Alaska governor's travel signals move to return to normalcy

Dunleavy and Zink brought COVID-19 vaccines to share with residents of Stewart, British Columbia, a couple miles over the border from Hyder.The trip also showed the challenges of getting around a state where most communities lack road access in or out.

Drummers and singers welcomed Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy to Metlakatla, with some blowing fluffy white eagle feather down — symbolic of spreading peace in Tsimshian culture — before he went to a meeting with tribal leaders on the only Indian reserve in Alaska.

In Hyder, a tiny southeast Alaska town on the border with Canada, Mark and Amy Bach invited Dunleavy to their house, where they had brownies waiting and most of their 12 children who live at home broke out instruments and sang for him. In Ketchikan, diners wanting to say hi or get a photo stopped by Dunleavy's table as he ate breakfast with Alaska's chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, and the area's state senator. In a trip aimed in part at promoting signs of re-emerging normalcy amid the coronavirus pandemic, Dunleavy visited the three southeast Alaska communities in one day last week, taking advantage of a streak of sunny weather in a region notorious for its rains for a journey that included float plane travel. The Republican governor tested positive for COVID-19 in February and has spent most of his term under threat of a recall effort. He cited increasing vaccine rates and efforts to manage the pandemic in seeking to move the state toward getting back to normal, including resuming trips like the one last Thursday.

“You have to start getting out,'' Dunleavy said, adding that issues the communities faced related to the pandemic and infrastructure also factored in to the decision. Hearing from people face-to-face is different than getting a letter, he said.

Ketchikan, which relies heavily on tourism, faces a second summer without stops from large cruise ships. Metlakatla officials are seeking to advance an electrical transmission project and Canadian travel restrictions have affected Hyder, whose only road access is through Canada. Dunleavy and Zink brought COVID-19 vaccines to share with residents of Stewart, British Columbia, a couple miles over the border from Hyder.

The trip also showed the challenges of getting around a state where most communities lack road access in or out. Dunleavy flew on Alaska Airlines about 230 miles (370 kilometers) from Juneau to Ketchikan, where he met with area leaders.

Dunleavy then had to fold his 6-foot-7-inch (2-meter) frame into the front passenger seat of a float plane — joking he needed a shoehorn to do so — for a roughly 75-mile (120 kilometer) flight to Hyder over snowy, mountainous terrain. From Hyder, he took the float plane, which carried seven people, to Metlakatla and later back to Ketchikan. By the time he returned to Juneau, about 14 hours had passed.

Dunleavy said his trip illustrated how Alaska is “an amazing place” and told The Associated Press he is considering seeking re-election next year, even as opponents continue gathering signatures to try to force a recall election fueled early on by anger over budget vetoes and proposed cuts. Dunleavy gave no timetable for making a decision on whether to seek re-election, saying his focus has been on the pandemic and the state's economic recovery. “But I know that decisions have to be made and people need to know what my future's going to hold. So, I'll let people know soon,” he said. Leaders in Ketchikan and Metlakatla, communities only accessible by air or water, brought up concerns with the state-run ferry system that many residents rely on, including ticket costs on boats that spike as the number of booked passengers rises.

During Dunleavy's first year in office in 2019, he proposed deep cuts to the ferry system as part of a broader plan to cut state spending that put him at odds with legislative leaders and drew public outrage. The impact of cuts that were made to the system were compounded by other issues, including maintenance needs within the fleet, resulting in limited service to some communities.

Dunleavy and legislative leaders said they are working on plans to bring more reliability in scheduling to the system.