Haines and Klukwan top stories of 2021

As the year draws to a close, we take a look back at some of the top stories in the Chilkat Valley this year. KHNS’ Corinne Smith has this recap of some of 2021’s top stories.

 

Haines began 2021 taking the first steps on the long road to recovery from the devastation of last December’s storms. The community mourned, and began to take stock of storm damage and worked to repair roads, homes, and livelihoods. The Haines Long Term Recovery Group formed to facilitate assistance and support families with immediate needs, as well as chart the long path ahead. 

The Haines school came back after winter break, mourning the tragic loss of kindergarten teacher Jenae Larson, as well as David Simmons in the landslide.  Some students were displaced from homes during the storms. Everyone was impacted. Haines art teacher Giselle Miller created a paper crane project to foster healing.

“We’re folding paper cranes and going to be hanging them for Jenae outside the kindergarten room and inside and kind of for the kindergarteners as well. But it’s not only to kind of honor her in that way in that space, but also to bring some beauty and some light to that space for the kindergarteners.

Paper cranes are a Japanese tradition. It signifies protection and healing. Students as young as five and up to their late teens are helping.

“Grief, anger. You know, sadness, confusion, all those things… I want the art room to be a safe space where students can feel like they can express those things and bring those things up, and then go from there,” Miller said.

A ray of hope and relief came in mid-January, when the regional health consortium began offering the first COVID vaccines for adults in Haines and Klukwan, thanks to Indian Health Services. In two days, the Haines clinic administered 600 shots, about 40 percent of the Chilkat Valley. 

“It’s adrenaline. ​​We’re so excited!”

And then nurses whisked people into rooms for a briefing and a quick shot. Some wore glitter makeup: COVID fairies, they said.

In February, a Chilkat Valley bear encounter made international news, with headlines like “Haines woman survives outhouse bear.” Shannon Stevens spent the weekend at a remote yurt on Chilkat Lake, and went to use the outhouse.

“Normally, when we are out there in the summer or the fall I’m used to shouting ‘Hey, bear!’ the whole way. It was the dead of winter, so I didn’t think to do that this time,” Stevens said. “I got in there and sat down on the toilet seat, and something just immediately bit me in the butt. I jumped up and screamed.”

She called for her brother Erik Stevens who came running to investigate.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m going to open the lid and look.’ I take the headlamp and I grab the lid of the toilet seat and I lift it up,” Erik Stevens said. “Right at the level of the toilet seat, maybe an inch or two below, is a gigantic bear face looking right back up at me.” 

Luckily she was not seriously injured, and had a good sense of humor – even adopting the name “DJ Bear Bite” when DJ-ing on KHNS.

FEMA approved funding to map the Beach Road landslide, starting the reconnaissance project that is still underway. 

In May, longtime Haines author, columnist and obituary writer for the Chilkat Valley News, Heather Lende was named Alaska Writer Laureate

“I write around the edges of a busy life. And I always have,” Lende said. “Part of the reason I think I was nominated is because I’ve just been writing a long time. Columns and essays and stories and books, of course. And basically, I say, yes, when anybody asks me to write something is sort of how it began. My process, usually, is most productive when I have a deadline. A deadline is a great inspiration for me.”

The first cruise ship arrived in Haines in June, the first in almost two years.

“​​Well 622 days to be exact, since the last cruise ship here. Since September 29th, 2019,” said Haines tourism director Steven Auch. 

The Chilkat Valley was the focus of a 2,400 word article in the British newspaper the Guardian, discussing the risks of Constantine’s proposed mining project upstream of precious Chilkat Valley salmon runs, and freshly ignited the ongoing debate around the mine in the community. 

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Tlingit Park to celebrate the construction of a new Tlingit longhouse pavilion. 

“We wanted to make Tlingit Park more Tlingit. It’s been on our hearts and minds for many many years that we need to have a traditional gathering place and a long house, said Jan Hill, former mayor of Haines, and on the organizing committee for the project, funded by the National Park Service. 

In July, the Chilkat Valley community celebrated the return of the Southeast Alaska State Fair with four days of music, games, local wares, and many beloved traditions.

“I’m going to be climbing the rock wall,” Willow Aull said. “And I hope I can ring the bell because last time I wasn’t able to because I was like three.”

“It’s such a treat, like I feel like we’re back with friends and family, like a big reunion,” her mom, Deborah Aull said. “So I’m very thankful.”

In August, the community saw it’s largest COVID outbreak to date. Cases peaked at over 60, with likely more among community members and visitors from around the region. It prompted widespread testing, masking, and long weeks of canceled activities and hunkering down amid recovery. 

Haines schools persevered, continuing in-person throughout the 2020-2021 school year, and organized to do the same entering the fall term, with masking and testing protocols in place.

“I think we’re a little more prepared this year for the masks and COVID stuff. So a lot of us parents feel a bit more secure with them coming to school and not being so worried. That definitely helps having our staff be so amazing,” said parent Brandi Peters on the first day of school.

In August, the KHNS Haines news team was honored along with Alaska News Nightly team with the prestigious Edward R Murrow Award for the December 2, 2020 newscast. 

The Haines borough hired Annette Kreitzer as borough manager, after an 18 month search, following the assembly firing Debra Schnabel along a contentious 4-3 vote in May 2020.

The community saw significantly less bear encounters than last year, where a record 30 bears were killed outside the hunting season. Wildlife biologists say that was thanks to more natural food sources, and also in large part to community measures to secure attractants like garbage, and setting up electric fences. 

Haines’ commercial fishermen saw a much better salmon season this year, as compared to last year, with a surprise late summer surge of sockeye up the Chilkat Inlet.

The Haines cross country team swept the state championship and was welcomed home by a parade. The high school art class unveiled a mural project at the skatepark. Haines senior Aubrey Cook shared what it was like to display her work publicly. 

“I think it was so cool, I’ve never done any type of piece like this. Especially this big, I’ve never done a piece this big,” Cook said. “If you had come in here before, it was just a bunch of graffiti everywhere, with like inappropriate things, but now its like a really beautiful space. And we all learned that it’s a living, breathing space, which means eventually its gonna get covered up by other peoples’ artwork, but we’re really thankful that we had this opportunity to paint.”

The Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan was faced with the possibility of its school closing after enrollment dropped below 10. The community urged the district to address the underlying issues of low enrollment, and keep the school open. Here’s Klukwan resident Catherine Hotch imploring the Chatham School District to keep the school open.

“The kids are the most important thing here. I grew up with grandparents that told us ‘It’s for the kids, it’s for the kids’ and I grew up hearing that,” Hotch said. 

 

The US border opened to non-essential travel for Canadians for the first time since the pandemic. The Haines community marching band was at the ready to play ‘O Canada,’ welcoming the first car pulling into the visitors center in downtown Haines.

“There it is! Black dodge! Ready? Black dodge! Does it have Yukon plates?” 

Haines was awarded a $20 million federal infrastructure grant to renovate Lutak Dock, capping years of ongoing discussion and concern around the communities’ aging freight and fuel dock. 

The year closed out with a community memorial and dedication event marking one year since the December storms, with a focus on trauma and community healing. There were speeches, prayers, and songs by the Haines Threshold Choir.

“We are all just walking each other home.”

2021 was a tough year, feeling the continuous pressure of the COVID pandemic, the aftermath of the devastating winter storms, and economic pressures. But residents have come together, united against challenges, and celebrating the wins, and always the immense beauty of the Chilkat Valley.