Fairbanks Democrat David Guttenberg sponsored House bill 240 and spoke during an appearance Monday, August 27, 2018 at Petersburg Rexall Drug. (Joe Viechnicki/KFSK)
On Tuesday, Governor Bill Walker signed into law a bill that will tighten regulations on pharmacy benefit management companies. Those companies are hired by health insurers to negotiate the price of medications between the companies that make the drugs and the businesses that sell them to customers. House Bill 240 had bi-partisan support in the Alaska legislature and support from Alaskan pharmacies. It was opposed by pharmacy benefit management companies, called PBMs, as well as health insurance providers.
The bill was originally scheduled for signing at a Petersburg pharmacy in late August but weather kept the governor from flying in that day. Sponsor and Fairbanks Democrat David Guttenberg highlighted the features of the bill that day.
“And I hope it works the way that it’s supposed to and that we continue to make changes to make the delivery of health care and our pharmaceutical drugs more cost effective and reasonable and the pharmacists can operate in a way they can talk to you,” Guttenberg said during an appearance at Petersburg Rexall Drug.
The bill would prohibit a gage rule in contracts between PBMs and pharmacies. Those prohibit pharmacists from telling customers of a cheaper option for medication if people pay out of pocket. The bill also allows the state to weigh in on disputes over pricing for medication that often left pharmacies taking a loss after reimbursement by the PBMs. The rescheduled signing took place at Ron’s Apothecary Shoppe in Juneau Tuesday morning.
Since the mid-1990s more polar bears have been coming ashore near Kaktovik. And in the last 10 years more and more tourists are coming to see them. (Photo by Jennifer Pemberton/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Polar bears are technically the largest land carnivore on earth. But they’re also marine mammals. And in the last couple of decades the Arctic sea ice has begun to vanish out from under them. So they are spending more time on land.
Nowhere is this more visible than in the tiny Alaska Native village of Kaktovik, on the coast of the Beaufort Sea. And while we hear a lot of alarm about how vulnerable polar bears are to climate change, in Kaktovik, changing ice conditions have created something different: too many bears.
There have always been polar bears around Kaktovik. But they used to be out on the sea ice, hunting their prey of choice: ringed seals.
In the mid-1990s, that started to change. Locals started noticing more bears on shore. And researchers noticed that female bears were making dens more in the snow on land rather than out on the ice.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service biologist started hearing about increasing numbers of polar bears on land from residents as early as the early 2000s,” Jennifer Reed said. Reed works for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which surrounds Kaktovik.
When they started seeing more bears on land — and in town — than ever before, the community asked for help.
So, Reed and other federal wildlife managers came in and started teaching people bear safety — like what to do if a bear came into the village, and how to get it to leave without hurting it.
And then in 2008, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced that polar bears were threatened in the United States. Not because their numbers were declining, but precisely for the reason they were coming ashore in Kaktovik: their world was changing and fast.
Suddenly the whole world was aware of the polar bears’ plight. And that’s when outsiders started showing up in Kaktovik: tourists, who wanted to see polar bears before they went extinct.
“Before 2011, you know, visitor numbers for polar bear viewing in Kaktovik were, gosh, less than 50 annually,” Reed said. “Today we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of visitors many from around the world each year.”
More than 2,000 people came to Kaktovik last year to see polar bears. That’s a major tourism boom for a town this size in a place this remote.
Polar bear tracks on a shallow lagoon of the Beaufort Sea, headed toward Kaktovik. (Photo by Jennifer Pemberton, Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Most of the tourists come in the fall, for a number of reasons. That’s when the sea ice is the farthest away from the shore, forcing the bears toward land. Also that’s when the people of Kaktovik harvest three bowhead whales.
At the edge of town, there’s a huge pile of bones, where the community has been taking their whale remains for decades.
It’s not safe to walk to the edge of town alone any time of year, so I hitch a ride with Bruce Inglangasak, an Inupiaq subsistence hunter who offers wildlife viewing tours, including polar bear tours in the fall.
Inglangasak says he’s seen a lot of changes since he moved to Kaktovik — bigger storms, less sea ice, more polar bears.
The bone pile is at the end of the old airstrip, a narrow strip of land with the frozen Beaufort Sea on both sides. Even in summer, the road is covered in so much snow, we can’t get any closer than maybe a half mile.
There aren’t any bears at the bone pile today, but Inglangasak says he sees bears year round.
“All winter, we see them going east or west,” Inglangasak said. “They migrate along the coastal coastline where the pressure ridges are. That’s where the seals have their dens.”
As summer progresses and turns to fall, the ice will be gone and some bears will be stranded near Kaktovik until the sea freezes again in October or November.
Those stranded bears are a guarantee for tourists. But not everyone is on board with the attraction.
When Inglangasak became a licensed guide, he says 90% of the town was against commercial tourism.
“The community was scared about, you know, activists that was going to try to get us to shut down the whaling — subsistence whaling,” Inglangasak said. “But that’s not true.”
The tourists haven’t stopped whaling, but there are still people in Kaktovik who feel like visitors gawk at their subsistence activities. It’s an invasion of privacy.
Also, late last year Congress opened up part of the Arctic Refuge to allow oil exploration and development on the coastal plain where Kaktovik is located. So, the town is preparing for a potential oil boom. It could be a game-changer for the whole region.
And for some people, that makes polar bear tourism — and the money it brings in — seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the potential of oil.
But that’s months or years away. And right now, there’s plane load after plane load of tourists eager to see Alaska’s most iconic endangered species.
This story is part of the podcast, Midnight Oil: The Big Thaw, from Alaska’s Energy Desk. To hear more, visit the website or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
The Arctic Council’s working group for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) is meeting in Unalaska Sept. 5-7. (Credit CAFF)
This week, Unalaska is hosting an international gathering of scientists, wildlife managers and indigenous leaders — all focused on biodiversity in the circumpolar north.
