Fishermen in Southeast Alaska will be able to harvest about 70,000 more king salmon this season than last year. The state Department of Fish and Game announced the harvest goal for all gear groups on March 31.

“It’s not, you know, a great catch limit, but it’s a decent catch limit,” said fish biologist Dani Evenson, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Even though it’s sort of an average catch limit, it came as welcome news, because last year was the lowest ever.” 

How many king salmon Southeast Alaskans can catch each year is determined by the Pacific Salmon Commission. The group oversees a treaty between the U.S. and Canada that ensures both countries can harvest the fish.

Alaska’s take this year is 207,400 king salmon, also called Chinook. That amount is in line with recent years. . .except last year. Last year’s regional harvest goals plummeted because of lower salmon forecasts in other regions.

Chinook are highly migratory, traveling thousands of miles in their years-long journey to return to their spawning grounds.

“Some originating as far away as the Oregon coast, the Columbia River, the Washington coast and British Columbia,” said Evenson. “They all swim up into our waters, into the Gulf of Alaska to take advantage of the nutrient-rich waters to feed and grow.”

Evenson coordinates the salmon treaty for Fish and Game. She said that because of the king salmon’s migrations, there are many stakeholders.

“Southeast Alaska Chinook is one of the most complex, if not the most complex, fishery management structures in the state of Alaska,” Evenson said. “These fisheries are managed in accordance with a large suite of international, national and domestic policies and regulations.”

Most of Southeast’s king salmon harvest — 146,000 fish – goes to salmon trollers who fish with hook and line. The sport sector is the next largest with about 43,600. The net fisheries – seining, gillnetting and set nets – don’t target king salmon and have smaller harvest goals for bycatch.

The Pacific Salmon Treaty is renegotiated every 10 years. The state is already working on the details of its agreement for 2028.

The post Southeast back to an average harvest goal for king salmon after last year’s low appeared first on KSTK.

Wrangell’s borough assembly unanimously agreed on March 24 to add a section to the municipal code that would allow for permanent vehicle registration. This follows Ketchikan’s ordinance that went into effect at the beginning of this year.

In general, qualified noncommercial motor vehicles have to be at least eight years old and noncommercial trailers can be any age.

Police Chief Gene Meek said the change would provide cost predictability for residents and reduce administrative burden on vehicle owners and borough staff.

“The benefits are you have that vehicle that’s eight years old, or you can register it. It’s there. You don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he said. “(You) don’t have to worry about every year, two years coming back in on your birthday.”

The eight-year limit comes from Alaska Statute 28.10.155 and does not include vehicles that are electric, plug-in hybrid or powered by alternative fuel. These types of vehicles are not eligible for permanent registration.

Eligible owners will pay a one-time registration fee that’s valid throughout ownership. The registration would automatically expire upon transfer of vehicles – meaning the next person who gets the vehicle is responsible for registering it again. 

Permanent registration goes into effect for Wrangell residents Jan. 1, 2027.

Other municipalities that have opted-in include Sitka, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Mat-Su, Hoonah, Yakutat and others.

The post Vehicle registration in Wrangell will be less taxing for some appeared first on KSTK.

Former Alaska State Senator Tom Begich is one of 18 candidates running for governor in the Last Frontier. He’s a Democrat, and the uncle to Alaska Congressman Nick Begich III, who is a Republican. In mid-March, Tom Begich visited several Southeast communities, including Wrangell. In an interview with KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki, he said this isn’t the only time he’s going to visit town before the election.

Full Interview:

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

There’s something to having spent 30 years working in rural communities. On substance use prevention, violence prevention, suicide prevention, mental health issues and juvenile justice. These issues literally permeate our communities around the state. I’ve slept on gym floors in Western Alaska. I’ve even once been in a jail cell in Point Hope, because that was the only bed available. But you stay where you have to stay, and you get to know people. 

Why are you running for governor?

I do deeply love my state. I was born here. 

