KCAW

(City of Sitka photo)

Construction of Sitka’s long-awaited marine haulout is nearing the finish line– for Phase 1, at least. 

The travelift, the huge vehicle that plucks boats out of the water for cleaning and repairs, is set to arrive next week. Sitka Economic Development Association Director Garry White says they plan to install the travelift on May 12th. But there’s still more construction required, and much of that is weather-dependent. 

“We have to grout the piers, and we need above 45 degrees for days, and then after that, it has to cure for a while,” White said in an interview with KCAW on May 29. “And then we’re also working on getting the concrete wash down pad constructed, and we just were pulling the trigger on that moving forward.”

In March the Sitka Assembly approved a proposal from a Kodiak-based marine fabrication company to operate the haulout. The proposal from Highmark Marine wasn’t without its detractors. Throughout the process, there was pushback from local fishermen and marine fabricators– one concern among them was the price to get their boats hauled out.

Municipal Administrator John Leach said representatives from Highmark Marine were in town last week working on the terms of their final agreement with the city, and he was hopeful they could get that number down. 

“We had some really productive sessions with Highmark last week, talking through negotiations, and we’re looking at some creative ways that we could possibly get the haul rate down. So fingers crossed on that one,” Leach said. “But again, just want to reiterate that the plan is still to have an open yard, and we’ll have a an operator here that’s going to get them out of the water and get them in place.”

The haulout is expected to be operational this summer. But plans for the second phase of upland development are already in the works. The GPIP Board will meet on May 15 to discuss the next steps on the haulout project.

The post Travelift for Sitka’s haulout project set to arrive next week appeared first on KCAW.

(Photo/KCAW Archive)

The Sitka Community Orchestra came together on Friday to delight Sitkans with a free concert. KCAW Reporter-at-large Kat Rhoads attended the event and sent us this audio postcard.

The post Musicians share highlights from Sitka Community Orchestra concert appeared first on KCAW.

The city’s Tourism Commission is hosting a meeting on Wednesday evening (4-30-25) to gather community feedback on its “Tourism Best Management Practices” (TBMP) plan. Planning and Community Development Director Amy Ainslie joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss the upcoming meeting and the plan, which is inspired by a 25-year-old program from Juneau that has been adopted by other Southeast communities, and aims to balance tourism industry needs with community interests. Listen to their conversation here:

The post Commission seeking community feedback on ‘Tourism Best Management Practices’ plan appeared first on KCAW.

Sitka AmeriCorps program director Sarah Lawrie (lower right) with Sitka corps members in 2024. The AmeriCorps program has supported Sitka’s nonprofits, government agencies, and schools for 21 years. Corps members earn a stipend, and an education award that they can use to pay student loans or college tuition.

It was no secret that DOGE, the quasi-department created by President Trump and overseen by billionaire Elon Musk, had begun dismantling the AmeriCorps program in Washington D.C. In mid-April, employees of the national office were placed on paid administrative leave, and told that their jobs would be gone by the end of the month.

Alaska has five AmeriCorps programs, most – like Sitka’s – funded indirectly through the state’s ServeAlaska Commission, and there was some hope that they might be spared the indiscriminate cuts that DOGE has been making in agencies across government.

But that hope vanished Friday afternoon, April 25. Sitka program director Sarah Lawrie got word that hers was one of four Alaska programs that were being terminated.

She called together her corps members for one of the most “challenging” meetings of her career.

“I knew that the Department of Government Efficiency was in AmeriCorps, and honestly, I just kind of had an intuition about it,” said Lawrie. “But telling them, ‘Your service isn’t worth anything.’ You’ve made this commitment to come and serve the community, that ethic of serving others: That’s what feels like a slap in the face.”

Until that bombshell, as Lawrie put it, Sitka had nine active AmeriCorps members, hosted by the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, the city’s Parks & Recreation Department, two at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, and four in the Sitka School District. All work for a small stipend, and an education award for completing their year of service that they can apply toward college loans or tuition.

