Missing Child
Dear Editor: After the Running of the Boots while we were watching JKT give a short talk and waiting for Slack Tide to start their first rockin’ tune, my grandson Silas decided he needed to go to the bathroom.
In his mind his Auntie’s house on Observatory was close so he scooted off as fast as he could go on his Skuut bike. He got there safely walked right through a sticky gate and into the front door that everyone assumed was locked. When his mom glanced down to make sure he was still at her side the race was on to find him. When he could not be found anywhere up or down Lincoln Street, three different people went and checked at the house, the thought to be “locked door” led them to believe he was not inside.
After the third person came back empty and it seemed he had vanished, Slack Tide generously offered to announce over the loud speaker calling everyone present into looking for the little barely 3-year-old Silas. Then the police were called and were there in seconds.
Finally, a wonderful neighbor (Ann Betty) walked through the front door (not locked after all) and found Silas playing with his cousin’s toys! First when a child is missing, you say “this is Sitka, we will find him,” each second seems like an hour, then when 20 minutes passes, you are consumed with coldstone fear and terror.
But this is Sitka. Joe Montagna of Slack Tide DID NOT STOP calling for Silas until he was found. Friends and strangers rallied around the family and scoured the area with encouragement and support. The police were on the spot immediately. This is the kind of town we live in. When a child goes missing, everything is stopped and everyone does everything they can do to find them! Because children in Sitka don’t just belong to families, they belong to all of us.
Thank you, Joe and Slack Tide, thank you, friends, both known and unknown, for rushing to our side. The trauma of the event left us sleepless but feeling fortunate that we live here.
Oh, and by the way, many thanks to all the folks who organized and worked so hard to make the Running of the Boots, the wonderful food, the wonderful music, the fantastic sales go so smoothly. It is something we look forward to every year! Gunalcheesh!
Patty Dick and family
Sitka Visit
Dear Editor: We were in Sitka last week, Sept. 5. What a friendly welcome everywhere. Fascinating to see the salmon trying to move up the Indian River. And we loved Sitka National Historical Park.
Priscilla Ahrons, Covington, La.
Wilderness Month
Dear Editor: September is Wilderness month. Over a half century ago, outdoorsmen like Bob Marshall and Aldo Leopold had an idea. They saw public lands like Yellowstone shifting from wild areas into a manipulated menagerie of roads, scenic overlooks, railings, signposts, tourist shops and knick-knack stands. They wanted to protect lands in their wild state, where nature could run its course and where people could experience the American landscape. They composed the Wilderness Act, celebrating its 50th birthday next year providing vehicles to preserve areas for recreation, hunting, gathering, and guiding that were free from the signs and effect of human use. Barring a few exceptions in Alaska, this basically means the ecological function and aesthetics are left unaltered by structures, signs, roads, and motors—no Kodak vantage points, no bus tours, no handrails.
Fortunately a few decades ago folks in Sitka shared Marshall and Leopold’s view, and to guard against the whole-sale cut of the forests around Sitka, they proposed designating a Wilderness area on western Chichagof Island. It took about 40 years, but they succeeded, and we now have two large Wilderness areas near Sitka, West Chicagof-Yakobi Island and South Baranof Wildernesses. We are fortunate because these areas are prime goat, deer, and bear hunting areas, and they contain a huge number of very productive salmon streams.
In a recent letter in the Juneau Empire, Gov. Sean Parnell said that his administration would fight federal designations like Wilderness (both current and future) that would “lock up” extractable resources like timber or minerals, arguing that protecting public lands stifles jobs. However, the Governor overlooked the 990 million dollar tourism industry in Southeast. Undoubtedly, the 10,200 people whose jobs rely on protected areas for tourism—from small-cruise operators, to bear hunting and fishing guides—would disagree with the Governor. In a country where outdoor recreation spending rivals automobiles and gasoline combined ($646B versus $694B), and in a top-rated destination for outdoor-centric tourism, the positive impact economic impact seems likely to continue.
Wilderness is the strictest land designation, but these lands are not wholly protected. As federal agencies’ budgets go to the chopping block, programs supporting tourism and recreation are the first to feel the hatchet. On the Tongass, the Forest Service is projecting a 50 percent cut in recreation budgets over the next 5 years, forcing them to remove cabins, cease trail maintenance, and slow the permitting process for outfitters.
Wilderness is still as salient of an idea now as it was 50 years ago. But unless we call on Congress and the Forest Service to make it a priority, our American legacy of Wilderness may be lost within the next half-century.
Adam Andis,
Sitka Conservation Society
