Cutting through downtown on a summer evening walk a few years ago, I heard giggling from above. Looking up, I spied what appeared to be two teenagers perched in a makeshift treehouse about 15 feet up a big spruce tree between the Senior Village and the health clinic along First Avenue. The couple had built or discovered a nest of…
Resident and arts advocate Carol Tuynman has been talking up James Corner Field Operations’ credentials for months, telling us that the company would have a vision for our waterfront that would inspire us. The landscape design company’s presentation in Haines Wednesday night did not disappoint. Presenter Tatiana Choulika did not come with pictures or drawings of a renovated Portage Cove.…
There’s good news for organizers of fun runs and other recreation events held along state highways. The Haines Borough has agreed to serve as a sponsor of events, in order to fulfill an insurance requirement that has diminished the number of athletic events in town. This new policy promises to encourage more recreational activities here. For years, fun runs were…
To change the course of events, you have to organize and raise a little hell. They don’t teach that in high school civics class, but they should. History’s great men – Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi – were not beloved in their lifetimes. They were pot-stirrers maligned by authorities and resented by the masses for agitating and challenging…
What are our rarest and most valuable resources? Majestic mountain vistas can be found all over the western United States. So can dramatic coastlines. If you know where to look, the world is still teeming with wildlife. Away from big cities, there are tiny towns and corners every bit as tranquil as this place. So what does Haines have that’s…
What makes Haines special? Majestic mountain vistas can be found all over the western United States. So can dramatic coastlines. If you know where to look, the world is still teeming with wildlife. Away from big cities, there are tiny towns and corners every bit as tranquil as this place. So what does Haines have that’s just not…
At a recent Haines Borough committee meeting on tour regulations, operator Sean Gaffney made a statement that some people interpreted as a breakthrough or godsend: He said the borough could eliminate the 1 percent tax for tourism promotion, as far as he cared. If you’re not fond of tourism or you don’t follow local politics closely, you might misconstrue Gaffney’s…
Forty years ago, before there was a Haines tourism department, before there was a 1 percent tax for tourism, before there was even much of a tourism industry, there was an idea that the annual eagle migration to the Chilkat Valley could become a tourist attraction. That potential, in fact, was one of the arguments prompting the State of Alaska…
The Haines 5-Year Economic Development Plan is a good one. Let’s see if we can do anything with it. The Haines Borough has paid for good plans in the past, including a downtown plan. Follow-through is the hard part. That requires commitment and a ton of meetings. People lose interest. The economic plan holds no big surprises. It’s a good…
An apparent breather in the University of Alaska’s plans for a huge timber sale in the Chilkat Valley is an opportunity the Haines Borough shouldn’t pass up. Officials with the university’s land office say they’re taking another six months before moving ahead with a contract to cut up to 150 million board feet of trees here in the next 10…