in the lower level of the Mean Queen 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 16.
The performance is free. Donations are being accepted. It is sponsored by the Sitka Music Festival.
RIDE Customers
To Take Survey
The RIDE and Care-A-Van customers are being sought to complete a short survey.
‘‘We are updating the five-year Sitka public transit-human services transportation coordinated plan and we need your feedback,’’ organizers of the survey said.
The short survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/theRIDESurvey2019.
To encourage more participation, one ticket will be drawn to win a $100 gift card and two people will win $50 gift cards from Sea Mart. Participants must live or work in Sitka to qualify, only one survey per person.
Signing the survey is optional; however, to be eligible for one of the gift cards a name and contact information is needed.
The survey must be completed before Monday, Aug. 5.
Moon Landing
Celebration Set
Sitka Public Library will celebrate NASA’s 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic moon landing all day Saturday, July 20, with several events.
The restored Apollo 11 Moonwalk original NASA EVA mission video ‘‘Walking on the Moon’’ will be shown at 10 a.m. The restored video is three hours long and library patrons can watch all or just the sequence of the American Flag planting that runs during the first hour, organizers said.
Ages 9 and older can participate in a Space Walk Program 6:30-8:30 p.m. The program will include an aurora art lesson, activities based on sun signs from a ‘‘Polar Star: A Northern Zodiac’’ by Dale DeArmond and a StarLab visit. The event will be led by 4-H and registration is required to participate.
The program is part of A Universe of Stories summer library series. For information call 747-8708.
GCI, Foundation
Award Scholarships
To 3 Sitka Students
Three Sitka students are among 50 Alaskans from communities across the state who will receive $2,000 apiece in the 2019-2020 academic year through the GCI Scholarship Program in partnership with the Alaska Community Foundation.
Recipients from Sitka are Princess Joei Vidad, Sitka High School; and Tatiana Korthuis and Ulric Q. Aloysius, Mt. Edgecumbe High School.
GCI partnered with the Alaska Community Foundation to help review the more than 500 applications submitted to the scholarship program. ACF will continue to act as the administrator of the scholarship and distribute the awards through their scholarship program.
The program, launched more than 20 years ago and seeded with $100,000 of scholarships in 2019, was developed to help grow Alaska’s next generation of leaders, GCI said in a press release.
Since the program’s inception, GCI has awarded $6 million in scholarship funds to hundreds of Alaska students attending accredited colleges and vocational/trade schools across the country.
Fermentation
Classes on Tap
The science behind fermentation and its benefits to the body will be taught at the upcoming Sitka Kitch classes, ‘‘Preservation/Fermentation 101 and 102 with Kayla Caprice.’’
The 101 class is 6-8:30 p.m. Monday, July 22, and 102 will be 6-8:30 p.m. July 29, at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen at the Sitka Lutheran Church, 224 Lincoln Street.
Classes are part of a new ‘‘Cooking With Kayla Caprice’’ class series this summer, and is a fundraiser for the Sitka Kitch.
“We will be talking about the science behind fermentation and the benefits it has on your body,’’ Caprice said about the first class of the series. ‘‘We will make a classic cabbage ferment to be taken home and ferment and bubble away. We will make a vegan version of kimchi, and some other fermented veggies. We will also go over ways to incorporate these foods into your everyday life.”
In the second class of the series, “We will go back over the information from Preservation/Fermentation 101, about the science of fermentation and bacteria, and gut health. We will talk about local ingredients, foraging, and preserves. We will preserve lemons, and one preserved seafood,” She said.
Other classes in the Cooking With Kayla Caprice series include: Cooking For One/Small-Space Cooking, 10 a.m.-noon Aug. 14; and Cooking With Seaweed, in conjunction with Sitka Mermaid Festival, 6-8:30 p.m. Aug. 26.
The Sitka Kitch has other classes coming up. They include: Seafood Cooking, 6-8:30 p.m. Aug. 13, taught by SEARHC registered dietitian Katie Carroll; Cooking with Wild Mushrooms in early September, taught by UAS Sitka Campus assistant professor of biology Kitty LaBounty and Beak Restaurant owner/chef Renée Jakaitis Trafton.
The registration deadline for the first Cooking With Kayla Caprice cooking class is 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 20. The class costs $40, which is part of the new all-inclusive fee system. Register and pre-pay using credit/debit cards or PayPal on our EventSmart page, http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com (click on class title). The deadline for the second class in the series is July 27.
Those wanting to pre-pay with cash or check can call Claire Sanchez, Chandler O’Connell or Clarice Johnson at Sitka Conservation Society, 747-7509. For more information about the class, contact Jasmine Shaw at 747-9440.