The group conducts habitat research, tracks native and invasive species, and encourages local engagement in environmental issues across the world’s eight Arctic nations.
Cindi Jacobsen is CAFF’s chair. She works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage.
“We’re halfway through the U.S. chairmanship, so we’re measuring: Have we been doing the types of things we wanted to do and accomplish?” Jacobson said. “And I think we have good indicators that things are going really well.”
Jacobson points to the creation of the Arctic Youth Ambassadors program, which is training young Alaskans to advocate for Arctic issues. She also emphasizes China’s increased interest in cooperation — a CAFF priority, as many Arctic migratory birds spend time there.
Going forward, Jacobson said CAFF wants to continue building partnerships with communities and indigenous organizations around the state. That’s why the group is meeting in Unalaska, following earlier gatherings in Bethel and Fairbanks.
King Cove’s Liza Mack said it’s important that CAFF is spending time in the Aleutian region. She’s the executive director of the Aleut International Association (AIA), created to address environmental and cultural concerns of the Unangan people in Alaska and Russia.
“We are the gateway to the Arctic and the Bering Sea,” Mack said. “That’s where we live. That’s who were. And we’re happy to have the opportunity to bring our expertise to the table, because this is where we’ve lived for thousands of years.”
As a permanent participant on the Arctic Council, Mack said AIA has the right to weigh in on the council’s decisions and negotiations. That means she’ll be at CAFF’s closed-door meetings Sept. 5-7. at the Grand Aleutian Hotel.
Those sessions are not open to the public or news media, but CAFF held a community potluck on Tuesday, Sept. 4. It gave Unalaskans a chance to meet international visitors from Finland, Iceland, Italy, Russia and more.
CAFF chairmanship will transfer from the U.S. to Sweden in spring of 2019.
A community mural in the Chickaloon clinic. (Hillman/Alaska Public Media)
The Solutions Desk looks beyond Alaska’s problems and reports on its solutions – the people and programs working to make Alaska communities stronger. Listen to more solutions journalism stories and conversations, and share your own ideas here.
It’s lunchtime on a Thursday in midsummer in Sutton. In the small community center, at the weekly Elders Lunch people of all ages gather for food and conversation. As the meal winds down, local people make community announcements about upcoming events and soon-to-be-born grandchildren. Kids celebrate their summer camp accomplishments like making a cloud in a jar.
Lisa Wade, the Health, Education, and Social Services Director with the Chickaloon Tribal Council, said in winter, the events are standing room only, every week. But the Elders Lunches in Chickaloon weren’t always such a success. They required lots of collaboration to get going – just like the rest of the services in the community.
Wade said the Chickaloon Tribal Council started the lunches about a decade ago because elders said they wanted places to come together, talk, and tell stories.
“We would all bring food. We used to have a one little burner stove with broken burners over here,” she said, pointing to the small kitchen. “So we would just make something and bring a pot of something. And we’d ask other people to bring a dish. For two years we had people donating food and bringing food here.”
Eventually, the tribe got small grants to provide food and to improve the kitchen. Slowly lunches expanded from a handful of folks to dozens. Now it’s a place for community news and education.
The Elders Lunches are just a small example of how community leaders are leveraging partnerships to strengthen the village of 1,500 people and beyond. Wade says Chickaloon is a relatively small tribe, so they only receive limited funding from the federal government.
“We are masters of figuring out how to spread a dollar a long way,” she said. “It’s like a being from a big family and making a meal, you know, you stretch that meal out. Well, we do that a lot.”
They can’t do everything that larger cities and organizations can. But on the flip side, larger groups have to follow more guidelines and can’t be everywhere. So working in tandem, they can meet people’s needs.
“A lot of the larger entities don’t have the boots on the ground to actually do the local work that needs to be done, and we can do things in a little bit more of a flexible way that actually meets more of the needs I think of the community directly,” she said.
Take, for example, health and wellness. The tribal council can create community events and provide social workers, but they don’t have the technical skills and infrastructure to provide medical care.
So they hired Southcentral Foundation to help run the clinic. But rather than just supplying the community with medical expertise, Southcentral Vice President of Medical Services Doug Eby said his organization works collaboratively with the tribe and with a local advisory board to make sure what they are doing fits local needs.
“We want to follow their lead and partner with them when there’s difficult issues or difficult situations because it’s their community,” he said. “We are a guest in their community.”
Chickaloon isn’t just supporting partnerships for its own benefits, Wade said. They also try to build capacity and support the initiatives of other tribes, like the Knik Tribal Council.
Knik Tribal Council Executive Director Richard Porter said the two tribes, which serve similar areas, partner on nearly everything and try to avoid providing redundant services. Instead of competing against each other for grants, they collaborate.
“Our mission statement has a dimension of us being a Sovereign Nation, but it also says that we’re striving for a healthy community and making sure that happens means with working very closely with our neighbors,” Porter said. “And if your neighbors aren’t healthy then you have a tendency not to be healthy also.”
That doesn’t mean the tribes always agree. Porter said they have very different ideas about topics like energy development. They support each other, but sometimes they just have to agree to disagree. They’re like siblings, he said. Family.
And it’s that feeling of family and support that brings folks like Frances Thiele back to the Chickaloon Elders Lunch week after week — for years.
“The people,” she said. “They’re so wonderful. Friendly, loving atmosphere. Couldn’t go anywhere else and find it.”
As the lunch winds down and the announcements end, an elder pulls out his guitar and invites people to join him.
“So just sit by my side if you love me,” he croons, kids and others jumping in.
Want to hear more Solutions Desk stories? Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or NPR. Help others find the podcast by rating it or marking it “interesting.”
