| How can the summer be nearing its end already? It seems just yesterday that we were waiting for the snow to melt so we could plant the garden. But already the potato plants have been frosted, the leaves are turning on the aspen trees and the mountain peaks are turning white. |
| As we are assembling the material for this issue of Wrangell St. Elias News, I couldn't help but be struck by the amount of material about the National Park Service. We were very fortunate to have been granted 15 minutes with the new Director from Washington, Fran Mainella. What a sharp lady, and what an honor. |
| We are happy to report on the Kennicott restoration and stabilization project, a positive thing, but unfortunately, much of the subject matter in this issue is not flattering to the NPS. |
| Two unsolicited Letters to the Editor are pretty strong in their criticism of the agency. One letter was written by the owner of the first business that most people come in contact with when they arrive at the end of the road, the other by one of the largest landowners in the park. |
| The story about trail closures in the Nabesna area is also disturbing, and we think the NPS actions are not in keeping with Ms. Mainella's policy of forming partnerships with the people. |
| We had hoped to welcome Director Mainella with glowing reports of NPS community interaction, but instead were forced to talk about failed community/NPS relations. Sadly, most recent policy decisions seem to favor less access to the park, where a visitor "views the majestic Wrangells from afar," rather than actually setting foot in the park. |
| To make matters worse, the state seems to have run amuck as well. With arguably the most critical year financially for our little community since 1995, in the wake of 9/11, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities decides to help the governor balance the budget by laying off a few grader operators. After closing the Chitina Maintenance Station, which has done an excellent job of keeping our little gravel road at least passable these many years, Northern Region Director Ralph Swarthout decides to spend nearly a quarter million dollars on the Kennicott River Footbridge, of all things. And a fair portion of that money is being used to make the bridge less usable, not more. That this is being done at the prompting of the NPS is no excuse. |
| The good news is that we see more community members pulling together. Many residents are attempting to work out long-standing differences. Church attendance is up. Downtown McCarthy is getting a new lease on life with major renovations and new construction. |
| A new addition to this issue is the inclusion of The Chitina Leader in the place of The McCarthy Weekly News and more recently, The Kennecott Star. Sometime ago, WSEN acquired microfilm of both The McCarthy Weekly News and The Chitina Leader from our state library. Since then we have transcribed news items and formatted them into each issue of the WSEN. The history is rich and we love making them available to you. We decided to pick up on the first issue of The Chitina Leader which was originally published September 10, 1910 and continue with the Leader in future issues of WSEN. |
| WSEN welcomes aboard the following: Neil Hannan, AK; Anchorage Daily News, AK; Ryan Hannan, AK; Bob & Laura McGonigle, NC; Philip & Guylia Bunge, IN; Roger & Tammy Rowland, AK; Rob Arnberger, AK; Mike & Carol Sheehan, AZ; Kevin Smith & Dorothy Adler, AK; Fran Mainella, Wash. DC. |