The Wrangell Museum is close to launching a new website that will provide access to an online catalog of the thousands of items in its collection, particularly items in storage and not on public display.

The new feature will be rolled out in the next month or so, according to Nolan Center Director Jeanie Arnold.

The new system — named CatalogIt — will replace the antiquated platform previously used, making it easier to search the artifacts and photos.

Much of the collection is made up of photographs, papers and other delicate items stored in drawers for their protection, so having a simple way of accessing them digitally without fear of damaging or skipping over them is important.

Once the website is up, anyone will be able to access CatalogIt to view the museum’s collection from anywhere. 

Ronan Rooney, who has brought Wrangell’s history to the masses since 2020 with his podcast and blog “Wrangell History Unlocked,” praised the move to a new online catalog.

“It’s just such a landmark step forward for the museum to have this type of information,” he said. “I think it’s going to really open people’s minds to a lot of Wrangell history and Alaska history, too.”

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The Wrangell JOM Kaasitlaan Dancers will perform three times at Celebration 2026 in Juneau this week.

As Larry Persily reports, The dance group totals close to 60 people of all ages.

Celebration — organized by Sealaska Heritage Institute — is one of the largest cultural events in Alaska. It features traditional song and dance, a juried art show, a toddler regalia review, Indigenous fashion show, Native artists market, food contests and more.

It will run Wednesday through Saturday, June 3rd to the 6th.

Celebration will be livestreamed on Sealaska Heritage’s YouTube channel.

The Wrangell dancers are scheduled to perform at three different sites around downtown Juneau: 2:55 to 3:25 p.m. Thursday, June 4th, at Centennial Hall; 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. Friday, June 5th, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall; and 1:15 to 1:45 p.m. Saturday, June 6th, at the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus.

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The assembly has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, June 9, on two separate requests to lease borough property at the 6-Mile Mill site for a small-scale data center and for a new barge landing and freight yard.

The public hearing will start at 6 p.m.

Greensparc, the California-based company that proposed last summer to build a small data center in Wrangell, ran into significant local opposition. Residents spoke of their concerns about possible noise and whether the draw on the power grid would create shortages during times of peak demand in the community.

“This town is not super-stoked on the data center,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma said at an assembly meeting in April.

The other request on the June 9 assembly agenda to lease borough-owned property is from Alaska Marine Lines, which proposes to build and operate a barge ramp and freight yard at the 6-Mile waterfront.

AML’s privately owned operation would replace the borough-owned barge ramp next to the City Dock downtown. The borough shut down that ramp more than a year ago after an engineer’s inspection discovered corrosion and deformed steel and determined that the almost half-century-old steel ramp was unsafe to use.

AML applied last fall to lease a few acres of borough tidelands at the former mill site for a 120-foot-long ramp and four mooring dolphins at the northern end of the property.

The post Public Hearings on Two, 6-Mile Land Use Proposals appeared first on KSTK.

Wrangell’s Boomchain Loucks was the lone Wolves’ competitor at the Alaska School Activities Association High School Track and Field State Championships this past weekend in Anchorage — and he came away with victories in every race he ran.

He won the 3,200-meter race on Friday in nine minutes and 37.24 seconds. He took first place in Saturday’s 1,600 meters in 4:19.55 and he also won the 800 meters in 1:57.16.

After the meet was over, Loucks was named Division II Outstanding Male Competitor at the 2026 championships.

“In the 3,200, I tried to just stay relaxed and not get too nervous the first six laps,” Loucks said. “When I saw with 600 meters to go that the first and second guy were kind of a little bit tired, I was like, ‘Oh, I have got to break him now.’ I am pretty confident in my conditioning to do that.”

The Wrangell runner has some of the fastest times in the state over the three distances.

“Boomchain’s performance at state was the perfect way to close out an incredible high school career,” said coach Villarma, who was unable to make the trip to the state meet.“Dominating all three events says everything about the athlete he has become.”

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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game put out a call earlier this month, seeking volunteers to help monitor for the small but destructive invasive European green crabs moving into Southeast. The U.S. Forest Service has stepped up to help look at Anan Creek and elsewhere in the Wrangell area.

Forest Service staff set up traps last week at Anan, where the agency maintains a summer crew for the bear-viewing season.

The state agency provided half a dozen crab traps for the Forest Service Wrangell district.

“We’re just trying to help with the monitoring effort,”  said Anna Tollfeldt, a natural resource specialist with the Wrangell Ranger District. “The biggest thing is knowing how to identify them.”

“Despite their name, European green crabs are not always green — they can range from orange, yellow and red to brown or grey,” according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. “The most definitive way to identify them is by counting the five sharp spines behind each eye, and the three rounded bumps directly between the eyes.”

The crabs, which were first discovered in Alaska in 2022 at Annette Island, have spread northward and were discovered last October at a bay north of Cooney Cove on Etolin Island.

“The green crab is considered one of the most invasive species in the marine environment,” according to the federal fisheries service. “It has few predators, aggressively hunts and eats its prey, destroys seagrass and outcompetes local species for food and habitat.”