And many remain in Sitka after their term of service. AmeriCorps, says Lawrie, isn’t just about community service, it’s about community building.

“I was here for two years as an AmeriCorps,” said Peter Vu. “I had intended to leave after that second year. But I think, like most other AmeriCorps who fall in love with Sitka, it was hard to.”,

Vu came to Sitka as an AmeriCorps in 2016, and served two terms working at Pacific High School. He remained in Sitka for several years afterward, left briefly, but now is back earning a Masters Degree – while student-teaching in the same school he served as an AmeriCorps.

And Vu’s story is far from unique.

“I didn’t even realize that the counselor that I work with at the school I’m at was an AmeriCorps almost a decade before I was,” said Vu. “To me, he’s always been  this established professional, contributing member of our community, and I always thought of him in that role and as a mentor. And so when he told me he was in AmeriCorps, it really kind of surprised me.”

The program began in Sitka in 2004, and former AmeriCorps are everywhere in town. They work at the Tribe, the Forest Service, own businesses, and they’ve married and started families. Sarah Lawrie is not optimistic that Sitka AmeriCorps will have another term next year – or even if she’ll have a job.

But she’s certain that the nine corps members in Sitka now won’t be left high and dry.

“That lifted my spirits,” said Lawrie. “I get this notice and the first thing is I hold the meeting with the AmeriCorps members …and then I start calling the host site supervisors, and they’re full of good ideas, and they’re full of solutions! And any AmeriCorps member that wants to finish out their term in Sitka, Alaska, they’ll be able to, with support from the host site supervisors, and the community. I mean, it gets said over and over, but people are so great – offers of housing and food and  jobs and ‘What can I do?’ And so that’s the beautiful part.”

Peter Vu says he’s feeling compassionate for the AmeriCorps who’ve been terminated. He says many have already sacrificed financially to gain the professional experience the program offers. He wants them to stay positive. 

“To not have the closure of the end of a year must be really hard,” said Vu, “as well as the uncertainty of not knowing what’s next. And so I feel sorry for them, but I also thank them a lot for what they’ve done and how much they’ve already given to our community in the eight, nine, or ten  months that they’ve been here.”

AmeriCorps was created by Congress in 1993, modeled on the Peace Corps, except intended to serve US communities. Other Alaska AmeriCorps programs to lose funding include the Alaska Public Defenders Agency, the Alaska Afterschool Network, and RurAL CAP’s Resilient Alaska Youth. Alaska’s lone surviving program is the Student Conservation Association.

Note: This story was updated on 4-29-25 to correct the number of Americorps programs in Alaska — five, rather than six.

The post DOGE cut ends two decades of AmeriCorps in Sitka appeared first on KCAW.

Visiting bands Sledgehammer and Peter Wooten will perform in Sitka this weekend. The bands last visited Sitka in February, when they played a memorial concert to raise funds for the families of the late F/V Windwalker crew. This weekend’s shows will include a silent auction and feature local openers SlackTide (Friday) and Anel & The Vatos (Saturday).

Band members joined KCAW’s Kate Grumbles to talk more about the upcoming shows. Listen to the full interview below:

Shows are Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, in the lower level of the Mean Queen. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online or at the door.

The post ‘Anti-genre’ bands return to Sitka for weekend concerts appeared first on KCAW.

Photo courtesy of Sitka Parks and Rec

Sitka gymnasts were jumping for joy this week when they got to practice for the first time on the city’s new AirFloor that was donated by the Sitka Recreation Foundation. The city’s Parks and Rec Department team sent over this audio postcard from the event. Listen here

The post Gymnasts jump for joy on Parks and Rec’s new AirFloor appeared first on KCAW.