We really worked hard in the six years that I was in the Senate as minority leader to build those cross party relationships. Not just within my caucus, but also with the majorities and the minorities in both bodies. As time has gone by since I left, which was in 2022, I’ve really watched those relationships between the governor and the legislature deteriorate. I think that that is bad for Alaska.

I think my willingness to change the dialogue, to look at pushing for that strong, forward and fully funded education system, moving us away from a dependency on diesel fuel and moving toward alternatives in the state. It’s about actually finding ways to sustain the state as independently as we can in the long run. It’s important for us to maximize our resources in terms of the Permanent Fund. Ensuring that it not just survives, but thrives, because it produces 60% of Alaska’s income today. It means that we have to ensure that when we have multinational corporations coming into our state and taking our resources, we get our fair share of those resources.

Your nephew, Representative Nick Begich, is a Republican. How do you navigate campaigning the state where your family name cuts both ways politically?

I do my best to ensure that they understand I represent different values than he does. 

Look, I grew up in a family where my brothers and sisters did not always agree. My mom raised us – single mom. Part of that upbringing was to be patient, listen to others perspectives and then move forward. Well, I don’t begrudge a different perspective. 

What’s your specific plan to resolve the long running standoff of education in Juneau?

Do we have the money to fund a solid education system? We’re often told we don’t. What we actually do have is the resources there. We just do not collect them. There’s the internet fee that was tied to education for $35 million that literally was vetoed by the governor, and legislature did not override that veto, but if I’m governor, I’ll be signing that bill into law the day it comes on my desk. 

I will sign into law the exception that has allowed Hilcorp not to pay corporate income tax on its oil properties. They’re the only oil company that does that because of a loophole in the law. That loophole should be closed so that we do not further risk losing corporate income tax and that we collect that $100 to $150 million. And finally, I have advocated for, and the Senate resources has now adopted, an approach that would reduce the oil and gas tax credits on the three largest oil fields on the North Slope – Prudhoe, Alpine and Kuparak. Those would generate, in my estimate, between $200 to $250 million. 

We’re going to move on to the Alaska Marine Highway. Will you talk about your plan with that?

I believe it should be a separate authority that also has the capacity to bond.

Number two, ensuring the vessels that we produce and those vessels are interchangeable.

Third is to deal with the deferred maintenance that has been neglected for so long. I would do that with a general obligation bond.

But here’s the thing with the ferry service, you have to have known regular service. It is a system that serves life and health issues for everyday Alaskans, and it is the connector for all the pieces of Highway 7. It is a highway.

What’s your position on the Permanent Fund Dividend? How should the state balance the PFD against services?

There is nobody that I am aware of that is a serious candidate that thinks that the dividend can stay with the current statutory formula. I think you should rewrite the statute so that the check itself is tied to the volatility of the Permanent Fund itself. What I mean by that is, if the Permanent Fund is making money, then that check goes up from an initial amount that you started at. If it loses money, it goes down, and then in the end, you’re able to maintain a dividend that is an appropriate dividend that we can afford while providing public services. 

Last question, you’re also a singer songwriter and a poet. How has that creative life shaped how you think about leadership and listening?

I try to write music or poetry that is reflective of the human condition and the ability to be empathetic, to listen, to feel what other people are thinking or what other people are struggling with, informs my music and my poetry. Being heard is exactly what a singer songwriter or poet must do, and being heard is a skill set that anyone in politics ought to have. 

But when I finally realized these two things were not separate, but connected, it made me a better person and a whole person. And I think that that will make me a much better governor. 

The post Can a Democrat win Alaska’s governorship? Tom Begich thinks so — and he came to Wrangell to say why appeared first on KSTK.

Wrangell’s borough assembly plans to consider amending the Fiscal Year 2026 budget to replace the swimming pool roof. The roofing is both sloped and flat. 

They would add this roof replacement to a list of other projects involving the Wrangell School renovations project. This includes work at the elementary, middle and high schools. The borough said combining the projects would reduce costs through site logistics, collaboration and management oversight. 

