Environment

On a sandy beach in a state park in Ketchikan, a group of local beachcombers encountered something ominous: shells of two invasive European green crabs, shed as part of the creatures’ growth process.

That discovery, made during a June 6 beach survey that was part of a class held by the University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan campus, led to more in the community.

It makes Ketchikan the newest known Alaska beachhead in a northward invasion of non-native crabs that are known to wreak havoc on native species and habitats.

European green crabs, first confirmed to be in Alaska when their shells were discovered in 2022 on Annette Island in the far southeast corner of the state, are likely here for good, said the UAS professor who was one of the class instructors and helped lead the beach surveys.

“They have continued to spread. They will continue to spread,” said Barbara Morgan, who is based in Ketchikan. “They are expected to spread through Southeast Alaska, probably most of Southcentral — kind of the southern coast of Southcentral. And maybe, depending on water temperature and how tolerant they are to the colder water temperatures, they might go up into the really southern part of the Bristol Bay area, too.”

In time, they could threaten some of Alaska’s most important habitats for salmon and other fish.

The crabs eat salmon fry, juvenile native crabs like Dungeness and other fish, and they mow down eelgrass beds that are important Alaska fish habitat.

“Green crab could potentially damage Alaska’s multi-billion dollar fisheries industries, especially for salmon, crab, and mariculture operations,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned.

European green crabs were first found in waters of the U.S. East Coast in the 1800s, believed to have been transported in ships’ ballast water. In 1989, the first green crabs were discovered in U.S. West Coast waters, also believed to have been carried accidentally in ballast water. Over the following years, they spread northward. The first sightings in British Columbia were in 1998.

The Alaska first discovery, at Annette Island, was about 30 miles south of the beach site where Morgan’s class found the crab shells in June. And last summer, green crab shells were found at Gravina Island, just west of Ketchikan.

An eventual discovery in Ketchikan was largely expected. But the precise site of the June 6 discovery — at Refuge Cove State Recreation Site — was a bit surprising because of the nature of the site, Morgan said.

Green crabs generally prefer estuarine areas, places where freshwater and saltwater meet, and places with thick eelgrass, she said. But the Refuge Cove beach site is sandy and not an estuary, and thus not considered to be a prime spot for the crabs.

Crabs’ upper shells, called carapaces, are discarded periodically as the animals grow and need larger shells. Discovery of the molted shells suggests that the invasive crab were in the larval stage when they were pushed by currents north to Alaska, Morgan said.

After the first two shells were found during the class survey, the discoveries in the community “snowballed,” with additional shells found at Refuge Cove, plus more at other sites along the Ketchikan road system, she said. It is likely that there are more at other sites that are less accessible for surveys, she said.

How to respond?

The species’ name can be confusing because the crabs are not necessarily green, Morgan said. They can be brown or yellow or reddish, or a mixture of colors, she said. Meanwhile, some native crabs that do belong in Alaska are green, including kelp crabs, and should not be mistaken for the invaders, she said.

The “European” part of the name is not accurate, either, she said. “Yes, they came from Europe; they’re not in Europe anymore,” she said.

Morgan and other invasive species experts are trying to spread awareness — and the message about what the crabs look like. Telltale signs come from the shape of the shells, which have three bumps between the crabs’ eyes and five spikes on either side.

The Metlakatla Indian Community, a Tribal government on Annette Island, has been particularly active in combatting European green crabs.

The Tribe established a detection program in 2020 and made the first discovery of shells in 2022, as well as the Gravina Island discoveries last year.

Through its program, the Tribe has also trapped thousands of European green crabs. The total had reached about 3,000 as of last summer, according to the Department of Fish and Game, and it continues to grow.

In just the past month, the Tribal team trapped over 300 of the live crabs on Gravina Island, said Ian Hudson, a fisheries biologist who coordinates the Tribe’s European green crab program.

“This year there has been an explosion in numbers, and we’re not at all surprised that Ketchikan is finding carapace,” he said by email.

