Royal baby makes first public appearance

Prince William and his wife, Kate, show newborn son outside of London hospital.

Curry never disappoints in the kitchen.

Sunday night, Curry — defending champion in Steve Lopez’s Firehouse Cook-off — threw together an old-school meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy and apple pie.

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The meal and the timing were both exquisite. Just after a dozen firefighters had cleaned their plates, 29 got a call, and well-fed crew members ran for their gear — moving briskly considering what they’d just packed on.

A neighborhood dinner guest, Mark Cohen, glanced around the empty dining room and asked:

“Can I have another piece of chicken?”

Cohen was there with his wife, Lyn, who was being feted for her longtime fundraising on behalf of Station 29, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. Lyn Cohen, whose efforts have helped pay for tools and other equipment in this age of budget slicing and dicing, said she is halfway to raising enough money from neighbors and businesses to cover a long-needed landscaping project at the station.

Speaking of tight budgets, Station 29 collects just $9 daily from each firefighter to pay for the day’s lunch and dinner.

“I think that’s made me a better cook,” said Curry, who has to shop smart and find creative ways to make memorable meals. He once attended a culinary school and considers nice dishes — gourmet-quality Asian braised short ribs, for instance, and rosemary infused polenta — a way of saying thank you to his crew.

Last year, Curry and Cruz Macias, a firefighter based at LAFD Station 87 in Granada Hills, won the qualifying cook-off held at the L.A. Times. The two then faced off on stage at the Paramount lot in the L.A. Times’ Labor Day weekend food festival, The Taste.

With the clock ticking, and celebrity chef Thomas Keller joining Times foodies Jonathan Gold and Russ Parsons as judges — Curry’s veal and shrimp dumplings over pad thai noodles edged out Macias’ chicken mole enchiladas, which featured homemade tortillas and refried beans spiced with chorizo.

This year, both Curry and Macias are signed up to go at it again. But will they make it to the finals? If you work at a fire station anywhere in Southern California, and you think you can take these guys, you’re invited to the preliminary round at Times headquarters in downtown L.A., where last year, Curry used a blowtorch to caramelize the top of his crème brulee.

Last week, in the interest of investigative journalism, I dined not just with Curry, but also at station 87, to see if Macias still has what it takes. Macias used his own rub and barbecue sauce to grill chicken and pork ribs, with sides of baked, bacon-enhanced mac and cheese and homemade cole slaw.

How good was it? Half an hour later, I was still licking my fingers.

“I never went to culinary school, so I just stick to basics,” said Macias, whose favorite recipes are all included in his cookbook “Fireman Favorites,” which is available at Amazon.

For dessert, Macias made cherry dumplings topped with cinnamon, sugar and whipped cream.

“I call them rapid-response turnovers,” said Macias, who cooked his way into last year’s finals with his back-draft chicken sandwiches.

When I asked Macias if his buddies at 87 had a favorite meal, he said:

“Anything anyone else cooks,” other than themselves, “is their favorite meal.”

Macias said he got a call from the Food Network after last year’s competition, asking if he’d be interested in competing if the show “Chopped” stages an L.A. firehouse cook-off. Another highlight, he said, was having Keller — owner of French Laundry in Napa Valley and L.A.’s Bouchon — step in during last year’s finals to help him finish off his mole dinner.

“You got Thomas Keller to be your sous chef,” a friend exclaimed.

Keller gave both Curry and Macias a copy of one of his books and a set of his signature knives.

“I looked it up, and they retail for $700,” said Curry, who doesn’t intend to use his. He likes just having them as a trophy.

The idea for the cook-off began when I visited Station 92 last year in West Los Angeles, where Capt. Craig Nielsen cooked a thank-you dinner for neighbors who had bought equipment for the firehouse. They eat mostly healthy at 92, a citywide trend despite the fried chicken (Curry’s dish is actually pan-sauteed and finished off in the oven) and barbecued ribs I had last week.

I remember 92 firefighter Jared Cooper lecturing me on the merits of brown rice over white rice. He said he watches cooking shows for ideas and makes a healthy chipotle chicken with asparagus and black beans, swiping the recipe from Rachael Ray.

Nielsen, by the way, whom Curry considers one of the best chefs in the LAFD, is planning to compete again this year. And I’ve already heard from Sam Villavicencio of the Ventura County Fire Department and Mauricio Benard of the L.A. County Fire Department, both of whom said they’d be back.

