During a wide-reaching dinner meeting Monday, leaders of Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the City and Borough of Sitka discussed the preservation of local clan houses, mitigation of bear-human interactions, and collaboration on affordable housing and communications projects.
As part of the semiannual government-to-government meeting, STA gave estimates of the impact the tribal government makes in Sitka through assistance programs in areas such as child care, food and grocery, housing, utilities, basic needs, scholarships and grants.
Lisa Gassman, chief executive officer, said the tribe’s finance office estimates that STA pumped roughly $4.6 million into Sitka’s economy from January through December of 2024, not including payroll or other operating expenses.
The first item on STA’s agenda Monday concerned an 11-acre parcel in the area of the Indian River subdivision that Baranof Island Housing Authority, STA's housing entity, is seeking to replat into 53 lots for housing development.
Tribal Council members floated the idea of a “joint press release” with the city to promote the proposed Yaw Drive project.
Sitka Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said “the municipality is committed to accessing state lands back up there as well, so I can see how a joint release could work for both entities.”
STA Council member Martha Moses said she doesn’t appreciate comments she's heard in the community about the need for waste management to prevent bear incursions into the project area, since it's still in its concept phase.
Concerns about bear-human conflicts arose throughout the meeting, as bears are out this spring in search of food in trash cans. In late April, a bear in the Indian River Subdivision tore the door off a shed to get to a garbage can, and then tore through a garage door at another location to get to garbage stored inside.
When bears begin breaking down someone’s property, it’s within that resident’s rights to shoot the bear, Eisenbeisz noted. But leaders acknowledged how dangerous that is in populated areas.
Council and Assembly members agreed that proactive steps are needed to solve ongoing bear-human conflicts.
Ideas included selective uses of “bear-proof” trash cans that have proven effective in communities like Kodiak; placing dumpsters in centralized locations where residents could take trash accumulated ahead of “trash day”; or composting food waste, which doesn’t seem to attract bears as much.
Tribal Council and Assembly members also put their heads together on the removal of a collapsed clan house, DaGinaa Hít, The Far Out House of the L’uknax.ádi clan, on Katlian Street.
While the cost of clearing the site is unknown, STA leaders are “committed to pay half the costs” to see the remains of the house removed, Gassman said. The Council is seeking “reassurance from the city that you’re still in support of helping,” she said.
Eisenbeisz said it's “not something that the municipality typically does … but there are code provisions that allow us to allocate costs for houses that we do need to have removed.”
“I think it’s well within the Assembly’s purview to do as such,” Eisenbeisz said.
Council Chair Yeidikook’áa Dionne Brady-Howard said that while the next speaker of DaGinaa Hít has yet to be named, STA has “been in communication with the person who’s likely to be named the speaker” to ensure that clan members are able to prepare for the removal of the house.
Discussions on DaGinaa Hít led to the tribe’s next item of business: review a recent city process concerning the issuance of a demolition permit for Kaxátjaa Hít, the Shattering Herring House of the Kiks.ádi clan.
The nonprofit Katlian Collective has since purchased the house on behalf of Kaxátjaa Hít, and plans to help preserve and restore the house.
Brady-Howard said that as clan members fought the city’s earlier demolition permit for the house they found deficiencies in the permit review process by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.
She said the commission, which “has no real authority … to really do anything” to protect historic or cultural sites, could have improved the situation by “engaging in consultations” with STA in accordance with the memorandum of agreement between the city and the tribe.
She said the city’s lack of a clear appeal process for demolition permits also became problematic.
The situation with Kaxátjaa Hít was “a good reminder” to make sure that “we are all well aware of which properties are either wholly or in part former clan houses,” and to ensure that the two local governments engage in consultation regarding historic and cultural sites, she said.
Next on STA’s agenda was the city Planning Commission’s recent denial of a variance request for a 120-foot communications tower on Nancy Court to boost the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida’s broadband Tidal Network.
However, ahead of the meeting, city leaders and STA agreed not to discuss the issue, as Tidal Network has filed an appeal of the commission’s decision.
Eisenbeisz said “as it has been appealed, the Assembly will be meeting in a quasi-judicial role in order to hear this appeal.”
“So, we really can’t talk about this tonight,” Eisenbeisz said. “That would taint the decision that was made. So I would really appreciate it if we could just pull this item and let the appeal process develop as it does, in order to get to the best outcome.”
STA also touched on its newly formed ad-hoc Tourism Committee, which includes Alana Peterson, Lillian Feldpausch, Rhonda Stiles, Jeff Feldpausch, Camille Ferguson, and Jamey Cagle. The tribe is seeking one more tribal citizen to serve as an at-large committee member.
The tribe gave updates on management of the Redoubt Lake sockeye run, as well as the land surrounding Redoubt that Sealaska Corp. acquired through an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 14 (h)(1)c process.
The U.S. Forest Service has an easement to access the lake and operate a weir at the top of the falls. Regular fertilization of the lake by USFS is uncertain this year given federal funding challenges, STA leaders said.
As STA and Sealaska are preparing to renew a 2013 agreement about lands surrounding the important site, Tribal Council members indicated that nothing would change for Redoubt management “other than Sealaska looping the tribe in as a managing partner.”
As the talks ended, city leaders gave updates on a recent lobbying trip to D.C.; touched on projects between the city and federal entities like the Forest Service and the U.S. Coast Guard; and the outset of the 2025 tourism season.