Capt. Michael Duxbury of the Alaska State Trooper’s addresses reporters during a press conference summarizing findings from the latest annual drug report (Photo: Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media, Anchorage)
On Wednesday, the State Troopers put out their most recent data on illegal drugs trafficking through Alaska. The annual drug report suggests the state is dealing with a one-two punch of growing demand amid declining resources for police and substance abuse treatment. AST is pointing to its partnerships with other law enforcement agencies as a strategy for filling in gaps.
At a press conference in Anchorage, Capt. Michael Duxbury summarized the 2017 Drug Report’s key points.
“The problem is getting worse,” Duxbury said of illegal drugs. “There are correlations with the increase in crime, and the lethality of the problem is increasing.”
To either side of the lectern were charts of drug confiscation trends, as well as pictures of heroin and the powerful synthetic opioid Fentanyl. In his nearly three decades with the Troopers, Duxbury says law enforcement is seizing and unprecedented the volume of hard drugs law nowadays. From 2016 to 2017, the amount of heroin intercepted by police doubled. And those seizures represent only a small sample of drugs in the state.
Officials are increasingly using the term “poly-drug use” to describe people regularly consuming multiple mood-altering substances. Though the Walker Administration issued a disaster declaration over the opioid crisis, Duxbury points out there was also a five-fold increase in the amount of methamphetamine seized this last year.
“The opioid in the state of Alaska is the conduit for talking about the poly-drug use problem that we have,” Duxbury said.
The Department of Public Safety is having problems of its own. As of August, 50 of the 389 approved Trooper positions are vacant, more than an eighth. Financial cuts have limited travel to investigate cases, particularly in rural areas. And there are fewer state prosecutors to try cases.
In response, the Troopers have ramped up their collaborations with other federal, state and local partners. That means other law enforcement agencies, but also civilian and private sector entities in places where most drugs enter communities.
“It is happening in the airports, it is happening in the ports that are bringing it to Alaska, and it happens also in the mail,” Duxbury said of how drugs reach the state and move through it.
In spite of expanding problems with hard drugs, AST’s 2017 report notes that alcohol remains the most prevalent substance of abuse contributing to death of Alaskans. State public health officials note that double the number of people died last year from alcohol-related causes as opioids or meth combined.
Renkes is listed on the Interior Department’s website as the director of the Office of Policy Analysis, signaling a new direction for him and for that office.
Renkes was attorney general under then-Gov. Frank Murkowski. He resigned in 2005 after it emerged that he had negotiated a state coal deal that would’ve benefited a company he was invested in. Renkes helped craft a state agreement to sell processed coal to Taiwan, despite owning more than $100,000 of stock in the company with the patent on the technology to process the coal.
An independent investigator later said the investment was insignificant and did not amount to an ethics violation.
In his new position, Renkes leads an office at Interior that deals with Arctic issues, invasive species and what the Trump administration calls “adaptation.” In the previous administration, that program was called “climate change adaptation.”
The previous director of the office was Joel Clement. Clement contends he was removed in retaliation for his work helping Alaska Native villages adapt to climate change.
New Trooper report shows Alaska drug problem worsening
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
AST points to collaboration with partners as its principal means for combating a growing demand with diminished resources for policing.
The company that runs the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is cutting its workforce by 10 percent
Nathaniel Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline is cutting its staff by about ten percent, or roughly 130 jobs.
Ex-Alaska AG leads Interior office with focus on Arctic, ‘adaptation’
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.
Former Alaska AG Gregg Renkes has a new job at the Interior Department, signaling a change of direction for him and the Office of Policy Analysis.
Alaska wary of federal push for marine aquaculture
Jacob Resneck, KTOO – Juneau
The U.S. has a seafood trade deficit. The Trump administration’s answer is to promote aquaculture in federal waters.
August storms prompt North Slope Borough to file disaster declaration
Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks
Emergency Manager Heather Seeman says she’s concerned about the storm season ahead.
International group gathers in Unalaska to talk Arctic biodiversity
Laura Kraegel, KUCB – Unalaska
This week, Unalaska is hosting an international gathering of scientists, wildlife managers and indigenous leaders — all focused on biodiversity in the circumpolar north.
IGU board to press Siemens for details on proposed LNG deal
Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks
The Interior Gas Utility’s board of directors continues to wrestle with a company’s proposal to supply natural gas for Fairbanks, as an alternative to the IGU’s plan to spend 46 million dollars to upgrade an aging LNG plant at Point McKenzie.
New F-35s at Eielson Air Force Base have schools preparing for influx
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
The basing of F-35 fighters at Eielson Air Force Base will increase the number of school age kids in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Eight Alaskans named to national ski team
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
Eight Alaska-based cross country skiers, including two with Fairbanks roots, have been named to the U.S. Ski Team for the first half of the upcoming season.
A man is seeking to keep fresh produce available in Southeast
Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka
The price of food is rising across America, making it tougher than ever to ship food to Southeast. But there’s one business that’s been defying the odds for decades.
Cooke Aquaculture’s Atlantic salmon farm near Bainbridge Island, Washington. (Photo courtesy Washington Department of Natural Resources)
The U.S. has a seafood trade deficit. The Trump administration’s answer is to promote aquaculture in federal waters. That’s alarmed some who see this as a threat to Alaska’s longstanding ban on fish farms.
During a recent stop in Juneau, NOAA Fisheries chief Chris Oliver said that wild seafood harvests alone can’t keep up with rising global demand.
But there’s another way.
“Aquaculture is going to be where the major increases in seafood production occur whether it happens in foreign countries or in United States waters,” Oliver told a room of fishermen, seafood marketing executives and marine scientists.
Aquaculture is a broad term: it’s farming in the sea. That could be shellfish like oysters or seaweed which Alaska permits. But it also includes fish farms — which Alaska does not allow.