And by the way, where are all the women firefighters? Someone has to put the men in their place before they get too cocky.

If you chase fires for a living, shoot me an e-mail for more details, and we’ll see if you can handle the heat in the kitchen.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

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AZTEC — The city’s wish to create a walk from historic downtown Aztec across the Animas River to the Aztec Ruins National Monument will have to wait after a three-hour discussion of the cost resulted in postponement of the matter Monday night.

It was a classic case of sticker shock.

Mayor Sally Burbridge was wide-eyed as she scanned the pricing proposal for designing the trail project.

“I’m not comfortable with approval tonight,” Burbridge said, “as much as I know we need to have this project go forward.”

Four companies bid on the project. Design work by Russell Planning and Engineering of Durango, Colo., with a bid of more than $200,000, met the city’s criteria and was considered the best of the four.

“The challenges we have would be cost,” said City Manager Joshua Ray. “There are (an) additional five items that don’t have cost attached to them. Their (the engineering firm’s) approach is different from anything I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”

Mayor Pro-tem Jim Crowley also said he was not ready to more forward.

“We need to move forward (on) this,” Crowley said, “but I’m having indigestion with the price tag.”

With plans for construction of the North Pedestrian Bridge set to begin in September, commissioners were pressed to go forward with design plans to connect the bridge to the terminus point of North Main Avenue.

But they balked at a price tag of nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

“We are extremely confident this firm can deliver the design for this project,” Ray said. “I strongly recommend we renegotiate with them. I am confident there can be change. We can go back to the firm and work to renegotiate with them on price.”

Work to the North Main corridor would include a pedestrian-friendly plaza, landscaping, a turn-around loop roadway at the trail head, sidewalks and crosswalks, utilities for any future commercial development and a trail that will connect North Main Avenue to the river.

The project is tentatively slated to begin in the fall after the engineering firm receives public input at a 4 p.m. meeting on August 20 at the Aztec Senior-Community Center, 101 S. Park Ave. The firm would make a presentation to share its design plans for the trail-and-bridge project and field questions and ideas from the public.

“After the public meeting to solicit public feedback for the North Main development, the engineering firm will narrow design plans down to two or three concepts,” said Ed Kotyk, the city’s projects manager. “After that, the city commission will decide on the ultimate concept.”

Commissioners will meet on July 31 to discuss bidding negotiations.

James Fenton covers Aztec and Bloomfield for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4631 and jfenton@daily-times.com. Follow him @fentondt on Twitter.

The restructuring of how the Bear Valley Community Service District operates its main gate has been a topic of discussion for years.

However, coming up with a design that would benefit both the residents and the district has been a challenge.

And the district moved a step closer to acquiring a concept for redesigning its main entrance on Bear Valley Road, after four of its five directors present at its July 11, meeting, unanimously agreed to select and request a proposal from Bakersfield-based Cornerstone Engineering/ Ruettgers and Shuler to provide a conceptual design of what Bear Valley’s main gate may look like in the future.

Selected by the district’s infrastructure committee, Bakersfield-based Cornerstone was the number one choice of the three firms that responded to the district’s request for qualifications, which was sent out on May 20.

Public Works Superintendent Larry Tuma and citizen volunteers Jane Baron and Matt Vovilla reviewed and scored all three proposals the district received, then met with each of the firms, which included engineering giants Quad Kopf and Psomas.

Cornerstone, which was eventually selected for its expertise in civil engineering, will handle a majority of the conceptual design process, while Ruettgers and Shuler will address the traffic specific issues as it relates to the project.

As for the details of the design itself, Tuma said it will include feasibility studies of re-designing the entrance gate and geometrics of the traffic lanes to provide for adequate turn-around and sight distance.

The study will also look into the feasibility of relocating the Brown Lane intersection, as well as focusing on semi-automation of the gate entrance so that it will no longer need to be manned 24-hours a day.

That portion of the study will also include ideas utilizing advanced technologies, including camera-based, transponder-based, or other gate control methods.

Tuma also said that the limits of improvements will be at the east end of the existing two-lane Bear Valley Road, westerly to the west intersection of the frontage road.

“Appropriate transitions will be designed for the easterly and westerly segments of the roadway to tie into the existing roadway geometry,” he said. “The project will consist of studying roadway widening, resurfacing, minor storm drain improvements, gate control modification, street light relocations, relocation of utility poles, right-of-way acquisition, coordination with utility companies and re-design of landscaping/irrigation, and other improvements.”

