Tourism

Juneau’s planning commission has approved a $150 million development on the waterfront.

In addition to a new cruise ship dock, Huna Totem Corporation’s Aak’w Landing project will include a culture and science center, retail space and underground parking.

Last month, the commission approved Huna Totem Corporation’s permit application to build a new cruise ship dock. At the time, they stopped short of permitting the uplands development, saying they wanted more information – and public input – about the proposed amenities.

On Tuesday, the commission got that public input, and it was mostly in favor of the project.

Kerry Crocker, who leads the local International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said it could expand job opportunities for the union’s workers. They moor and unmoor ships at the docks downtown.

“These are good-paying jobs,” he said. “They’re living wage jobs. They provide a pension, benefits, healthcare. The additional work opportunity with this project is considerable for us.”

Norwegian Cruise Lines purchased the property in 2019 and gave it to Huna Totem in August 2022. 

 

Huna Totem’s original proposal included underground parking, retail space, restaurants and a park, with the use of one area still undecided. The new application proposed filling that space with a 40,000-square-foot culture and science center, built with help from Sealaska Heritage Institute and Goldbelt.

During a nearly four-hour meeting Tuesday night, 21 people spoke during the public comment period. Most were in favor, saying year-round amenities that promote local art, businesses and Alaska Native culture would be a welcome addition to the waterfront. 

“This project, and the partnership between NCL and Huna Totem, holds transformative potential beyond cultural preservation,” said Carla Casulucan, a Huna Totem shareholder. “It lays the foundation for economic empowerment and sustainable development not just for the city of Juneau and its residents, but also within our indigenous community.”

Those who spoke against the project were concerned about pollution and even more visitors. The city could still enforce its five-ship limit if Huna Totem builds Aak’w Landing, but cruise ships themselves are getting larger. 

“The basic problem facing us now as citizens is not that tourism is wrong or bad, but that there’s too much of it, and we’ve neglected to manage it in a reasonable way,” downtown resident Steve Krall said.

But Fred Parady, Huna Totem’s chief operating officer, said the project would help with that management.

“Shifting 125,000 people from one side of town to the other is significant in terms of pedestrian traffic flow,” Parady said.

Commissioner Erik Pedersen said the project would help lower tourism’s impact on the downtown area because buses could mostly avoid downtown on their way to the Mendenhall Glacier — which reached its tour capacity halfway through the season.

“It basically provides a great way to unload a ship,” he said.

Housing remained a concern for some commissioners. The zoning of the area allows developers to build both housing and commercial space. But Parady said housing was an option, not a requirement.

The commission voted to approve the conditional use permit application in a 7-1 vote. The only vote against came from Chairman Michael LeVine, who said he wasn’t convinced the project met the requirements of the property’s zoning without housing.

Meanwhile, Juneau resident Karla Hart has filed an appeal for the conditional use permit related to the dock. In her appeal, Hart said the public outreach and environmental analysis were inadequate. The Juneau Assembly will determine whether to accept or reject the appeal at its next regular meeting, on Aug. 21. Public comment on the appeal will not be accepted. 

Even if the project moves forward, the Assembly would still need to approve a lease of the city-owned tidelands before Huna Totem could build a dock.

A labor dispute in Skagway between the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway and its workers has ended. On Wednesday both parties signed an agreement that will keep the trains going and the workers on the job.

Rail workers for the White Pass & Yukon Route sought a wage increase to keep up with the cost of living in Skagway.

“Negotiations began six years ago,” said Jason Guiler, who chairs the local chapter of the union that represents White Pass’s 27 Alaska-based engineers, conductors and brakemen. “It started at the end of 2017, and with such a change that has happened in our environment, with COVID, and with the sale of the organization in 2018, and obviously there have been several factors that have allowed for that delay all the way until now.”

Guiler works on the company’s trains, taking tourists through the mountains and into Canada. He switches between positions — sometimes he is the engineer, sometimes the brakeman, or the conductor. He says workers like him had not gotten a raise in over six years.

