Robert Woolsey, KCAW - Sitka

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Robert Woolsey is the news director at KCAW in Sitka.
cigarette buts in a blue bucket

Sitka’s tourism boom has brought a staggering increase in cigarette butts

What started as a community cleanup has become a legitimate scientific study.
Bert Stedman

Stedman warns against overdrawing Alaska Permanent Fund to pay dividends

Senate Finance Committee co-chair Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, says state lawmakers must make tough decisions to keep the Permanent Fund healthy.
Thayer Creek

A long-awaited hydro project in Angoon can proceed, if funding can be found

The local Alaska Native corporation is seeking construction funds for the project, which is expected to fully replace costly diesel power.
a troller

Fish were plentiful, but fishermen scarce for Southeast Alaska’s first summer king opening

Southeast trollers brought in about 85,000 king salmon from July 1 to July 12, around 8,000 fish over the target for the first opener of the season.
a woman and two children pose with a salmon

Sitka’s seafood donation network connects abundance with scarcity in Western Alaska

The Seafood Distribution Network is supplying sockeye to families on the Yukon and Chignik rivers, whose traditional salmon runs have crashed.
infested trees

Scientists say Tongass trees could bounce back from budworm infestation

Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service believe that the blackheaded budworm, whose numbers surged over the past three years, is now in decline.
proposed Sitka airport expansion

Sitka’s airport expansion set for takeoff this fall

Sitka’s airport terminal is overdue for an expansion, and the city anticipates that federal funding will help get the project off the ground this fall.
Sitka cruise ship passengers

Sitka’s 13,000-visitor day was ‘far too many,’ mayor says

Three cruise ships brought more than 13,000 passengers and crew to Sitka on June 21, choking streets and prompting concerns about overcrowding.
a group of fishermen

NOAA says revised analysis could allow Southeast king salmon troll fishing, despite ruling

A fisheries official says a summer troll season for king salmon in Southeast Alaska is possible, despite a federal judge’s recent ruling to the contrary.
a troller

3 Alaska trollers contemplate a summer without chinook

Barring last-minute legal action, there will be no king salmon troll fishery in Southeast Alaska this summer or winter. Three trollers discuss what that means.
Tim Fulton

Sitka’s airplane equipment maker moves from prototype to production

Former Alaska Airlines "ramper" Tim Fulton's invention, designed to ease loading luggage into airliners, has just been bought by Malaysian Airlines.
a lingcod

What’s the best way to monitor for mercury in Alaska seafoods? Test human hair, says these researchers

Two researchers say the best way to track mercury levels in Alaska seafood isn't testing fish coming over the docks, but testing human hair.
two men

Moments before his sexual-assault trial, a former Sitka doctor takes a plea deal

On the first day of what was expected to be a lengthy trial, 79-year old Richard McGrath made a surprise plea deal for a two-year prison term.
A book called "Whispering Alaska" next to a bear

Tongass coming-of-age story wins prestigious award for eco-lit

A Sitka-based author has taken a detour into young adult fiction, and the diversion has paid off with a national award.
a depth sounder

More likely mud than magma, Sitka’s newest volcano is rising from the depths

A depth sounder near Sitka last month caught what appeared to be a volcano: A perfectly formed cone about 100 feet tall, with a plume of gas trailing from the top.
a design for a fish processing barge

A Sitka fish processor lost everything in 2020. Now it’s planning a comeback.

The 2020 wreck of its fish processing barge in Bristol Bay could have been the end for Northline Seafoods, but the Sitka-based operation is planning a comeback – in a big way.
marijuana plants

Marijuana cultivation to lead Alaskan job growth over next decade

The fastest job growth in Alaska over the next ten years will be in agriculture, but if you’re thinking farmers and cows, think again.
a man

Longtime Sitka Search and Rescue volunteer found dead on Mount Verstovia

Mike Motti was a veteran of Sitka’s Mountain Rescue team. He regularly climbed above treeline to a knoll overlooking Sitka, known locally as Picnic Rock, to celebrate his birthday.
An iPhone screen says the current risk is "low"

New dashboard warns Sitkans of landslide risk

A landslide warning system developed in Sitka is now available to the public as an online dashboard, and work is underway to export the project to other communities in Southeast Alaska. The dashboard was unveiled at...
moving vans parked on a street

Despite near-record job availability, more recent arrivals are choosing to leave Alaska

In the 1990s, just over half of people who moved to Alaska in their 30s stayed for at least 10 years. Lately that’s fallen to about 40%.