Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

The spring season for commercial trolling for king salmon in Southeast Alaska winds up at the end of the month and in some regards it’s looking a lot like last year’s.

Businesses in Petersburg responding to an annual survey say they lost nearly half of their revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic and laid off nine percent of their workforce.

A regional non-profit hatchery organization did not release king salmon from a remote site at City Creek near Petersburg this spring.

The U.S. Forest Service is seeking feedback on a long list of deferred maintenance work for cabins, trails, roads, bridges and boat ramps on national forest land in Alaska. The agency is working to catch up on a backlog of repairs and replacements and has a relatively new source of federal funding to address some of those needs.

If you’ve flown in a commercial airline over Southeast Alaska, chances are the plane you took used a remote navigation and communications site at Level Island, about 25 miles southwest of Petersburg. That site’s operated remotely by the Federal Aviation Administration. While, it’s automated now, it used to be staffed by as many as 20 people. This year it’s nearing the end of clean up work for contaminated soils from leaking and spilled fuel and other hazardous materials. The size and cost of that project has turned out to be much larger than anticipated.