The next step in the process will be for the district to agree on a price that will Cornerstone to draft up the design and an estimate for construction costs.

After reviewing and selecting a workable design, the district would then go out to bid for the actual construction phase of the project.

As for the financing for the gate improvement — according to board vice president Bill Mason, it will come from the district’s gate tax and as necessary, the district’s general fund.

Other agenda items:

The board also gave its approval to replace the old wooden pickle ball court wall at the tennis courts, with a new fiber type board, as well as installing fencing around the hole seven tee box at Oak Tree County Club.

The new fencing would improve the safety of nearby Four Island Lake residents and guests, who are currently in the line of fire when golf balls driven from the tee box end up in some of the lake’s picnic and fishing areas.

The combined costs of both projects are projected to be around $14,000.

The annual Parade of Homes is underway and Puebloans are flocking to see the new real estate throughout the city.

On Saturday hundreds of people passed through the doors of brand new homes looking to either buy, gather ideas for their own homes or just to check them out.

Cole Proctor, owner of Domega Homes, was busy showing off one of his company’s award-winning houses at 5006 Almondcrest Drive on the South Side.

The home swept up the awards, winning every category in the $250,000 to $300,000 classification. The awards included best kitchen, master suite, interior design, floor plan, landscaping and best overall.

On July 10 evening, a minor landslip left 18 tourists stranded for a whole day on the mountain road leading to the Kakkayam dam site. Local residents shrug it off as a minor inconvenience. For them, any bad publicity would affect their chances to convert Kakkayam — also called ‘Malabar’s Ooty’ — into an eco-tourism haven.

Kakkayam is nestled on the outskirts of the Western Ghats, a UNSECO world heritage site, and is immediate neighbour to the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, a sprawling 7421.5015-hectare abode of wild animals.

“Agriculture is declining. Wild animals like monkeys and elephants destroy our crops. Many of us have sent our children outside the State to study. They will not come back and settle here. Most of us are migrating to Karnataka. Tourism is the only thing that may hold us back, it means money and jobs for us,” says Salomi Thomas, a resident of Kakkayam.

The people are quick to point out how Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had come “all the way” to inaugurate the Rs.5-crore Kakkayam-Peruvannamuzhi tourism project exactly a year ago.

They describe how the project includes landscaping of 14 islands, construction of bungalows, cottages, boating services and even a comfort station-cum-cafeteria.

“As of now, Kakkayam does not boast even one restaurant to have a cup of tea. We need to have so much more infrastructure to attract tourists,” says E.K. Sebastian, a former panchayat member.

Kakkayam has no mechanism to deal with the natural outcomes of increased tourism, such as treatment of garbage, increased risk of fires, and intensive water demand.

But Mr. Sebastian is eager to add that the 225-MW Kuttiyadi hydel powerhouse is an ideal attraction to launch “hydel tourism.” After all, he says, “this is the only power house in Malabar and 95 per cent of the tourists come here to see this”.

The government has promised the residents a lot — Rs.10 lakh for a viewpoint from the panaromic vantage of the Kakkayam dam site; solar-powered boats; Rs.17 lakh for mini buses and trekking vehicles to ferry tourists around; four boat jetties; a children’s park at Peruvannamuzhi; and, lastly, a hanging bridge worth Rs.2.40 crore.

There is also promise of a road project all the way from Estate Mukku to Kakkayam dam site. Residents say work amounting to Rs.2.5 crore is already complete on the road.

When reminded about the landslip, E.T. Thomas, who is a partner in Kakkayam Resorts, a Rs.20-crore private project, is vociferous in his protests.

“The landslip that occurred is deep inside the forests. It is these landslips that have destroyed our rubber and crops. Besides, we have been cultivating this land for the past 60 years. Landslips occur almost every year. It is a common phenomenon. Right now, people have to live, get jobs. Tourism is the only way out of this fix,” Mr. Thomas says, ruing the delay in the government’s plans for Kakkayam.

But critics such as former Forest Minister and the chief architect of the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Benoy Viswom, say what is happening in Kakkayam is plans for “blind tourism.”

“This kind of untrained activity in the name of eco-tourism is only a money-making exercise. It is a pity that some people with a handful of money come up with certain fantastic and funny ideas to misguide the local people and plunder nature. If this goes on, Kakkayam will be no more,” Mr. Viswom told The Hindu on Sunday.