This amendment would transfer a million dollars from the Secure Rural Schools fund reserves to the Capital Improvements Projects fund. The federal government sets aside Secure Rural Schools money for communities next to federal lands.

Previous bids were greater than allocated funds in 2017

In 2017, the borough held an auction for contractors to replace the pool’s roofs. They didn’t go through with it then because all the bids the borough received were greater than the allocated funds for the project. Since then, the roofs’ conditions have significantly deteriorated, according to the capital projects director, making the project a critical requirement.

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development agrees with combining the projects to maximize public funds and operational order. The borough designed the proposed structure of the project as three-tiered: design phase, construction phase and cost tracking. 

Another item on the agenda involves an outdated chapter in the Wrangell Municipal Code (chapter 6.08). It was enacted in 1966 and covers commerce with peddlers and traveling merchants.

Borough plans to repeal an entire chapter on local commerce

The assembly plans to repeal the entire chapter because it does not align with current business realities and has redundancy with state and federal law. 

The Wrangell Borough Assembly will hold its regular meeting on March 24 at 6 p.m. in the Borough Assembly Chambers at Wrangell City Hall.

You can listen to the live broadcast of the Wrangell Borough Assembly meeting on KSTK-FM 101.7, or stream online at KSTK.org or the borough’s website.

The post Wrangell assembly preview: swimming pool roof and school renovations project; repealing outdated chapter on local commerce appeared first on KSTK.

Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s published its unofficial election results Thursday, after the last day of voting ended. They counted a total of 366 votes for two delegates and 13 Community Council members for Wrangell.

Kenneth “Neish” Hoyt and Luella “Aanshaawasnook” Knapp will serve as delegates representing Wrangell for two years, with 53 and 47 votes, respectively.

The 13 Community Council members include Sandra Churchill with 58 votes, Lavina “Lovey” Brock with 26 votes and Virginia Oliver with 16. 

Others include Richard Oliver, Jeffrey Rooney, Sr., Thomas Gillen, Sr., Arthur Larsen, Sam Campus, Ty Harding, Christie Jamieson and William Willard. Last but not least was Frank Churchill, Jr. and Einar Haseth with two votes each.

Candidate DaNika Smalley ran only as a delegate with 31 votes, not winning her a seat. Additionally, there were 84 write-ins.

Any candidate could challenge the election results by the end of Friday. Currently it’s unknown if anyone challenged.

Tlingit and Haida will swear in the delegates at a ceremony. The date has not been scheduled yet.

The post Election results for Tlingit & Haida delegates and Community Council members representing Wrangell appeared first on KSTK.

Alaska Congressman Nick Begich visited the Southeast Alaska communities of Wrangell, Petersburg, Ketchikan and Juneau last week between March 10 and March 13. In the capital, he spoke to the Alaska Legislature for his annual address.

His Communications Director, Silver Prout, said in an email that the Congressman’s trip focused on meeting with local leaders, industry representatives and community members. She said they discussed local priorities and economic opportunities in each community.

In Wrangell, he met with the borough manager and toured the Public Safety Building, Deepwater Port, Wrangell Harbor Basin and Water Treatment Plant. And he visited Angerman’s Clothing and Sporting Goods, Prout said.

Visiting Petersburg and Ketchikan

His visit to Petersburg was similar, where he talked with the school superintendent, the hospital’s CEO and the harbormaster. 

Petersburg borough officials said they discussed infrastructure needs, housing, timber and healthcare. 

According to Begich’s Facebook page, he visited the JAG Marine shipyard in Ketchikan.

His team did not want his visits to Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan announced publicly. Prout said the goal was to “spend as much time as possible in direct conversations with local officials, business leaders and community partners.”

Local newspapers and radio stations were not informed of the visits either. Each community held a campaign fundraiser that local supporters shared by email.

Nick Begich is running for reelection on the Republican ticket.

KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki conducted a survey on how many people knew about Begich’s visit. She posted it on the Wrangell Facebook Community page. 24% of participants knew about his visit and 76% did not. A total of 54 people participated.