But there was another sticking point. Tyler Rose, the executive director at White Pass and Yukon Route, said the company considered phasing out the brakeman position on the train. He says that position could have been automated.

“What we were looking at was with technology, into the future, the potential of something through attrition,” he said.

Guiler says the workers disagreed.

“That brakeman role, that third individual on board the train, that is a critical one,” he said.

He said with only three people responsible for the safety of up to 600 passengers, employees didn’t want to see that position eliminated.

“Though automation works in some areas and has in some capacity been used in a freight line to success, [it] just doesn’t work when you add the human factor into it,” he said.

Rose says the company conceded.

“It really is that balance between efficiencies and what makes sense, and managing the workforce in a positive way,” he said.

Eventually the parties drafted an agreement. The brakeman position would remain, health benefits be maintained, and workers would see a wage increase. Rose says he is pleased with the agreement.

“It’s a substantial wage increase that we are pleased with, and our employees are pleased with. We are just really happy to be moving forward with this,” he said.

Guiler says an overwhelming majority of the workers voted in support of the agreement. It was signed and went into effect on July 26.

“We look forward to being able to work together and move into the future, resting assured knowing that we are going to be able to enjoy those successes together with the organization,” he said.

The agreement will be up for review in 2027.

Alyeska Resort in Girdwood has a new attraction: the Veilbreaker Skybridges.

People can pay to walk 600 feet across two narrow bridges suspended 2,500 feet above the valley floor. Mountain General Manager Duane Stutzman said demand has been high since the July 10 opening.

“We were hoping that we would get three or four people per tour,” he said. “And we’re selling out.”

Stutzman said they’re training more guides next week, and plan on increasing the number of tours each day. Right now, tours are every two hours, six people each. It costs $150 per person.

Stutzman said it’s an experience most other resorts don’t have.

“A lot of your resorts will do a zip line or roller coaster, but he wanted something different that really showed what the Alaska lifestyle was all about,” he said.

The tours will run every day until the first measurable snowfall.

“We take the bridge apart in the winter, take all the foot walkways off of it, and then just let the cables hang there all winter,” said Stutzman. “We’ll come back in spring, and put it all back together again.”

The tour begins with a tram ride up the mountain. At the top, visitors are equipped with harnesses and helmets, and given a safety briefing. The guides take the group up a short but relatively steep hike to the bridges, where they are clipped into the safety cable and cross, at their own pace, one or two at a time.

Visitors are welcome to take pictures on the bridges, but the guides say that if they drop their phones, they won’t be getting them back.

Ryan Merrill, a tourist and self-described adrenaline junkie from Ohio, made the crossing with his son Caden on Thursday afternoon. He said it was more intense than he was expecting.

“Initially, it’s not bad, but you get out to the middle, you can really feel the bounce of it, you know, and you’re looking down at your feet,” he said. “It’s just straight down.”

But, he said, the view made it all worthwhile.

For Ron Verheul and his wife, Lucy, the Mendenhall Glacier was a must-see. The question was how to get there.

“I wanted to take the city bus because I wanted to save some money. Lucy wanted to take a tour bus. So we were still kind of on the fence about which way we were going to go,” Verheul said. 

When they got off their cruise ship and went to the visitor center at the dock, the decision had already been made for them.

“They told us the tour bus was not running,” he said. “So there was no other option.”

More than a dozen other visitors joined the couple, who were visiting from Vancouver, Canada, on the 2:30 p.m. bus from the Dredge Lake Road bus stop to downtown on Thursday. 

With tour bus visits to the Mendenhall Glacier sold out halfway through the season, tourists are increasingly using the city bus to get to and from Juneau’s top destination.

Pushed to the limit

Industry leaders expected this season to be bigger than ever, as cruise ships returned to pre-pandemic capacity. And so far, Juneau’s top destination has been feeling the squeeze. 

