Last Wednesday afternoon, Alaska’s junior U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan visited Wrangell to learn more about the community’s priorities and concerns. After meeting with municipal and tribal leadership and touring the island, Sullivan held a public forum to discuss borough, state and national issues.
He spoke with each of the roughly 20 attendees about their priorities. It was his first visit to Wrangell since 2018.
Wrangell residents touched on a wide range of issues, such as adolescent mental health, harbor and transportation infrastructure, the Tongass roadless rule and a recent lawsuit that has threatened to shut down the Southeast chinook commercial troll fishery.
Their input, Sullivan said, will help him “address the challenges, but really seize the opportunities” that Alaskans face.
Parks and Recreation Director Kate Thomas was pleased to hear that adolescent mental health was among the senator’s priorities. “I think social media impacts our youth in a negative way,” he responded. “They’re getting it way too young, and studies are starting to show that very strongly.”
“I’m a Republican and I generally follow the principle of less government and more freedom,” he said in a Feb. 7 address to the Alaska Legislature. “But I believe government should step in when the financial interests of big business are hurting our people, particularly our young people. Big Tech’s business model is to get our children hooked.” He would consider instituting federal social media restrictions for children under 16.
U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Tory Houser mentioned her connection to the Southeast troll fishery, which is threatened by a lawsuit from Washington-based nonprofit the Wild Fish Conservancy. The conservancy claims that the National Marine Fisheries Service performed flawed environmental analysis in 2019 that has prevented sufficient king salmon from returning to Puget Sound to feed an endangered population of killer whales. If the suit succeeds, the fishery could be shut down or restricted until the analysis is redone.
Sullivan called the lawsuit “outrageous” and “an abuse of the Endangered Species Act,” especially since fisheries on Puget Sound and up the coast continue to harvest chinook. He applauded the borough assembly for passing a resolution in support of the fishery. “It’s really important for people to see Alaskans coming together on that.”
“We are not going to sue and settle on this,” he added. “We want to fight it hard in court.”
Rudy Briskar expressed concern about the community’s aging earthen dams, “substandard” water treatment plant and the pollution of the Stikine River by Canadian mines.
“I’m a very strong pro-resource development senator,” Sullivan responded. “I’ve also been very outspoken on the transboundary mining issue,” raising pollution concerns with Canadian officials.
Borough economic development committee member Brian Ashton brought up the Tongass roadless rule, which the Biden administration reinstated in Jan. 25 after it was dropped by the Trump administration in October 2020. “How can we get the Tongass opened up so that more Americans can actually come visit it,” he asked. “If you went to Yosemite and you didn’t have any roads in Yosemite, what are you going to do?”
Sullivan shared Ashton’s frustration that the roadless rule has been reversed, prohibiting most new road building in the Tongass. “Everyone who has been elected to state office has wanted an exemption to the roadless rule,” he said. “More than 80% of the Tongass is already set aside for wilderness. … I was very disappointed that President Biden did that.”
Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore told Sullivan how difficult it was for the borough to compete against municipalities nationwide for federal funds. Federal restrictions often prioritize communities that are on the road system, and the borough is port-dependent.
“When you’re applying for a grant, be sure you tell us,” Sullivan responded. “We will write letters of support. … We fund those agencies and if they stiff Alaska too much, we have our ways of saying, ‘well, you want to stiff my state? We’ll stiff your agency.’”
Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese of the Wrangell Cooperative Association brought up the lack of land available for Alaska Native veterans living in Southeast. Last fall, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management made over 27 million acres available to Native Vietnam veterans, but the parcels are largely in Western and Southwest Alaska. Many veterans in Southeast feel they have been excluded from the program.
Sullivan did not suggest a solution, since most unused land in Southeast is under federal protection and not available for distribution, but he reiterated the need to recognize veterans, particularly Native veterans.
Briskar closed the question period by stating his concerns about trawlers’ bycatch and the effects of trawling on marine environments. “They’re getting away with it, no restrictions,” he said.
Sullivan outlined his Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act, which recently passed. “The point of this bill,” he said, “is to say we need to bring the best scientific minds — state, federal, university, tribal, traditional knowledge as well — on what is happening to the salmon runs in Alaska.”
He is not sure whether bycatch is the primary culprit in the crashing king salmon runs, but hopes that further funding for salmon research will help Alaska find the answers.
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