POW-WA, POWCAC, and the Value of Carpooling

Today I went to my third meeting of the Prince of Wales Watershed Association, or POW-WA.  Organizations having to do with island-wide issues normally move meetings around the island, so this time we met in Hollis, at their new Fire Station.  One of the volunteers gave us a tour, and he told us he had done something this morning he had never done in his 70 odd years, and this was to put tire chains on inside a building, on a solid flat surface, and could even do so with the rollup door down to preserve the heat!  They love their new building!

I carpooled to the meeting with someone who has not only lived on the island for 17 years, she has also been extremely active, serving on or with many organizations, so brought me up to date on recent history of the island.  This was even more valuable than the gas I saved, and she wouldn't even take my money for gas.  

Hollis is about 35 minutes from Klawock and to the east, and the closer we got to Hollis, the worse the road conditions got.This group is just beginning, so our time is spent on forming bylaws, which we almost have finalized, and other preliminary issues.  One today was whether we need a logo, and how we should go about getting one.  All agreed the organization did need one, and we tossed around some ideas on having a contest, etc.

Random Picture Insert:  When we first arrived on the island, we headed for South Thorne Bay, and the log house we thought we would be living in.  We followed the owner 25 minutes down a gravel road, and just before we arrived at this house, we see this car, just off the road.  It was part of the reason we decided against staying at this house.

This is a good group of people, and there is no better way to join a new community than to get volunteer and get involved.  This being my third meeting of this group, I'm finally remembering names and faces.  

Next, as part of the POWCAC meeting, there was a potluck lunch, which was delicious.  POWCAC stand for Prince of Wales Community Action Committee, and as the chair told me, is a poor man's county government.  Alaska doesn't have counties though, it has boroughs.  Because it is so huge in size and has relatively few residents compared to it's size, much of it doesn't fall within a borough, which I think is the strangest thing about government in Alaska.  

Alaska is not divided into counties, as most of the other U.S. states, but it is divided into boroughs. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's 16 boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. However, unlike county-equivalents in the other 49 states, the boroughs do not cover the entire land area of the state. The area not part of any borough is referred to as the Unorganized Borough.  The Unorganized Borough has no government of its own.  Whereas many U.S. states use a three-tiered system of decentralization—state/county/township—most of Alaska uses only two tiers—state/borough. Areas in the Unorganized Borough are administered directly by the state government. Currently 57.71% of Alaska's area has this status, with 13.05% of the population.

 So, POWCAC works on island-wide issues.  One hot topic currently is the exploration of two mines on the southern tip of the island.  There are no roads leading anywhere near these mines, and so all supplies, etc., are barged or boated out of Ketchikan.  If these mines prove out, POW would not be able to capitalize on new jobs to providing supplies.  POWCAC today passed a resolution asking the state government and the Tongass National Forest to work with it to build a new road to service those mines.  POW is suffering greatly from a lack of jobs, which results in people either working somewhere on the mainland during the week and returning for the weekend, or moving off the island altogether.  

The temperature has dropped enough that it's snowing again.  Snow is much better than slush, which is what you get when the temperature warms up and it rains on snow.  The snow turns dirty gray, it melts during the day and freezes overnight, making walking and driving a challenge, so not nearly as fun as snow.