Metlakatla’s efforts are highlighted in the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s 2023-2028 plan for combatting European green crabs. That plan lays out steps for prevention, early detection, rapid response and control.

But by now, full prevention may not be possible anymore, Morgan said.

With millions of European green crabs on the West Coast, and with currents that continue t send their larvae north, it is highly unlikely that all incursions could be prevented, she said.

“Even if we get rid of all of them in Alaska, we would need to build a fence across Dixon Entrance, a fine net. And that’s obviously not going to happen,” she said, referring to the maritime border site between Canada and Alaska.

Instead, she said, “functional eradication” like what the Metlakatla Indian Tribe is doing with trapping is likely to be increasingly important, with focuses on key sites important to native species like salmon and Dungeness crab. Baseline surveys can help identify those areas that need to be most protected, she said.

Part of a wider invasive threat

While the European green crab is considered to be among the world’s most damaging invasive species, it is not the only one that threatens Alaska’s environment and fishing industry.

Another example is elodea, a freshwater plant often used in aquariums. First found in Eyak Lake in Cordova in 1982, it has spread to other lakes and streams in Southcentral and Interior Alaska. Potential economic losses — to commercial sockeye salmon and to recreational floatplane pilots — could be well over $1 billion, Tobias Schwoerer, a University of Alaska Fairbanks economist, estimated in a 2017 study.

Invasive northern pike in Southcentral Alaska, which have proved to be persistent, also pose ecological and economic threats. The fish prey on salmon, trout and other native species. The Department of Fish and Game has a program to remove invasive pike and try to limit their spread.

For now, much of the work to combat nonnative species is coordinated by the Alaska Invasive Species Partnership, a coalition of government agencies, university experts, nonprofits and community organizations.

The partnership has advocated for years for the establishment of a more robust organization within state government, an invasive species council, to organize wider protection and rapid response, if needed.

Bills pending in the Alaska Legislature would do that. One measure, House Bill 191, made it through one committee. A Senate version, Senate Bill 174, had two hearings.

In past years, similar bills progressed through the Legislature but failed to make it to final passage. The most recent was in 2022, when a bill to establish a state invasive species council passed the House by 33-2 margin but failed to reach the Senate floor before that session’s adjournment.

Proponents hope results in the coming session will be more successful.

The sponsor of the current House bill, Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, worries not only about green crabs moving their way through Southeast Alaska but also invasive plants like knotweed that have appeared in important community spots like Harbor Mountain.

“Each year, there’s more knotweed and less salmonberries,” she said in an interview late in the session. She hopes the bill will win final passage next year, she said.

Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, is another proponent of an invasive species council.

He said he has been aware of invasive species since his childhood in Cordova, where he and a friend earned money from a neighbor by killing invasive black slugs at about a nickel apiece. Later, as a member of the Anchorage Assembly, he worked on efforts to remove invasive chokecherry trees, which were introduced as ornamentals but have since crowded out native species along the city’s greenbelts.

Dunbar acknowledged concerns that an invasive species council would cost the state money because it would require a dedicated employee in the Department of Fish and Game. But he argues that failing to set up such a council would cause more expense in the long run.

“I would say, we can’t afford to not prevent invasive species from entering Alaska,” Dunbar said in an interview near the end of this year’s session. “It is very expensive to have invasive species to start pushing out native species.”

Correction: The article incorrectly stated the number of hearings that Senate Bill 174 had. It had two.

Steve Kroschel over the last two decades has offered tens of thousands of visitors close-up views of animals including wolves, moose – and a brown bear named Kitty.

But on a walk through the Kroschel Films Wildlife Center in Mosquito Lake on Friday morning, the property was quiet. The animal enclosures appeared empty. Save one – it held a mink.

The critter, it seemed, was left behind after Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game arrived at the property on Thursday, executed a search warrant and seized 39 animals. No charges have been filed, but a copy of the warrant provided to KHNS by Kroschel’s attorney indicates he’s under investigation for crimes including animal cruelty.