Subsistence fishing for spot prawns in Hoonah Sound won’t quite be like the days prior to 2020, when harvesters could run a string of pots. Beginning May 1, permit holders will be allowed one pot, with only two pots per boat, even if there are more permit holders on board. Says ADF&G biologist Aaron Dupuis, “When we start turning the faucet back on, it’s going to be real slow.” (KCAW/Berett Wilber)

When the Department of Fish & Game closed all fishing for shrimp in Hoonah Sound in 2020, there were declines across the board in population. But some population declines are more troubling than others.

“The most concerning thing that we saw was that decline in small shrimp,” said Aaron Dupuis, the state biologist who manages shrimp in Hoonah Sound.

Dupuis says the relatively quick disappearance of small shrimp forced him to “pump the brakes” on all subsistence, sport, and commercial harvests in the sound.

Spot prawns have an interesting life history that makes the survival of small shrimp really important.

“The small shrimp are all males, and they transition to female shrimp as they grow older,” said Dupuis. “So when you’re seeing that lack of small male shrimp, that means that if you don’t do something pretty soon, eventually you’re not going to have any large female shrimp in the population.

The term for this is “protandric hermaphrodite.” In many species, having a lot of large, healthy females usually means good things for the population, and the relative absence of males is not necessarily detrimental. Unless the species is a protandric hermaphrodite, then having all those young males is critical to the survival of the population.

Subsistence harvesters will get a crack at Hoonah Sound shrimp beginning May 1. There will be limitations, however. The days of setting a string of pots are over. It’s one pot per permit, and no more than two pots per boat, regardless of how many permit holders are aboard.

Dupuis says caution is warranted, as a similar story – a five-year closure followed by a gradual reopening – unfolded in Tenakee Inlet a few years ago.

“Tenakee looked like it was coming back,” he said, “and then the personal use and commercial fisheries opened up for a year or two, and then the population crashed again. And now everything’s closed in there. So when we start turning the faucet back on, it’s going to be real slow.”

Some old hands at shrimping might not want to make the 50-mile boat ride north from Sitka to Hoonah Sound, but some will. A skewer of large spot prawns on the grill makes a nice complement to salmon and halibut. Word hasn’t been out very long that Hoonah Sound is opening again. Although Dupuis doesn’t expect Hoonah Sound to be “flooded” with effort, he says people will definitely go. “We’ve already had a few calls,” he says.

The post After a five-year closure, Hoonah Sound reopens to subsistence shrimp harvest appeared first on KCAW.

Rebecca Poulson, with the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, will lead a course this weekend to fill in the background on Sitka’s history, tailored for students involved in Sitka’s visitor industry. The 3.5 hour session will include activities, and a hands-on look at artifacts. Cost is $40, with proceeds to benefit the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society. Register online.

The post Sitka History for Tour Guides (and anyone else!) offered this weekend appeared first on KCAW.

Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is hosting a free presentation on Medicare to answer questions and help Sitkans 65 and over prepare to enroll in the program. Patient Health Benefits Manager Susan Briles will lead the presentation 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 30, at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Briles joined KCAW’s Peter Apathy to talk about why navigating Medicare can be challenging and how Sitkans can make the most of their coverage. Listen to the full interview below:

To reserve a seat call  907- 966-8684.

The post SEARHC hosts free presentation on Medicare appeared first on KCAW.

The Sitka Native Education Program, otherwise known as SNEP, celebrated 50 years of Indigenous cultural education in Sitka this year. The federally-funded program is a collaboration between the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Sitka School District. It was started in 1974 as a way to preserve Lingít language, dance, and values. 

In a full-day koo.éex’ last weekend, participants shared song, dance, and memories of the history of the program. KCAW’s Meredith Redick stopped by and brings us this audio postcard: 

That was an audio postcard from the 50th anniversary of the Sitka Native Education Program. You heard the voices of Koodéik’ Joseph Marks, Vanessa Bradley, Robert Nielsen, and Herman Davis. You also heard the Sitka Strings Lingít violin and Kiks.ádi and Kaagwaantaan singers.

The post SNEP celebrates 50 years of cultural education in Sitka appeared first on KCAW.