Olivia Rose contributed reporting from KFSK in Petersburg.

The post Congressman Nick Begich makes stops in Southeast Alaska appeared first on KSTK.

Wrangell residents Sandy Churchill and Ken Neish Hoyt are running for 2026 Tlingit and Haida Delegate and Community Council Member seats. (Colette Czarnecki/KSTK)

Tlingit & Haida is a federally recognized regional Tribal government that represents 38,000 citizens globally. They provide family-centered services, like food distribution and education. And over the past month, members can vote during their Delegate and Community Council elections.

A Delegate has the responsibility to attend the Tribal Assembly, debate, vote and consider resolutions. They represent their community’s voice and gather information to bring back to the community. Alternatively, Community Council members do not vote, unless they are a Delegate, but can attend the Tribal Assembly as guests.

Five Wrangell candidates are running for seats. Four for delegates and four for community council members, with some overlapping each other. Tlingit & Haida members can vote until Thursday [3/19] at 4:30 p.m. online. They can also vote in the Wrangell office upstairs in the Kadin Building where the Tongass Federal Credit Union is.

Candidate Kenneth Neish Hoyt is running for a Delegate and Community Council Member seat. Alternatively, incumbent Sandy Churchill is running for solely the Community Council Member seat.

Candidates Lovey Brock and Luella Knapp did not respond to requests for an interview and DaNika Smalley said she was not able to at the time.

Listen to candidates Sandy Churchill and Ken Neish Hoyt

Churchill said she brings continuity to the Community Council and it’s been her life goal to keep the youth engaged, take care of elders and help revitalize her culture.

Hoyt said his role as a Delegate and Community Council member would be making sure every citizen he represents feels heard. Additionally he’s excited about the route Tlingit and Haida has taken in bringing in canoe culture it will be key figuring out how to do economic development in an uncertain economy.

The post Tlingit and Haida Delegate and Community Council Member election nears end; meet two of five candidates appeared first on KSTK.

Tory Houser seems like she’s always on the move. Volunteering and wearing multiple hats to support the community she loves, like a handful of Wrangellites do. Their efforts get noticed on the local level, but recently Houser was recognized region-wide for her work with kids.

She juggles advocating for the Tongass National Forest as the district ranger, teaches ballet to kids and coaches swimming. She’s also a mom of two teenage sons and an elf during the holidays. 

The background of that story is she drove across the country with the Forest Service to bring a Sitka Spruce tree to Washington D.C. It was the 2024 Capital Christmas Tree and she dressed as an elf throughout the tour.

Houser was not expecting to get a phone call in early January from the Alaska Children’s Trust, an organization that focuses on the prevention of child abuse.. They told her she was named the next Southeast Champion for Kids, an award that recognizes people who commit themselves to ensuring youth are supported in their communities.

She said, “I got this phone call from somebody who’s like, ‘Guess what? Congratulations, you’ve won an award.’ And I was like, ‘Great. Do you want my social security number, my mother’s maiden name?’ And it did take a little while to get through the initial. ‘Is this for real?’”

Houser said after that phone call, she was nervous that maybe they got the wrong person. She said she thought that because she didn’t think she did anything special.

“I always joke that I’m the queen of mediocrity, and so I excel at being average,” she said. “And then I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s the point’ — because it shows that anybody can be doing something for kids.”

Trevor Storrs, president of the Alaska Children’s Trust, said they know they chose the right person because usually they downplay themselves, like Houser did.

“This award is really the search in our community for those people who are behind the curtain, per se, who are just doing this work because they love it,” he said. “Most of them, when they get the call, the first thing they ask is, ‘Why me?’ That’s how humble they are.”

He said it was a small committee that reviewed the nominations, and Houser’s was an overwhelming yes. 

Storrs said Houser stood out because of her enthusiasm and passion to connect youth with the environment and forestry. He said this ensures the longevity of the forest and vice versa, the natural habitat then takes care of kids.