In fact, Kakkayam may bear witness to every fear expressed about “untrained” eco-tourism by the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel set up by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

“Despite ecotourism arising as a concept to promote nature conservation, it is found that the way ecotourism is practised in India, it is being perceived as becoming just another form of mass tourism. Increasingly, the Western Ghats areas are now being occupied by urban individuals / developers with land holdings ranging from 0.5 acres to 1000+ acres. These people are politicians, developers, the common man, corporates, and industrialists,” the Gadgil report says.

“This assurance of the tourism project by the State government without any foresight is pathetic. This is an ecologically sensitive area. This will be the death of Kakkayam,” Mr. Viswom says.

The sound of flowing water floats through the air at the home of Lorelle Demont and Cal Loomis, beckoning visitors into their backyard.

A mature tree towers over the hot tub and dining table, shading them from the afternoon sun. To the west is a greenhouse providing a head start for Helena’s brief growing period. Along the back fence, towering sunflowers undulate in the slight breeze.

Theirs is one of six chosen this year to be on the Secret Garden Tour, which is a fundraiser for the Original Governor’s Mansion Restoration Society. Participants bought tickets for the tour but didn’t learn what gardens were featured until they picked up a map on Sunday.

“This is the 10th year we’ve done this — we did miss one year, so it actually goes back 11 years,” said Sandy Matule, one of the event’s organizers. “The Legislature hasn’t ever funded restoration projects inside the mansion, and there’s always something that needs to be done, so this is a good fundraiser for us.”

Barb Benish and Linda Lindberg have been attending the tours for years. They note that they always come away with new ideas for their own gardens, even if they’re not as sprawling as some of those on the tour.

“We come together as friends every year because both of our mothers were gardeners,” Benish said. “I have a small garden and she doesn’t have much of one, but we love it.”

Stephanie Morrison also isn’t much of a gardener, but she paid homage to the Secret Garden Tour, clad in attire that was a throwback to a more refined, elegant era of formal garden parties — a red dress with white polka dots and bouncy crinoline skirt, topped off with a wide-brimmed hat.

“I’m not a gardener at all, but I love seeing what people do with their spaces. It’s a lot of fun,” Morrison said. “It’s fun to see the artistry existing in all of them, not just in the plants and flowers, but in the landscaping.”

Demont is thrilled to show her garden to the scores of people on the tour. She notes that when they purchased the home in 2006, her goal was to get it listed on the tour. But she had a lot of work to do first.

“When we got here, it was covered in weeds and was kind of a dumping ground,” she said. “We started by the fence, reclaiming the veggie garden to grow tomatoes and whatnot. Now we have spinach, radishes, lettuce, beets and peas.”

They tore out the noxious weeds, like knapweed, thistle and field bindweed, noting that weeding has served as a “no-gym-required workout.” They also “de-rocked” a south-facing spot to create additional gardening space, and used the stones to create borders around the raised beds.

They planted spruce and pear trees, and just last week put some corn in the ground. Today, hummingbirds and butterflies flit around the various food sources and nesting sites. Yarrow, cilantro, dill and parsley wave in the wind.

“I tried to grow brussels sprouts for Cal over there,” Demont says, pointing toward one garden spot. “But the bunnies exploded in the neighborhood this year, and guess what? They really love brussels sprouts.”

She notes that she typically comes out every morning around 5 a.m. when the birds are singing and the day’s heat hasn’t set in yet, to dig in the earth.

“No one is mowing the lawn yet, and it’s nice and peaceful,” she said.

And yet while the property continues to be a work in progress, she suspects that once the tour concludes this year she’ll take a bit of a break.

“It’s a lot of work, but after this is done, I’ll relax and enjoy it,” she said. “I have a date with a book next week.”

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Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com Follow Eve on Twitter @IR_EveByron

When I met my husband Chris, his thumbs were not even the slightest shade of green. He started to show some interest in topics related to gardening as time went on, but his budding interest really blossomed when we bought our home, and a year later bought the lot next door.

The agreement when we purchased the lot next door was that the landscaping there would be his project, with my territory being around the house. Chris spent a lot of time drawing out his plans, and slowly bringing them to life as time and money have allowed.

One of his biggest projects has been four large planting beds. What to plant in these beds has been a subject of debate in the Nelson household.

