Effort underway to bring back Coast Guard Auxiliary

It’s been about 25 years since Wrangell had a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary detachment — and Liz Buness wants to bring it back.

She thought about the need while she was working aboard the state ferries for 16 years, vowing “when I retire, maybe that’ll happen.”

Buness, who retired from the Alaska Marine Highway System as a chief purser in 2019, talked with Coast Guard auxiliary officials, took the classes required for auxiliary membership, and now serves as part of the Ketchikan flotilla in Wrangell. She decided this summer is a good time to start the effort toward building Wrangell’s own detachment to provide voluntary vessel inspections, safety classes and other services.

“There are people who have expressed interest,” she said last Friday. “It makes it a safer place for everybody to boat.”

The commander of the Juneau auxiliary, David Larkin, will be in Wrangell on July 14-15 to meet with anyone interested in joining the effort to build a detachment in town, Buness said.

Larkin is tentatively scheduled to meet with the public at 1 p.m. July 14 at the covered area in front of the library. Additional meetings may be scheduled. Anyone interested can contact Buness at wrangellliz@outlook.com, or call 907-305-0014.

Though members of the Ketchikan flotilla come to Wrangell twice a year to conduct boat safety checks, they have time only for commercial vessels, Buness said.

In addition to conducting safety checks of commercial and also recreational boats — which can save a boater from a Coast Guard boarding at sea to confirm safety equipment — an auxiliary helps out by inspecting navigational aids in the area, Buness said.

“That’s one of the things they would really like us to do,” saving the Coast Guard from the chore so that it can handle other duties. Auxiliary members who boat to navigational lights to check on their condition can be reimbursed for fuel and provisions, Buness said.

Congress established the auxiliary in 1939. Nationwide, there are about 26,000 auxiliary members in 825 local units, according to the organization’s website.