The nation’s federal waters are vast. They begin three miles offshore and extend 200 nautical miles. There isn’t any aquaculture in federal waters — yet.
Acting U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Timothy Gallaudet said during a Juneau visit that streamlining regulations and boosting aquaculture production – both part of the Commerce Department’s 2018-2022 strategic plan – could help change that.
“As we look to the ocean to continue to support human society, aquaculture is going to be a growing factor,” Gallaudet said.
Campaign Manager Margaret Henderson said Alaska’s ability to ban offshore fish farms remains a sticking point on Capitol Hill.
“We in no way mean to impede a state’s authority to manage their own waters,” Henderson said in an interview. “But when it comes to managing federal waters outside the state line we think that there’s a balance to be had there, that there’s there’s room for both.”
The state is well aware that its ban on offshore finfish farming is at stake.
“I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to fight pretty hard to maintain the state’s opt-out option and maintain the ability to prohibit finfish farming off of Alaska,” Sam Rabung, chief of Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s aquaculture division, said.
There are two main arguments against finfish farming.
“If you increase supply, prior to increasing demand or without the effort to increase demand, your prices drop,” Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, said.
Decker recalled how in the 1980s, Alaska was the largest salmon producer. That changed, she said, when cheap farmed salmon entered the market.
“The end of the salmon story at this stage is there’s millions more people eating salmon, than they were back in 1980,” Decker said. “But it was a very painful adjustment period.”
“The flooding of farmed salmon in the 1990s created so much hurt and pain for my family and Alaska salmon fishermen throughout the state from Bristol Bay right here to Juneau,” Wilson said.
Gallaudet said offshore fish farms wouldn’t be imposed on Alaska.
But in his pitch for aquaculture he alluded to the elephant in the room: climate change.
“Some of the changes in the environment are affecting fish stocks,” Gallaudet said. “They are either moving or they’re not thriving and so this aquaculture, done the right way and scientifically based, provides a means for employment of fishermen who are losing some of their gain through these changing conditions.”
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s office said he supports Alaska’s right to opt out.
“He will not support any legislation that endangers our world class fisheries or negatively impacts Alaska’s robust seafood industry,” Sullivan’s spokesman Mike Anderson wrote in a statement. “Further, any federal legislation he would support must respect Alaska’s current prohibition.”
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski hasn’t taken a position.
Utqiaġvik’s gabion basket wall, pictured here in July 2018 with visible damage from a September 2017 storm. The wall was much more severely compromised by the three storms that took place in August 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
It’s the start of storm season on the North Slope, and already, several August storms in Utqiaġvik have prompted the North Slope Borough to file a disaster emergency declaration.
Three weather events damaged a number of community protections, most significantly a 200-foot seawall that had already been compromised by a storm last September.
“The outer surface of the wall is gone, the back-fill that it held behind it has slumped and fallen into the water,” Bob Shears of the Borough’s Capital Improvement department said. “What’s really noticeable is that the beach in front of the wall is gone this year; it existed last year.”
The Borough had already been working with the state and federal governments to repair the wall after the 2017 storm, for which they received a Federal Disaster Declaration. The repairs had not yet been made when the August storms hit.
Shears says they’re hoping that the new damage to the wall will be covered under that previous declaration.
Last Friday’s declaration gives the Borough access to 22,000 sandbags from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to temporarily protect the area behind the seawall.
Emergency Manager Heather Seeman says she’s concerned about the storm season ahead.
“I am worried very much about the upcoming months given the amount of sea ice that is present at this time, given the location of the sea ice and the lack of protection that our coastline has,” Seeman said.
Declining sea ice has made the Utqiaġvik coastline more vulnerable to erosion due to storm damage.
Badger Road Elementary School (Photo by Robyne, KUAC – Fairbanks)
The basing of F-35 fighters at Eielson Air Force Base will increase the number of school-age kids in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
A federally-funded borough growth plan projects a six percent increase over the next decade. That equates to adding 1,900 students to an existing baseline of 30,000 kids through 2030. Consultant Shelly Beck shared education aspects of the plan with the school board at a meeting Tuesday night. Beck says most of the additional students will be elementary age.
”That’s not surprising as we have a lot of young families that come as part of our active duty personnel,” Beck said.
Beck says the new students can be accommodated if spread out district-wide, but most will go to North Pole area schools.
”So we see, with the elementary schools and with the middle schools that we’re starting to reach a place where, potentially, we would not have the capacity to take on these new 17-and-under school-age kids,” Beck said.
Beck says projections indicate there will only be enough revenue to cover the cost of additional students until 2025.
”You have an increased number of school-aged children, who do not pay taxes, that are a percentage of your total population,” Beck said.
The school board has scheduled an October work session to thoroughly go over the Eielson growth plan which also includes strategies for addressing challenges and opportunities presented by the F-35 basing.
Chelan Produce Co. has been in business since 1978, when owner Dave Kensinger got stuck with a truckload of apples in Seattle and hopped the ferry to sell in Juneau. Customers around Southast have been loyal ever since. He and his wife Mona Christian now sell exclusively in Sitka and Petersburg on alternating weekends. Martha Pearson shops at Chelan’s mid-July market, a peak time for berries, apricots, peaches and plums. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
For the past 40 years, Dave Kensinger and his wife Mona Christian have been running Chelan Produce Co., bringing fruits and vegetables to Petersburg and Sitka on alternating weekends in summertime. It all began with an apple.
Kensinger was in Seattle in the mid-1970s. His friends were growing organic apples and he was selling. One day, he got stuck with a truckload from Chelan, Washington that wouldn’t sell. They were coated in Diatomaceous earth, which appeared suspect to customers used to waxy fruit. Luckily at the time, the Alaska Marine Highway Service left from downtown Seattle.