The U.S. Forest Service allows 517,650 people to visit the glacier on commercial tours each tourist season. That limit is based on an environmental analysis of the area, including of the infrastructure at the glacier. Once tour companies get their allocated number of permits, they start selling tours.

“In the past, the largest provider has not used all their permits, and they’ve been able to redistribute permits in the mid-to-late season,” said Alexandra Pierce, the city’s tourism manager. “But this year they’re using all their permits.”

That means there aren’t extra permits to redistribute to other companies who sell day-of tours at the dock. Now, unless visitors booked tours in advance, they can’t take tour buses to Juneau’s most popular attraction.

“These other operators sold out, anticipating a redistribution that isn’t going to happen,” Pierce said. “We’re in a situation now where a large number of visitors who want to visit the glacier won’t have the ability to.”

Pierce said the Forest Service has an extra 50,000 permits it saves until later in the season. But even if they distributed those to tour companies, it wouldn’t be enough to meet demand.

“It’s a drop in the bucket of what we actually need,” Pierce said.

The Forest Service is also considering expanding its facilities, which would allow for more permits. The proposed project includes more parking, a new welcome center and new trails.

Resident use and tourist demand collide

As tourists’ demand for the city bus increases, Juneau residents are feeling the impact. 

If buses are too full, drivers have to pass people by at stops. It’s happened at least 40 times since May, according to data compiled by Capital Transit staff. In a spreadsheet Pierce shared with the Juneau Assembly on Thursday, the number of people left behind at one time range from one to 29 at stops throughout the route. 

For example:

• On May 8 at 2:17 p.m., 10 people were left at the Yadaa.at Kalé Juneau-Douglas High School bus stop.
• On June 2 at 6:50 p.m, 11 people were left at the Fred Meyer stop. 
• On July 12 at 9:40 a.m., 25 people were left at the downtown transit center.

Juneau Assembly member Michelle Hale has ridden Capital Transit for more than a year. At an Assembly meeting earlier this month, she said availability of public transportation was vital for many of its regular riders.

“Often, the people that ride the bus are some of our most poor citizens – not always, of course – and might not have access to even figure out who to make that complaint to,” she told the Assembly. 

If the city has spare drivers, it can add them to in-demand routes. But with a statewide driver shortage straining both Capital Transit and tour companies, that can’t happen often enough to meet the demand.

Pierce said she’s heard stories of residents unable to get on a bus from Fred Meyer with their groceries or missing flights because they couldn’t take the bus to the airport. But the city can’t prevent tourists from taking public transportation.

“If you or I go to New York and ride the subway or go to London and ride the Tube, we wouldn’t get a little stop on the turnstile that says, ‘You don’t live here,’” she said. “Our duty as a local transit authority is to provide transit to everybody.”

A hack for tourists

Capital Transit is a considerably cheaper alternative to tour buses, and tourists know that. While city bus tickets are just $2 for adults, tour companies charge around $50 to $70 per person.

“On the travel blogs and forums, the city bus is kind of presented as a hack,” Pierce said.

But if time is money, Capital Transit might not be such a steal. A sign at the downtown transit center warns visitors that the bus rides can take about two hours total. The bus doesn’t go all the way to the visitor center parking lot – the closest bus stop is 1.5 miles away.

“Expect the trip to take at least 4-5 hours round trip from downtown,” the sign reads, pointing out later that “private tour buses only take about 30 minutes each way.”

Verheul said, between the stops along the bus route and the walk from Dredge Lake Road, the trip took up most of their time in Juneau.

“The bus is a bit of a milk run,” he said.

The shortage of glacier tours has driven visitors to other activities, like the Mount Roberts tram and whale watching. Cheryl Zachary, who was visiting Juneau on Thursday from Ohio, was taking Capital Transit from downtown to Glacier Gardens, a botanical garden near Fred Meyer.