Dennis Seifert, who lives down the road and sometimes helps out at the center, stopped by on Friday at the request of center staff.

“I’m just feeding the weasel that the cops missed,” Seifert said, after tossing a dead quail into the enclosure and filling a water dispenser. “We didn’t think they were going to get them because there’s underground tubes that run all around the property for them to travel in.”

The raid comes amid a years-long saga between Kroschel and the state of Alaska – namely, the Department of Fish and Game.

The facility has been around since the early 2000s. By Kroschel’s count, it draws between 8,000 and 10,000 people every year.

Once inside, visitors are greeted by decorative piles of bones, and enclosures fastened with fencing, posts and hand-written warnings. Wooden planks on the moose enclosure, for instance, read: “Stay Back! Will Kick!” and “Do Not Touch Moose.”

A recent inventory report from Kroschel said he had 59 animals. But the state of Alaska is ultimately responsible for managing wildlife – including captive game. In fact, some were placed at the facility by Fish and Game, including a moose calf in 2022 and two minks in 2023, an agency spokesperson said.

But Fish and Game staff say they’ve been concerned about the facility for years, and more recently have asked Kroschel to address everything from what they say are inappropriate feeding practices to insufficient enclosures.

Kroschel, meanwhile, says he’s complied with the requests and that his facility is safe for both humans and animals.

“The [Alaska Department of Fish and Game] has wanted to get rid of me, and shut me up and shut me down for years. Three years,” Kroschel said in a phone interview on Monday.

“But I’ve been doing this for 24 years here in Haines, licensed and operating. No one’s ever gotten bitten, and there’s not been anything egregious has happened,” he added.

Animal welfare, feeding, hygiene concerns

Kroschel acknowledges that there have been some incidents. In 2023, for instance, a moose escaped from its enclosure and wandered off the property. And in 2021, a bear broke into the facility and killed two moose.

Then, last August, Kroschel’s federal license lapsed. The Chilkat Valley News reported at the time that it was later reinstated, but in the meantime, Fish and Game revoked his state educational permit. The agency did so on the grounds that he didn’t have the required federal license – and pointed to a long list of other concerns.

“The underlying problems have to do with animal welfare, basic care and feeding, hygiene, those kinds of things. And also security,” Mark Burch, who serves as the assistant director of Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife Conservation, said in an interview in mid-June.

Kroschel contends he’s done everything the regulators have asked him to do – from fixing and expanding enclosures, to adding new fencing and more.

In April, Kroschel reapplied for the state permit. But in a May 2 letter seen by KHNS, Fish and Game said staff had reviewed the new application and identified more concerns.

Among them: Kroschel reported using pool treatment chemicals to clean animals’ drinking water, which the department said could be toxic if consumed regularly.

“I encourage you to realistically assess if you can meet the requirements listed below, and if not, please advise us of that. If the issues are not corrected by June 15, 2025, I will not issue a 2025 permit,” Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang wrote in the letter.

Michelle Bittner, an attorney who has been working with Kroschel on permitting issues, said she and Kroschel responded to the agency’s concerns in late May. That included by clarifying that Kroschel had used small amounts of chlorine dioxide to clean water receptacles, and by submitting a positive report from a veterinarian, who visited the property earlier that month.

When Bittner followed up on the status of the permit on June 21, Vincent-Lang replied that the Fish and Game was coordinating with other agencies and would have a decision soon, according to an email exchange seen by KHNS.

Bittner said that was the last communication from the commissioner before state wildlife troopers and Fish and Game staff arrived at the property on June 26, executed the search warrant and seized the animals.

An ongoing investigation

Alaska Department of Public Safety Spokesperson Austin McDaniel said he can’t comment further on the warrant, which is confidential, or potential charges mid-investigation.