“So I put my truck on the ferry and went to Juneau and started selling apples. And that’s how I started doing it,” Kensinger said.
Dave Kensinger speaks with employee Fabio Domenig. His market is assisted by multiple volunteers; he estimates he’s worked with over 1000 people in the last 40 years. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
Forty years later, Chelan is a household name in Southeast, bringing honey mangoes from Mexico and cherries fresh from Rainier. Kensinger named the business after those fated apples. He’s like a traveling salesman for the senses, building pallets and picking produce he knows customers will like. I visited the market on a bright day in July and Kensinger piled my hand with fruit samples: cherries, peaches and his favorite – honey mangoes. His favorite apple? Jazz.
Some of his customers have been sampling since the beginning, like the Fleming family. Tori Fleming’s first memory of the fruit man was when a watermelon rolled out of the back of her family truck.
“The watermelon rolled out of the back of the truck and splattered all over Sawmill Creek Road in front of all my friends. I was mortified. There was Dave flagging us back to come back and he gave us another watermelon. Since then, my family has been great friends with Dave,” Fleming said.
Keeping prices low is a difficult enterprise in a world where farms are shrinking, shipping is more expensive, and state ferry system has been significantly reduced. Now, Kensinger ships exclusively with Alaska Marine Lines. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
Kensinger does all he can to keep prices low, but the supply side of his business is changing. Chelan had to stop selling in Wrangell, Kake and Angoon when ferry service diminished. They now rely exclusively on Alaska Marine Lines, transporting the produce from Seattle to Sitka.
“[Sitka gets] two barges a week owned by the same company. That brings everything up here that we use. That’s the biggest change that’s happened. There’s not a lot of options. For years, there was five different barge companies in Southeast, Alaska. You could get in and out of any community with the ferries in two days,” Kensinger said.
There’s other changes too. Growers are fewer and smaller scale in America and the national immigration crackdown has made labor difficult to find. All these costs, driven by global and national forces, hit the Sitka customer squarely in the pocketbook.
“Costs are going up. Ultimately, anybody that’s in business, they have to pass the costs onto the consumers. So whether that’s me, Chelan Produce, or your local grocery stores, they have no option but to pass these costs on because they won’t be able to stay in business,” Kensinger said.
Rising transportation costs have hit Southeast customers especially. Take, for example, an ear of corn.
“Just to get an ear of corn from Seattle up to here costs 45 cents now. So that’s why you don’t rarely see corn [at ten cobs] for $1 anymore.”
Kensinger is candid in saying that volunteers have made all the difference these past four decades.
“I’ve probably had over 1000 different people work for me over the years. You know somebody or somebody knows somebody that’s worked with Chelan at some point in time,” Kensinger said with a chuckle.
Kensinger and Christian are approaching retirement age. They’re not sure how much longer they can keep doing what they’re doing, but plan to stay in Southeast. But for now, the popular Sitka question, “Is it a Chelan weekend?” can be answered with a yes.
The Taku River is one of the transboundary salmon rivers covered by the Pacific Salmon Treaty. (Photo courtesy Rivers Without Borders)
Diplomats are reviewing a Pacific salmon treaty deal. Negotiators from Canada and the United States reached the tentative deal over Pacific salmon almost two weeks ago.
“The proposed amendments to the treaty – and there are a number of them – have been transmitted to the capitals: Ottawa and Washington D.C. for review and consideration by the national governments,” said John Field, executive secretary of the Pacific Salmon Commission in Vancouver, British Columbia.
That was on August 24. But the 10-year annex of the Pacific Salmon Treaty isn’t official until it’s signed by both countries.
The treaty has governed salmon catches, research and enhancement in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia since 1985. It’s renegotiated every 10 years.
No details have been released on this latest agreement which would last until 2029.
“The salmon treaty has a long history with these two countries,” Field said by phone on Thursday. “It’s in their mutual interest to have the treaty to enter into force and I’m confident that both countries are doing everything they can to have them enter into force on time.”
In Southeast Alaska, the agreement impacts primarily chinook, sockeye and coho fisheries. It’s expected to contain provisions on how to conserve chinook which have seen dramatic declines.
Jamie Grubb works as a bear monitor for Alaska State Parks. (Photo by Abbey Collins, KHNS – Haines)
Like much of Alaska, the mountains and woods around Haines are home to many bears. For the most part, people try to avoid them. But there’s one spot where people seek them out. Bears fishing in Chilkoot River draw spectators throughout the summer and create a big safety concern. There are several people working to keep the convergence of the animals, fish and humans controlled and safe. One of them is Jamie Grubb, who works through the summer as a bear monitor for Alaska State Parks as an Alaska Conservation Corps employee.
Grubb steps out of her white and green Alaska State Parks truck around 6:30 a.m. and almost immediately spots a bear in the river.
It’s a chilly morning. The river and the road beside it are still in the shade. Grubb sips hot coffee to keep herself warm.
“What I do is I protect the bears from the people,” Grubb said. “I’m supposed to protect the people from the bears but really the bears need protection from the people because they get way too close. People get extremely close to the bears.”
This early in the morning, it’s still pretty quiet on the often busy corridor. Few humans, that is. But around a dozen coastal brown bears come and go, looking for fishy breakfast.
Later in the day, it can get really crowded with visitors and congested with their vehicles.
Visitors are kept behind a white line, while a bear moves from the river to the woods. (Photo by Abbey Collins, KHNS – Haines)
The bears frequent the weir, a tool used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to count fish returning to the river. Fish and Game provides support for bear monitoring as well.
“It’s much easier for the bears to pin the fish up against the weir than it is to chase them upstream and fight the current also,” Grubb said.
