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Matt Goff: The Micro and The Macro
For 20 years Matt Goff has been adding to his website SitkaNature.org. In that time he has shared many thousands of nature photos he’s taken around Sitka.
Anything in the natural world can catch Matt’s focus – including the weather, rocks and the stunning scenery Sitkans are lucky to experience. He especially loves to photograph the wide variety of life found in Sitka’s marine and terrestrial habitats. He’s taken pictures of more than 2,500 species in the area so far and says he’s “got many more to go!”.
Read MoreHarbor Notes 2022
“What’s on our radar for repair and replacement is Eliason Harbor Electrical,” says Sitka Harbormaster Stan Eliason. “Electrical replacement needs to be done and could take as much as $5 million. It is a serious need, but it’s difficult to say when it’s actually going to happen.”
Eliason is still planning on replacing the Fishermen’s Work Float. “That is a pretty critical piece of infrastructure, to get the fishermen back out there and fishing.” Eliason explains that the work float is a Tier II grant, while Tier I grants get priority.
Read MoreEasterly LLC
Easterly LLC 907-738-9063 Visit Website
Read MoreSheldon Jackson Museum
Sheldon Jackson Museum 907-747-8981 104 College Dr.Sitka, AK 99835 Visit Website
Read MoreAMSEA
AMSEA 907-747-3287 2924 Halibut Point Rd.Sitka, AK 99835 Visit Website
Read MoreBackdoor Cafe
Backdoor Cafe 907-747-8856 104 Barracks St.Sitka, AK 99835
Read MoreIsland Artists Gallery
Island Artists Gallery 907-747-6536 205B Lincoln St.Sitka, AK 99835 Visit Website
Read MoreSheetʼká: A Maritime-Cultural Timeline
Sitka is located on Baranof Island… in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, the largest temperate rain forest in the world… Access to Sitka is by air or water only. While an influx of Russian Traders and American colonists in the 18th and 19th centuries has resulted in a mixed citizenry, the total Tlingit population has now rebounded…
The mission of the Kayaaní Commission is to preserve our spiritual way of life. The religion of the Tlingit was the Earth. The Tlingit are one with the Earth. (We are) here to preserve and protect traditional ways of our ancestral knowledge.
Read MoreTommy Joseph: From Apprentice to Master Carver
The journey from apprentice to master, in any field, may not be a straight one. But as Tlingit master carver Tommy Joseph knows, the road – or the waterway – however winding it is, will surely be an interesting one.
Tommy’s journey started in Ketchikan, Alaska in 1964. That was when the Tlingit carver-to-be was born, as Naal xἁk’w, into the Ch’aak’/Gooch (Eagle/Wolf) moiety of the Kaagwaantaan (Wolf) clan.
Read MoreHarbor Notes 2021
The rebuilding of Crescent Harbor was completed in late 2020, after delays related to Covid-19 and the complexity of restoring electrical power to all the floats. All boats are back in their slips now.
“The boats which did not need electrical were back in place by May of 2020. After that, power was restored to each float, one at a time.” The final returns were in late summer. The project was “a challenge,” pronounces Harbormaster Stan Eliason. “Now we’re done; it’s time to move on.”
Read MoreFisherman’s Quay
Fisherman’s Quay 907-747-8344 475 Katlian StreetSitka, AK 99835 Visit Website
Read MoreWinterSong Soap Co.
WinterSong Soap Co. 907-747-8949 202 Lincoln St.Sitka, AK 99835 Visit Website
Read MoreStories of Seafood Processing: Workers Who Add Value
Some folks get their start in seafood processing at a tender age. Now a policy engagement director for the Sitka Conservation Society, Katie Riley worked in the Packing Room at Sitka Sound Seafoods (SSS) for two summers at age 18.
She started by printing labels that gave the weight, price, etc., to go on 50# boxes of frozen fish heading south – her title was “Labeler.” The second year she became “Labeler & Expediter.”
Read MorePat Kehoe: Fisher-Painter-Guardian-Nurse
Pat Kehoe’s life might sound like a John le Carré book. We met one evening over a pint (after Pat’s cherished tap dance class) to talk about how art and life had evolved.
Trained as both artist and nurse, Pat came to Sitka from Washington in 1980, specifically to go fishing. She’d been working as an RN in a “very intense setting” and needed to do something different. She and a friend put their VW van on the ferry, got to Sitka on July 4th and settled in at Starrigavin campground.
Read MoreHarbor Notes 2020
Crescent Harbor is being re-built – installation of the timber floats is “going really well,” per Sitka Harbormaster Stan Eliason.
Eliason is hoping to get boats back into their stalls as soon as possible. The Harbor Dept. has a time-lapse camera recording the progress of the renovation and reviews the footage once-a-month. This will provide an archivable record of the project.
“The utility portion,” says Eliason, “will be substantially complete by June 12th. That will be the final portion.
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