The area in question is in full sun, and typically a lot of wind. Chris’ ideas on what to plant evolved as his knowledge grew. His first idea included hostas. I vetoed that idea, as full sun and incredible wind would reduce any hosta to a withered mess.

For a while Chris wanted to plant crepe myrtles, a plant way more accustomed to Southern climates than Central Illinois. The crepe myrtle is a small to medium sized tree covered in flowers by midsummer, with attractive exfoliating bark. But typically crepe myrtles are hardy only to Zone 7, with a few listed as Zone 6.

Zone 6 cultivars have a chance of surviving in our Zone 5b climate if planted in a sheltered spot and mulched heavily for the winter. Crepe myrtles overwintered in central Illinois typically die back to the ground each year and so usually never get very large. The lot next door definitely doesn’t qualify as a sheltered spot where a Zone 6 plant could hope to survive the winter. This realization pretty much killed Chris’ plans to plant crepe myrtle.

Some readers will remember that at one time my husband was sold on planting the Ben Franklin tree, Franklinia alatamaha. A summer-flowering tree also with attractive bark and great fall color like the crepe myrtle, it is much better suited to our Zone 5 climate. However, it is a very slow growing tree and we found it difficult to locate a specimen that was much larger than a seedling that didn’t cost a small fortune.

Well Chris finally found “the” tree — the Seven Sons tree, Heptacodium miconioides. It has all the plusses of the crepe myrtle and the Ben Franklin tree — summer flowers and attractive bark, plus nice fall color. It will survive the winter in this area. Plus we found decent size trees for about $50 locally.

Seven Sons tree was first collected in 1907 in China. It was pretty much forgotten until the 1980s, and although it is more widely available now than it used to be, it is still a tree that most people will ask “what is that?” when they see it in the landscape.

The big attraction of this species is the fragrant, creamy white flowers that are borne in clusters of seven in late summer and early autumn, a time when there aren’t a lot of fresh blooms in the landscape. Coupled with showy purple fruit and purple-bronze foliage later in the autumn, it provides quite a show in the landscape.

Through the winter Heptacodium shows off its tan bark which exfoliates to reveal a deep brown inner bark. Spring brings bright new green oval shaped leaves to start the cycle all over again.

Depending on your point of view, the Seven Sons tree is either a small tree or a large shrub. It reaches heights of up to twenty feet and widths of eight to ten feet. It may be grown as a single stem, which looks a lot more treelike, or multi-stemmed, which is a lot more shrublike.

People I know that have Heptacodium in their landscape have recommended keeping it multi-stemmed if deer are a concern. With multiple stems, there is not enough room for a deer to get his antlers close enough to rub on the tree and damage the bark.

One description of the Seven Sons tree touts it as “indestructible.” That is just what this spot in our landscape needs. Our trees have lived up to this reputation in the three years since we planted them. The flowers in late summer are always eye-catching — each year someone passing by has asked about them. Last year, even in the ridiculous heat and drought, they bloomed. We did water them about once a week. I think Chris chose a winner for his landscape design!

Jennifer Schultz Nelson is a unit educator in horticulture for the University of Illinois Extension.

HAINES — The Whale House artifacts, rarely seen masterworks of Northwest Coast Indian art, will be displayed at Klukwan’s Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage Center, village officials recently reported.

Agreement to display the carvings — secured from the Gaanaxteidi clan during meetings in Haines — represents a commitment of major art pieces to the center and a potentially powerful magnet for attracting additional funding and exhibits, said Lani Hotch, director of the nonprofit that is overseeing the project.

“This is monumental,” Hotch said. “I think it will generate a lot more interest in our project, knowing these artifacts are going to be in there.”

Steve Henrikson, senior curator of collections at the Alaska State Museum, said agreement to put the pieces on display is of international significance. “This is like a UNESCO World Heritage decision. To see art of that magnitude in its original setting is such a rare thing.”

‘Michelangelo territory’

The Klukwan carvings — notably four house posts and a mural screen or wall — are thought to be the work of Kadjisdu.axtc of Wrangell, who also did the artwork for the Chief Shakes House in that town. They have been admired by the outside world since the first photographs were taken, more than 100 years ago and became the subject of legal argument reported in depth by the Daily News in a series that ran April 4-9, 1993.

Henrikson described the artifacts as the equivalent of “Alaska’s Parthenon.” “The level of work exhibited by that art, and the sensitivity of it can be appreciated by people who don’t know anything about art or the culture. This is Michelangelo territory. The emotion in those faces just blows people away.”