Grubb stands in the road on one side of the weir and communicates with a Chilkoot Bear Foundation board member on the other side by handheld radio. She hears that a bear named Speedy is coming down the road.
Speedy is a Chilkoot River regular. She and her three cubs parade confidently past cars, RVs and photographers.
“I love how this bear just owns the road,” Grubb said. “She just owns everything.”
Grubb is making sure cars don’t pass through the section of road in front of the weir while bears are in or approaching the corridor.
Even when there aren’t bears in the road, Grubb often stops and talks to drivers before they pass through the area.
“I try to talk to everybody before anything happens,” Grubb said. “I try to inform them of this is what’s happening, we have a lot of bears.”
That includes tour buses, shutting guests along the corridor and out to Chilkoot Lake.
“They’re on a schedule,” Grubb said. “So I try to get them through as quickly as possible. But they all seem to be sure respectful and if I ask them to wait then they understand. They’re all really good. They tour guides, they’re more help than anything actually.”
Grubb has had this job for two summers, and she says she’s never seen a dangerous situation arise between bears and human visitors. But, she says those could come up without this kind of control out there.
Grubb is very comfortable in the presence of bears. She says it’s important to understand their behavior.
“I tell people all the time, ‘we’re not a food source for them, we’re just more like mosquitos.’ We’re in their way. We’re just an irritant,” Grubb said.
Grubb points to the around 20 years experience she has working with horses.
Signs ask visitors to respect establish boundaries. (Photo by Abbey Collins, KHNS – Haines)
“I think that’s the biggest part of it, is it’s a large animal, and you have to be able to read the animal correctly, and their behavior, and know what is right and what is wrong,” Grubb said.
Grubb says it’s important to move out of the animal’s way and give them plenty of space, especially sows with cubs. Near the Chilkoot weir, visitors are instructed to stay behind a designated line.
“I have photographers that come and they hide in the bushes in camouflage and they scare me,” Grubb said. “And I’m like, if you scare me, you’re going to scare a sow with cubs and then it’s going to be all over for you.”
Grubb pays close attention to the bears, scanning the road and the river, monitoring their behavior.
“Oh, here comes that little girl again,” Grubb said, referring to a single bear that’s been making attempts to fish, but getting scared away by a sow. “Honey, she’s still fishing. You’re not going to be able to get there. But see she knows there’s fish there, so she’s going to keep trying. Poor thing. Cute little thing though, huh?”
Grubb talks to the bears as they come and go, and remembers her first interaction with Speedy’s cubs.
“Of course, I was like ‘Hey, Speedy, how ya doin?’ As she was walking by I went ‘Oh! You have a cub. You have two, you have three,’” Grubb recalled. “And all three of them stood up and …they made this really weird noise that I’d never heard before and I was like ‘Hey, dudes! Get to know me, you’re going to see me all summer.’”
There are a lot more bears around this year, compared to last, says Grubb.
“Last year there wasn’t as many bears around, because there was so much fish. This year, there’s 25 bears,” Grubb said.
The Upper Lynn Canal saw a strong return of sockeye this summer. But, right now Southeast Alaska is experiencing a very low pink salmon run.
The Haines Borough is closely monitoring the congestion that comes with tourism season at Chilkoot River. Earlier this year, the Haines Assembly placed a moratorium on new tours looking to visit Chilkoot.
And recently, Fish and Game installed an electric fence on the weir, in an effort to protect the employee counting fish.
As for the day-to-day operations, Grubb says keeping bears and humans safe is a “family effort,” with many different people and groups contributing.
From the Crime in Alaska Supplemental Report on felony level sex offenses (Alaska Department of Public Safety)
Western Alaska has had the highest reported rate of felony level sex offenses in the state for the past three years, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
The recently released 2017 Felony Level Sex Offence Supplemental Report compiles law enforcement data from around Alaska. It aims to provide a clearer picture of sexual violence. This is the third year the state has published its findings.
The western region includes Bristol Bay and is comprised coastal areas from the Aleutian Islands to the Northwest Arctic Borough. The department’s data shows the rate of reported felony sex offenses in these areas is more than twice the statewide rate.
The most common victim age in Western Alaska was 13, two years younger than most common victim statewide. In 259 of the 321 offenses reported in the region, the victims were Alaska Native.
While the report presents statistics, it does not provide explanations for the patterns it describes.
“I think that the report exists to help folks sort of understand what the reality is on the ground for folks in many of these areas, but it doesn’t answer the questions of why their rates are what they are,” DPS communications director Jonathan Taylor explained. “This perhaps serves as a starting point to start conversations and investigation and research into why these rates are what they are in different areas of the state.”
(Alaska Department of Public Safety)
Across Alaska, the department found that the number of incidents decreased by 4 percent over the last year. However, the number of victims increased by more than a quarter. More detailed reporting by law enforcement agencies could contribute to the apparent increase in victims. Taylor said agencies that in previous years only submitted the number of incidents reported may now be specifying how many victims were involved in each case.
Most incidents reported across the state occurred in a home and most did not involve a weapon. In more than 97 percent of cases the victim knew the suspect.
If you or a person you know is a victim of sexual violence, help is available. If you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1. In Bristol Bay, SAFE provides shelter and advocacy for victims of sexual and domestic violence. You can contact them at 907-842-2320 or 1-800-478-2316. To report child abuse, contact the Office of Children’s Services at 1-800-478-4444.
These two photos shows how a Dunleavy for Alaska sign blocks a stop sign, seen in the photo below. (Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
A lawsuit challenging the state ban on outdoor advertising along highways is making its way through the courts. While that’s happening, small, temporary political signs could remain on private property.
The state has suggested the court allow it to continue the ban on billboards along public roads. But the state also told Superior Court Judge Herman Walker Jr. that it would agree to limiting some enforcement while he hears the lawsuit. Judge Walker hasn’t ordered any changes yet.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and the group Dunleavy for Alaska sued to stop enforcement of the law.