“Whenever I travel, I like to use public transportation,” she said. “I feel like you get to meet local people and you get a feel of what it’s like to actually live in a place.”

The price was right, too. Zachary was staying at a hotel near the airport.

“If we Uber back to the hotel, it’s like $30,” she said.

‘Too many people’

The city is doing what it can to provide other ways for tourists to see the glacier on tours. They’ve issued additional permits for the parking lot at the Kaxdigoowu Heen Dei Trail, which has views of the glacier.

The city has hired a consultant to look at Juneau’s public transit system. Pierce said the city originally hired them to help plan a new bus route that could help tourists spread out in downtown. Now, they’re also working on what Capital Transit might do to remain available for both residents and tourists during the season.

She said both projects point to key challenges Juneau faces when it comes to tourism.

“We have a shore excursion supply and demand problem in Juneau,” Pierce said. “We’ve always been a destination where there’s a lot of options and a lot to do, but we just have too many people now.”

Pierce said they should have recommendations for the Valley bus route ready for city leaders next month. In the meantime, she wants Juneau residents to know the city is working to find a solution.

“I think we’ll see a busier downtown with more people wandering around,” she said. “We’ll get through this season and have a lot of winter project work to do.”

From shuttle buses to whale watching catamarans, tourism in Southeast Alaska largely runs on diesel. That means each tour releases greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. 

To counteract that, Sitka-based Allen Marine Tours launched a new partnership with Renewable Juneau’s Carbon Offset Fund last month. The goal is to pay for heat pumps in the communities where Allen Marine operates.

Electric heat pumps help homeowners swap fossil fuel for renewable energy. To spread heat pumps across the region, Allen Marine is collecting small donations from thousands of visitors that pass through Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan on their whale watching and glacier tours each year.

Allen Marine’s Director of Guest Experience Caitlyn Ellis says they hope the program will eventually generate thousands of dollars in donations. 

“That’s a lot of heat pumps. That is a big chunk of our community that could reassess how our buildings are heated in a sustainable and renewable way,” Ellis said. 

Allen Marine is one of the region’s largest tour companies, with hundreds of boat tours throughout Southeast Alaska each season. And they’re one of the largest tour companies in the region to adopt a carbon offset program. 

Carbon offset is the idea that a person or company can make up for their CO2 emissions in one area by paying to reduce emissions elsewhere. In this case, heat pumps run on renewable hydroelectricity instead of heating oil. So installing them cuts down on the use of fossil fuel in local homes to make up for the fossil fuel burned by Allen Marine tours. 

Carbon offset programs like the one at Juneau Carbon Offset put a price on carbon emissions. Though it isn’t an exact science, the goal is to figure out how much money is needed to eliminate a unit of CO2 from the atmosphere. For Allen Marine, that’s about $2 per visitor. 

“So, if every person donated $2, it would make up for the carbon footprint on board,” Ellis said. 

All visitor donations up to $25,000 will then be matched by Allen Marine. But despite the program’s lofty goals, it’s only raised about $3,000 since it launched last month. That’s because not every visitor makes a donation. 

The money is collected two ways. The first is an “opt-out” program. For independent travelers who book online, the donation is the default option at check-out. 

The second option happens on board. On every Allen Marine boat, there’s a kiosk with a local snack selection and complimentary coffee. There’s a small poster there that reads “Ready to reduce your carbon impact?”

“It’s kind of similar to a grocery store round up,” Ellis said. 

But instead of donating to a food pantry or an animal shelter, visitors donate to Juneau Carbon Offset, a program of Renewable Juneau that focuses on funding heat pumps for low income families. 

In the short time that the program has been up and running, the opt-out approach is bringing in more money. But the vast majority of tourists don’t book independently. Instead, they book through cruise lines. That means much of the program’s success will rely on their on board advertising. 

And for Allen Marine, the new challenge is bringing up climate change and greenhouse emissions without negatively impacting guest experiences.