Whale House caretaker Jones Hotch Jr. said an agreement to display the pieces was forged in Haines on June 2 among 40 members of the clan, who came from other parts of Alaska and the Lower 48.

The group decided to put the art in the proposed center on a loan basis for at least 15 years. The plan is to re-evaluate the arrangement in 14 years or when and if a new clan house is built.

Created during the zenith of Tlingit indigenous art about 200 years ago, the carvings and a feast dish also associated with Kadjisdu.axtc are ranked as treasures by art experts and historians. But they have been kept under wraps for most of the past 50 years.

Museum collectors and art dealers pursued the carvings for nearly a century, and a removal attempt in 1982 got them as far as a Seattle warehouse. The pieces were returned to Klukwan in 1994, following a historic tribal court trial in Klukwan that determined they were Gaanaxteidi clan property.

The clan was to meet soon after the artifacts were returned, but that didn’t happen. In the interim, the Chilkat Indian Village tribal council has been working with local members of the Gaanaxteidi clan for several years to clean and make repairs to the totems and make protective crates for them, Jones Hotch Jr. said.

The decision to loan the pieces to the cultural center didn’t come without debate. A recent groundbreaking for the village museum “raised the ire of some clan members who were opposed to placing the treasures in the center,” Lani Hotch said.

Putting clan property on public display and in a building other than one controlled by the clan are relatively new ideas that run counter to traditional Tlingit practice. Some early suggestions for the village cultural center included separate rooms inside for each clan.

“Some elders learned the old way and still have misgivings about it. They’re remembering the old time. Klukwan life has changed since then,” Lani Hotch said. “We have to adapt with the times and we’re doing the best that we can. Not everybody’s on the same page, but I think people will come around to the idea in time.”

Displaying the Whale House artifacts is appropriate as the Gaanaxteidi clan founded Klukwan and the Whale House was its most prestigious house, Hotch said. “It makes sense to have their pieces be the centerpiece exhibit of the village cultural center.”

‘Force for good’

Historically, Klukwan was home to at least seven clans and more than a dozen longhouses, each affiliated with a clan. People lived communally in houses named after important clan symbols, such as “Frog House,” “Killer Whale Fin House” and “Drum House.” Symbols or crests were carved into the posts and wall screens of longhouses.

Clan houses suffered when cultural changes — including factors like influenza epidemics — drove villagers to build individual family homes, Lani Hotch said. Often, clan-owned crest pieces remained in the vacant clan houses. “When those houses started to fall, the question became, ‘Where do you put these clan trust items?’ “

There are modern clan houses in the village, and house members responsible for them may still choose to keep crest pieces there, she said. “These are going to have to be clan decisions, and it’s hard to get all your clan members together. That’s a part of the difficulty.”

In Tlingit culture, crest pieces — including smaller items like ceremonial hats and rattles — were typically brought out only on special occasions. Pursuit by cash buyers in the 20th century made villagers even more protective of the pieces, driving them further out of sight.

The state museum’s Henrikson said he understands the cultural sensitivity surrounding the objects but believes the time has come to display them.

“This is living history. It gives people a chance to hear about the amazing things people in the village did to protect these artifacts. They found a way with their tribal government to hold on to them. Not every village was able to do that,” Henrikson said. “This material is a powerful force of good in the community. It has the power to change people’s lives.”

A small Frog House blanket and a full-sized Chilkat robe are among items stored elsewhere that will be kept at the center. House posts from Klukwan’s Frog House stored at the state museum in Juneau also were to be kept in a Klukwan center, but those commitments by an earlier generation likely will need to be revisited, Lani Hotch said.

Before 1982, the Whale House pieces were kept in an unoccupied cement building located across the street from the current ANS Hall in Klukwan.

Construction of the center has started, but current funds aren’t sufficient to complete the structure. A legislative grant of $3.5 million to the Chilkat Indian Village is being used to build the shell of the center. The village still needs to raise another $4 million to complete the interior, install exhibits and interior furnishings and do landscaping.

In addition to housing art and artifacts, the center will also serve as a bald eagle observatory and education hub.

“Klukwan is surrounded by the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve,” said Lani Hotch. “The Bald Eagle Council Ground, which gets the highest concentration of eagle is right in the vicinity of Klukwan.” The bald eagle count in the 23,000-acre preserve numbers between 3,500-4,000 in the winter months between November and March.