Department of Law spokeswoman Cori Mills said the lawsuit shouldn’t stop the state from continue to enforce the 69-year-old ban on highway billboards. Voters reaffirmed the ban in a 1998 ballot measure.
“It’s the state’s position that in order to uphold the intent of voters to not have billboards on Alaska’s highways, that we should really deal with the focus of this lawsuit and this election season, which is the small, temporary political campaign signs that people tend to put on their private property,” Mills said.
The state suggested that it continue to allow signs that are smaller than 4 feet by 8 feet. It would continue to enforce the ban on signs that affect public safety. That includes signs that block stop signs.
The state also said in court filings that Eric Seibels wasn’t affected by the state enforcement. He’s a Palmer resident who joined the ACLU and Dunleavy for Alaska in the lawsuit. He has a Mike Dunleavy for governor sign on his property, but his property isn’t along a road subject to the state ban.
State says it would allow small, temporary political signs on private property
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
The state told Superior Court Judge Herman Walker Jr. that it would agree to limiting some enforcement while he hears the lawsuit.
Candidates for governor differ on how to pay for government, PFDs
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
The three major candidates vying to become Alaska’s next governor debated permanent fund dividends and other issues in Juneau today.
US and Canadian negotiators reach tentative deal over Pacific salmon
Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska – Juneau
U.S. and Canadian delegations reached a tentative deal over Pacific salmon last month. But the treaty’s 10-year annex still needs to be signed by both countries.
Alaska volcano restless again
Associated Press
One of Alaska’s largest and most active volcanoes is restless again, prompting scientists to issue an aviation advisory.
Western Alaska still has state’s highest rate of reported felony sex crimes
Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham
More than twice as many felony sex offenses are reported per capita in Western Alaska than in the rest of the state, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
Walker administration looks for panelists to discuss controversial Roadless Rule
Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau
The governor’s office is requesting applications from Alaska Native regional corporations and tribes, local governments, environmental groups, and interests from tourism, mining, energy, timber and fishing.
Donlin receives permits to destroy two creeks to build mine
Teresa Cotsirilos, KYUK – Bethel
Donlin Gold would need to destroy two creeks in order to build its proposed gold mine… and now, it has the permits to do it.
Southeast sport fishing lodge owner appointed to IPHC
Aaron Bolton, KBBI – Homer
An Alaskan from the sport fishing industry has been appointed to the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Richard Yamada was appointed to the commission along with Robert Alverson of Seattle, who currently serves as one of the U.S.’s three commissioners.
Keeping bears and people separate at Haines’ Chilkoot River
Abbey Collins, KHNS – Haines
Like much of Alaska, the mountains and woods around Haines are home to many bears. For the most part, people try to avoid them. But there’s one spot where people seek them out.
Controversial Greens Creek Mine film now online
Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska – Juneau
A controversial film about a metals mine in Southeast Alaska has been posted online after months of touring film festivals and a threat of legal action by the mining company.
How to pay for state government – as well as for permanent fund dividends – was a point of big division for the candidates at the Juneau Chamber of Commerce forum. Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, asked Republican former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy about $1.1 billion in budget cuts he said he would make in January 2017.
Walker noted that Dunleavy declined to say he would cut specific departments during a recent KTVA-hosted debate.
“Nearly every department, you said no,” Walker said. “So, could you tell us today where’s that $1.1 billion cut you’ve been talking about so much? It fits on a bumper sticker, but I’m not sure where it comes from.”
Dunleavy isn’t proposing the same cut this year. He said the state must develop its natural resources more to generate revenue.
Dunleavy asked Walker if he would handle his veto of dividends two years ago differently today.
“Cutting that PFD in half, causing a number of small businesses to fail, as well as individuals having to really take a look at their finances and reconfigure how they were going to manage through that process — knowing this, would you do anything different?” Dunleavy asked.
Walker said he doesn’t look back, but that the veto allowed the permanent fund to grow and keep dividends secure in the future.
Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich questioned Dunleavy’s plan for paying out PFDs. Dunleavy supports the traditional formula for dividends, which would raise their cost by $840 million this year. Begich said this will lead to unsustainable draws on permanent fund earnings.
“When you lay out your numbers, at some point something’s gonna give,” Begich said. “And what will give is the earnings reserve, and at some point, it will be to zero. Which means, your plan does not have a long term. It’s a short term. I get it, I see what you’re saying, but the long-term plan, for the next generation is: There will be no money to help service not only the government, but also, there will be no dividend.”
Begich’s dividend plan would cost roughly $300 million more than the state will spend on PFDs this year.
Begich said he has a track record at the federal and local level of working with politicians who disagree.
“You know, if you have to work with (U.S. Senators) Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz and everyone in between, working here in Juneau is not that hard, I’m going to tell you that,” Begich said. “And if you’ve been an assembly member, and you’ve survived that, everything is a piece of cake.”
Walker defended his record, noting that the projected gap between what the state spends and what it raises has fallen from $3.7 billion dollars to $700 million.
“I refer to it as, the fiscal house was on fire. And it was on fire. And Lt. Gov. Mallott and I ran to it,” said Walker, who later added: “Lt. Gov. Mallott and I know that the fire’s put out, because these two folks want to move into the house that now we put the fire out of.”
Dunleavy said he would look to lower the limit on how much the state government can spend.
“We have to revisit that appropriation limit,” Dunleavy said. “We have to look at a way to cap the size and growth of this operating budget. If we don’t do that, there is no fiscal plan, there is no amount of PFD that can keep up with it.”
The candidates addressed some issues of particular interest to Southeast Alaska. They all said the capital will remain in Juneau.