“Her personality, which, of course, doesn’t come across on the paper, but when I met her, talked to her on the phone and then met her in person, it is infectious,” Storrs said. “Like wow.” 

Houser’s work with kids includes high school students on a STEM project at Anan Wildlife Observatory. 

The students were learning how to put in live stream cameras that would capture the popular bears feeding on salmon in the river. One part of the project was connecting the solar panels on a roof to the end of batteries with wire. Houser said she didn’t know how to do that and so she asked the student she was working with. He explained the system to her because he researched it.

“Having the ability to be vulnerable and be humble and say, ‘I don’t know how to do this,’ and allow a student to show me was a pretty great moment,” she said.

Her work with the STEM group, called T3 Teaching through Technology, inspired her to grasp the growth mindset in real life situations. This is the concept that people are always learning.

“It’s okay to mess up, it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to make a mistake, as long as we learn from it,” Houser said.

Houser found out her co-worker at the Forest Service, Jen Kardiak, nominated her for the award. 

Kardiak said Houser is modest and often downplays her work with kids.

“She was like, ‘I’m gonna work really hard to live up to this award and deserve it,'” Kardiak said. “And I was like, ‘You already did. That was the whole point. You’ve done the work. You don’t have to live up to this.’”

Storrs with Alaska Children’s Trust said awardees are the unsung heroes who have a huge role in preventing child abuse. The prevention of child abuse means children, families and communities have the knowledge, skills, support and resources to thrive. He said when they’re thriving, there’s less child abuse and neglect.

Another Alaskan, Desiree’ Macz, received the award this year representing the Interior. One other Wrangellite received this award in 2024 – that was Kay Larson. And the Southeast awardee for 2025 was Jordan Nigro from Juneau. 

The post The “queen of mediocrity” becomes a champion for kids appeared first on KSTK.

Alaska U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan nominated Wrangell High School senior Ben Houser to join the Merchant Marine Academy later this year. KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki met with Houser to learn about his interest in this branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and the process for getting nominated. He said it made sense for him to pursue it after growing up in Wrangell.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Ben Houser

My whole life, I’ve just lived on boats and fished with my dad. I built the boat in the shop. It just aligns well with all the things I do in my life and what I’m good at. So I thought I would try it out. I started the application process and fortunately, they chose me. So I did a panel interview with Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski’s interviewers. 

How did you feel before and during the panel?

I was a little scared, and I just had to practice with my mom a little bit. We had questions like the ones we thought they would ask. We practiced those at home and did some interviewing, and then, really, when I got into the interview, I was like, ‘this is a lot less scary than I thought.’  One of the panel interviewers happened to be a wrestler, and so I could kind of connect with him, because I was in wrestling at the time. It was just really easy to talk to them. And they thought a lot of things, like they stopped the whole interview right in the middle just to talk about me building my boat in the shop, because they had never had anybody build a boat before.

Why do you want to go to this academy?

I just thought getting out of Wrangell and trying some new things would be good for me. In Wrangell if we don’t have the barge come to town for one week, we don’t have eggs or milk on our shelves, and fuel prices are a big thing that ships here help. And just having ships in Alaska in these rural communities all over the world, it’s important to have people that are running these ships and doing those things. So I kind of just want to be able to give back to all the small communities all over Alaska and the world, and I want to be able to do engineering and be on ships.

When do you find out?

You have the normal application part that you would do for any school, the essay, and then you have the congressional nominations, and then you have what’s called a CFA, which is a candidate fitness assessment. And I had to do push ups, pull ups, sit ups, run a mile and do all that stuff here in Wrangell with Mr. Brooks, shout out to him.

With all that, I sent that in, and then I put my congressional nomination in, and after I have all that, there’s still one more thing you have to do. The school sends all your information to a place called DODMerb (Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board), and that’s like a medical facility for the military. Then they email me the medical place. Then I have to do their whole medical part. They send you a provider, you have to set up an appointment.

