Author: kfskadmin

Of the one-point-seven million acres of land within the Petersburg ranger district, 200 thousand acres are congressionally-designated wilderness. The forest service manager who oversees that wilderness along with the cabin, trail and recreation programs on the district is Brad Hunter, who has served in Petersburg since 1985.The Alaska region of the forest service recently recognized Hunter for his part in a ten year effort to improve the agency’s stewardship of wilderness at a district, Tongass-wide and national level. Matt Lichtenstein sat down with Brad Hunter to talk about the challenges of wilderness management in Alaska:

A local performance of “The Vagina Monologues” played to a full house over the weekend in Petersburg. The production and accompanying art auction raised over 5 thousand dollars, mainly from ticket receipts. Most of the money will benefit Women's Aid in Violent Emergencies. Wave is a local, a non-profit group dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence in Petersburg. Ten percent of the proceeds will go towards the v-day campaign, an international movement to stop violence against women. The movement was prompted by the monologues, a collection of interviews playwright Eve Ensler collected from hundreds of women. It’s the tenth anniversary of the play which is performed in towns large and small around the world. Matt Lichtenstein stopped by during a Petersburg rehearsal and produced this audio postcard:

The fast pace of this year’s session has prompted concern among legislators. Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are questioning whether too much public process is being sacrificed in order to meet the new 90-day deadline. Supporters of the shorter session say it’s making the process more efficient.

Petersburg’s student-run movie theater celebrated its tenth anniversary on Friday, February 29th. The Northern Nights Theater got its start with a $35,000 state grant in 1997. It has employed over a hundred local high school students over the past decade and has been the town’s only place to watch recent releases on the big screen.

Three women battling cancer in Petersburg this winter are taking advantage of a free service to help them cope with some of the negative effects of their treatment. The "Look Good, Feel Better "program is a worldwide effort aimed at helping cancer patients overcome the visual side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments using make-up, wigs, scarves and a helping hand.