Dunleavy said he supports extending the road north from Juneau. Walker said the proposal is flawed because it wouldn’t connect with other roads, and that addressing the remaining budget shortfall is a bigger priority. Begich said he wouldn’t restart the road project, adding that there should be a statewide approach to building roads and other projects.
The candidates varied widely in their assessments of President Donald Trump. On a scale of 0 to 10, Begich graded him as a “4 minus,” which he revised to a “2” after the debate. Dunleavy gave Trump an “8.” And Walker gave him a “5.”
Gubernatorial candidates Mike Dunleavy, Bill Walker and Mark Begich introduce themselves at a Juneau Chamber of Commerce forum on Thursday in Juneau. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Remains of a Tongass clear-cut and logging road north of Ketchikan. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska)
Governor Bill Walker’s administration is looking for Alaskans to serve on an advisory committee that will shape the future of the Tongass National Forest.
In August, the U.S. Forest Service announced it would be considering building new roads in the wilder parts of the Tongass. This is different from the federal legislation most states have to follow.
The committee will discuss which areas in the Tongass could have new roads. Alaska’s congressional delegation has said having enough access to timber and mining opportunities is a priority.
The governor’s office says it’s seeking applications for a “diverse” panel of up to 13 people, including Alaska Native regional corporations and tribes, local governments and environmental groups as well as interests from tourism, mining, energy, timber and fishing.
Meredith Trainor, from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, says her organization is still deciding whether they’ll apply.
“Of course, I think any environmental group that’s paying attention to these issues is going consider putting their hat in the ring to be able to be at the table,” Trainor said.
Trainor is skeptical the governor’s office will be able to select a balanced committee to oversee the future of road building in the Tongass, since it was the state that asked for an Alaska Roadless Rule exemption in the first place.
But a spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Forestry says the agency is committed to bringing a broad range of objective people together.
It’s expected the group will be appointed in the next two weeks.
An Alaskan from the sport fishing industry has been appointed to the International Pacific Halibut Commission or IPHC. Richard Yamada was appointed to the commission along with Robert Alverson of Seattle, who currently serves as one of the U.S.’s three commissioners.
Yamada owns Shelter Lodge just about five miles outside of Juneau. He’s been involved in the charter fishing industry for 37 years and currently serves on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Juneau-Douglas Advisory Committee. He also serves on the national Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee.
“We get together several times a year and we make recommendations about anything dealing with marine life to the Secretary of Commerce,” Yamada explained. “This work at the IPHC really falls in line with that. It’s something dealing with fisheries on a national and now international scale.”
Historically, commercial fishermen, processors and government employees have served both the U.S. and Canada on the commission. Yamada said despite his background, the goal on the commission will remain the same.
“At this table, the IPHC, we’re there to really look at managing the total entire stock in a sustainable fashion. The motivations might be different, but we’re working together at that level to really look at a sustainable fishery for generations to come,” Yamada said.
Yamada takes over commissioner Linda Behnken’s seat, who has served on the commission since 2016. Yamada will be joining the commission at a fickle time in its history.
U.S. and Canadian commissioners have been at odds over cuts to catch limits and the distribution of the catch between regulatory areas in both countries.
“Last year we had some issues between Canada and the United States coming to an agreement on catch limits. I was at the meeting, but I was not privy to the negotiations behind closed doors,” Yamada said. “I’ll probably be introduced to that very shortly.”
Commissioners have been meeting informally to work out some of those differences this summer, though it’s unclear if they’ve reached an understanding.
It’s also unclear how long Yamada and Alverson will serve on the IPHC. The Trump administration is charged with appointing commissioners, but it did not make any appointments before the Aug. 31 deadline.
The Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce appointed both Yamada and Alverson until Jan. 31, 2019, just long enough to make it through the commission’s annual meeting cycle.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs alongside the Dalton Highway near the Toolik Field Station on June 9, 2017, in the North Slope Borough. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline is cutting its staff by about 10 percent, or roughly 130 jobs.
That’s according to a letter Alyeska Pipeline Service Company president Tom Barrett sent to state leaders Tuesday.
The pipeline system moves almost $40 million of oil every day.
Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan says the company faces twin pressures. On one hand, it’s the only way to ship oil off the North Slope. That means Alyeska can’t cut corners and risk a spill or a shutdown of the pipeline, Egan said. (The company calls it TAPS, for “Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.”)
“Everyone who works here understands that Alaska, its economy, its oil industry is dependent upon TAPS operating. And that operation depends on us being safe and environmentally responsible,” Egan said.
At the same time, Egan added, the pipeline has to be financially sustainable.
“And so we’re looking at ways to modernize the way we do things and find efficiencies,” Egan said.
In his letter to state leaders, Barrett said Alyeska is reorganizing to streamline its maintenance work, centralize its emergency response, and add new technology.
Barrett said employees at all levels of the organization will be affected. That includes people in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Valdez and field sites.
Alyeska’s 1,300 workers include about 750 employees and 550 contractors, according to Egan.
It’s owned by four different oil companies, including three of Alaska’s biggest: BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Unocal Pipeline Co. owns slightly less than 1.5 percent.
Alyeska is responsible for moving oil to Valdez, then helping to make sure tankers safely carry it from there out of Prince William Sound, according to Egan.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council was created after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It helps monitor Alyeska’s operations in Valdez and Prince William Sound. Spokeswoman Brooke Taylor said the council learned about the reorganization Wednesday, and wants to know more.
“The council was put in place to ensure complacency did not creep into the system, because it was complacency that led to the Valdez oil spill,” Taylor said. “So any time you see a restructuring and reductions in workforce, it could be fine. But it’s something the council takes very seriously and will want to get a lot more information on.”
Barrett said employees and contractors affected by the cuts will be notified by early November.