And since we live in Wrangell, we have to travel to Anchorage or Seattle or somewhere else to do that medical exam. And then once that medical exam is done, DODMerb checks that out and makes sure you’re physically healthy, or mentally or everything healthy to be able to work on and go to these schools. And then once they have all that, they send that back to the school, it’ll probably be about April.

You are a senior, is this the only school you applied to?

I applied to UAF, I applied to NAU (Northern Arizona University), and I applied to Montana, State, and I got accepted in all three. 

Congratulations. What else do you hope to gain out of it, or experience with the academy?

With the academy, it’s really cool, it would be about a year at sea. I got 125 days at sea my junior year, and 225 my senior year. So that would involve being on ships, going all over the world, just traveling around, working and learning how to do things on ships. And that’s one thing I’d be excited for is just being able to see the world being on these ships. Also I’d be in New York going to school, so I’m just seeing a whole new everything and being able to experience new things. I just want to be able to learn the most I can, and I think this is a pretty good school to be able to learn a lot about engineering and ships, and I’m also getting a bachelor’s in science as well as getting my captain’s license.

And then you have to commit your time after the schooling. How much time?

So for five years, you’d be what’s called the naval recruit. And for six years, you have to uphold your credentials. You would have to work in some merchant marine area. 

If you go to the academy, you’ll come out as an engineer. What would your title be?

You can either go the deck route, where that would be, like, say, if you went on a cruise ship in Wrangell you would be the captain, or you would be up in the fly bridge, doing Captainy stuff. Or you can go the engineering route, which means you’d be working on the engine and working on anything mechanical inside the boat, but you’re still the same level as the top people.You come out as an officer. 

Do you know what kind of boat you would sail around the world with the academy?

I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly sure it’s a military type vessel.

Is there anything else you want to say?

I just encourage people to try hard things, and even if you’re scared at 17, 18 years old. I mean, anybody can do it. It’s just whether you want to really try or not.

The post Q & A: Ben Houser on his nomination to attend the Merchant Marine Academy appeared first on KSTK.

The state’s transportation department and a Southeast Alaska nonprofit are partnering in a new way to help the region plan for its future. The state designated Southeast Conference in February as a new regional planning organization or RPO.

Southeast Conference is a nonprofit organization that works to develop the region’s economy through grants and programs for 33 communities. Long-time Executive Director Robert Venables said Southeast’s regional needs will receive more statewide recognition through the RPO.

“There are metropolitan planning organizations in the big communities like Anchorage and Fairbanks and now Mat-Su and there’s really not a formal seat at the table for regional communities such as we have in Southeast Alaska,” Venables said. “So, this is kind of a little bit of a new thing, and this RPO will allow the communities to have a formal seat at the table.”

Venables said the new label won’t bring any dramatic changes to the nonprofit’s work, but being a so-called regional planning organization mostly formalizes what Southeast Conference already does. They won’t hire extra staff, but they will get some new funding: about $50,000 to $75,000 from the state every year.

Going forward, Venables said there will be more community engagement. Southeast Conference holds two big regional meetings a year, and Venables said the public should see more engagement beyond those events.

“What this does is puts responsibility for Southeast Conference to do what they do really well, which is facilitating conversations, bringing stakeholders together, and, you know, getting as much regional consensus as possible,” he said.

The new RPO comes at a time when the state’s marine highway system is struggling with funding and staffing shortages, and the state’s aging ferry fleet is requiring more and more repair work.

Shannon McCarthy, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation, said that Southeast Conference’s new RPO designation could help with planning the marine highway system’s future.

“It does provide that organization, that structure for us to talk about what the needs are of the region,” she said, “and ensure that they’re integrated into our planning structures in a very formal way, and then ensure that we’re checking in periodically.”

Southeast Conference is creating an advisory board for the RPO to oversee policies and is seeking new board members to fill seats. More information about those seats is available on the nonprofit’s website.

The post State designates Southeast Conference as Regional Planning Organization appeared first on KSTK.