“It has been documented that green crab devour juvenile king crab as well as juvenile salmon,” the fisheries service says. “They also destroy eelgrass habitat that larval fish use to hide from predators and outcompete Dungeness crabs for food and habitat.”

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The school district is recruiting to fill four open teaching jobs ahead of the upcoming school year, which starts in three months.

The vacancies include two elementary teaching positions and two special education teacher roles. The district is losing special education teachers Ryan Howe and Mikki Angerman, along with first grade teacher Michelle Clark and kindergarten teacher Madison Blackburn.

The four vacancies represent about 20% of the district’s K through 12 teaching staff.

“We’re very optimistic and I believe that we’re going to have some good teachers to fill these spots,” Superintendent Joshua Garrett said.

The post Four Vacancies in School District appeared first on KSTK.

The fundraising kickoff for Wrangell’s Fourth of July royalty ticket sales is set for 6 p.m. Sunday at City Park.

The chamber of commerce, which sponsors the annual ticket sales to raise money for the July 4th fireworks, will serve free hot dogs, snacks and soft drinks at the kickoff event, said chamber executive director Lora Lee Mason.

Kalee Herman, this year’s sole Fourth of July royalty contestant, will start her ticket sales at the kickoff, continuing nonstop through July 2nd.

People should mark their calendar for one big change in this year’s holiday celebration in Wrangell — the fireworks will go off the night of July 4th, instead of July 3rd in recent years.

The holiday celebration and events will run from July 1st through July 4th.

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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game knows that invasive European green crabs are coming, and they would like to know where and when they arrive.

Larry Persily reports that the department is looking for a volunteer in Wrangell to serve as a frontline monitor for the invasive green crab, as state officials remain wary of the destructive species reaching local waters.

“Unfortunately, with no one being in place to look for the green crabs, we can’t know whether or not they’re in Wrangell,” Tammy Davis, the Juneau-based invasive species coordinator for the Department of Fish and Game, told the Sentinel.

“We just can’t know if the green crabs have arrived yet without having someone to monitor for it.”

The crabs, a particularly invasive species known for aggressively displacing native shellfish species and salmon fry and damaging important vegetation, were discovered last October at a bay north of Cooney Cove on Etolin Island, across Clarence Strait from the Blashke Islands.

The crabs were first found in Southeast Alaska in Metlakatla in the summer of 2022. Since then, they’ve been found increasingly farther north.

The volunteer position in Wrangell involves a minimal time commitment, requiring a volunteer monitor to set out five or six traps at low tide at least once a month, Davis said.

Anyone interested in helping or who sees what might be a green crab can call the department’s Invasive Species Hotline 1-877-468-2748.

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The property tax mill levy will remain unchanged this year. That’s the rate that is multiplied against a property’s assessed value to determine the annual tax bill.

It’s the fifth year in a row without a change in the tax rate.

As Larry Persily reports, the assembly voted unanimously on May 12 to set the levy at 9.75 mills, which is $975 per $100,000 in assessed value.

 Property tax revenues, projected at almost $2.43 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1, are the second-largest income for the borough’s general fund. Sales tax revenues, at close to $3.8 million this year, take the top spot.

The assessed value of privately owned residential and commercial land and buildings in Wrangell totals $260 million, about the same as last year. 

Property taxes are due at City Hall by Oct. 15. Unpaid property taxes will accrue interest and penalties.

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Wrangell’s borough assembly unanimously approved changes to the town’s sales tax and business license laws.

The new language updates definitions and penalties for local sales tax, including a 5% penalty for unpaid taxes after one month past the reporting quarter. It also establishes a registry of local businesses through license applications, which are free.

One change met with some pushback. The borough initially proposed sales tax exemptions for churches and nonprofits for “occasional” business lasting less than three days per year. So, sales from most nonprofit auctions, bazaars, and bake sales would be exempt. But nonprofits’ sales that last more than three days in a year would not be exempt.

At the assembly meeting on May 12, resident Joan Sargent spoke against the proposed change.

“Those definitions really, really, really tighten things for essential nonprofits in our community who run on. . .a thin margin. Three days is just not enough for these people, such as KSTK, Salvation Army to make enough money to function,” she said.

Sargent helps run Wrangell’s St. Francis Animal Rescue. She said the shelter doesn’t get discounts on veterinary services, and they pay $400-$800 to treat each new animal.

After the public hearing, Borough Manager Mason Villarma suggested amending the proposed language to exempt all nonprofit fundraisers from the sales tax.

Assembly members didn’t speak about the proposed sales tax changes, but voted to support the amendment and the overall ordinance.

In a related change, the assembly unanimously approved an update to the business license law, requiring all local businesses to maintain a local license.

Villarma said the borough needs an updated registry of local businesses for accountability.

“We’ve had problems in the past of applying sales tax equitably,” he said. “And making sure that one business is remitting and another’s not is a key function of the borough.”

The business license requirement will take effect on July 1, and licenses will be valid for two years. Local businesses can get more information through the borough’s finance office.

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