“We don’t want to overwhelm them with information while they’re having a great time,” Ellis said. 

For some tour guides, talking to guests about the price of fuel, rather than emissions, feels more effective.  

“We’re in communities where all of our fuel gets shipped in,” Ellis said. “And that is something that a guest can understand.”

Ellis said marketing for the program will be refined during recruitment and training for tour guides in future years. And Allen Marine hopes to pursue negotiations with cruise lines to expand their opt-out donation approach.

Though money is trickling in so far, Ellis said the company is confident that they’ll be able to front the cost of at least one heat pump – about $7,000 — this year.

A cruise line is apologizing to passengers who witnessed the killing of dozens of pilot whales near their docked ship this week in the Faroe Islands.

Passengers aboard the cruise ship Ambition, owned by the U.K.-based Ambassador Cruise Line, had just arrived Sunday in the port of Tórshavn in the Danish territory when they caught the spectacle, part of a long-standing and highly scrutinized local tradition.

Among those passengers were conservationists with ORCA, a marine life advocacy group that seeks to protect whales and dolphins in European waters. Since 2021, Ambassador has paid for ORCA staff to join their cruises in order to educate tourists on marine wildlife and collect data on the animals.

In an account shared by ORCA and confirmed by Ambassador, the conservationists said over 40 small boats and jet skis herded the whales to a beach where 150 people worked to haul the animals ashore with hooks and slaughter them with lances.

In total, the hunt lasted about 20 minutes, ORCA said. Some of the animals, which included nine calves, took over 30 seconds to die.

Ambassador Cruise Line said it was “incredibly disappointed” that the hunt unfolded near the ship and that it continues to “strongly object to this practice.” The company asks their guests not to support the hunters by purchasing local whale and dolphin meat.

“We fully appreciate that witnessing this local event would have been distressing for the majority of guests onboard,” Ambassador said in a statement to NPR. “Accordingly, we would like to sincerely apologise to them for any undue upset.”

A representative for the Faroe Islands government did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment on Sunday’s hunt.

Long-finned pilot whales, which are technically a species of dolphin, are a medium-sized marine mammal that dwells in the North Atlantic, known for their bulbous head and sickle-shaped flippers. They’re protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but not currently listed as an endangered species.

The mammals live in social pods of up to 20 individuals, organized into a larger school of hundreds of animals — a social structure that makes them easy targets for whalers, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the Faroe Islands, the hunting of pilot whales is known as the “grindadrap” or “grind.” The Faroese view the tradition as central to their cultural identity and a sustainable way to gather food, according to a local government website.

The government says the killing is not highly commercialized. Each catch is “distributed for free in the local community” but “in some supermarkets and on the dockside, whale meat and blubber is occasionally available for sale.”

Multiple hunts can occur throughout the year, and each is carried out by people with a required license and supervised by elected officials. Local legislation stipulates the killing must be carried out as “quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The government says the average catch is around 800 animals, an insignificant impact on the overall pilot whale population, which it says is around 778,000 animals.

But a record single-day killing of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins in 2021 brought the practice into intensified scrutiny. The chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association told the BBC that the size of that killing was purely accidental.

That Sunday’s slaughter unfolded near the cruise ship made it seem as if the whalers were “flaunting the hunt and taunting the tourists,” many of whom were hoping to catch a glimpse of marine life in the wild, ORCA CEO Sally Hamilton said.

“It defies belief that the Faroese authorities allowed this activity to take place in clear sight of a cruise ship packed with passengers,” she wrote in a statement shared with NPR. “At some point, the Faroese authorities will have to decide if its marine life is a more attractive tourist proposition when it is alive than when it is being killed.”

The cruise ship was docked for a stop in Tórshavn, the main harbor of the 18-island territory between Iceland and the Shetland Islands. While the local government has invested more into its tourism sector, fishing and marine-related industries still remain the region’s top economic driver.