But the warrant indicates the troopers were there to gather evidence related to animal abuse. It also says animals seized included Kitty, Kroschel’s brown bear, a moose, three wolves and three lynx.

Kroschel said that when he returned to the property after the fact, he found a range of animals had been left behind – including the mink, and an injured fox. He added that the warrant has some inconsistencies.

“Where the hell did they get three lynx? There’s two lynx. So either they don’t know how to even identify a species, or they can’t count,” he said.

Fish and Game spokesperson Shannon Mason declined to answer a list of questions earlier this week about the decision to remove the animals, and where they are now.

But the agency said in a statement on Tuesday that it had relocated 39 animals from the facility – and that some were left behind. The animals were then transported to Anchorage. Two animals died during the operation – a wolf, before transport, and a snowy owl, which was euthanized once in Anchorage “due to pre-existing health conditions,” the statement said.

Kitty the bear has reportedly been transferred to the Alaska Zoo. Reached in Anchorage by phone on Wednesday, Kroschel said he visited the zoo and saw Kitty in an enclosure.

McDaniel, with the public safety department, directed all animal-related questions to Fish and Game. He added that troopers did not relocate any animals during their search for evidence and that he can’t provide a timeline for the investigation.

Kroschel, for his part, is still processing the raid – and potential criminal charges. He said the animals are his family and that he will continue working to protect them.

“How would you feel if your family was torn away from you and you didn’t even know where they went, how they are almost a week later?” he said.

In an aim to make some money in the interim, he’s working to launch a new tour attraction in Skagway. Pending permit approval, he said tourists will be able to purchase a ticket and spend 30 minutes with his reindeer. Unlike the other animals, they’re considered livestock – and aren’t managed by Fish and Game.

Skagway Borough Manager Emily Deach said in an email that commercial tourism activities in the borough’s industrial zone require a conditional use permit. Kroschel has submitted a permit application for the “feeding and viewing of reindeer for tourism.”

Deach said the Skagway Planning and Zoning Commission will review the permit application July 10.

Juneau officials are updating the local hazard mitigation plan to make the city eligible for federal disaster funding.

The update must be finished by October in order to qualify for a federal grant to fight glacial outburst floods in Mendenhall Valley. The more than 300-page draft risk assessment covers everything from severe weather to cybersecurity. But at a public meeting on Monday, people wanted to talk about one thing: landslides.

That’s because the draft includes landslide maps made in 2022 that the public rejected and the Juneau Assembly did not adopt. The maps made it into the draft because the Federal Emergency Management Agency requires that the plan uses the best available data.

Laura Young is the business manager at Fairweather Science, the contractor creating the assessment. She said that landslides are mentioned in all of the public comments she’s received so far.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we’re providing the information, but we’re not providing it in a way that causes harm or is political in any way,” Young said. 

Residents have described how the landslide maps have affected their property values, even though the city didn’t formally adopt them. 

Larry Fanning lives on Starr Hill, a neighborhood hemmed in by steep mountains. He said his neighbor had to significantly drop the price of their home when they sold it.

“Unfortunately, there’s unintended consequences to publishing these maps in the hazard mitigation plan, because the appraisers are going to use that data to determine property values,” Fanning said. “So my recommendation would be to go more generic.”

Since the city hasn’t adopted the maps, they can’t be used to impose land-use restrictions on property owners. But because they are publicly available, the maps can be used by assessors, lenders, insurers and buyers to the potential financial detriment of owners.

In response to the public feedback, Young said she’s removed the controversial hazard severity labels from the risk assessment — so now the draft simply shows that the downtown area deals with landslides. 

The city and the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which is working with the city on the assessment, plan to share a list of potential hazard mitigation projects for public comment this week. 

Proposed public land sales in Alaska are no longer included in the GOP budget bill that is making its way through the Senate this week. 

A mandate to sell somewhere between 2 and 3 million acres across the western U.S. was first struck down by the Senate Parliamentarian last week because it was irrelevant to the budget. U.S. Senator Mike Lee, the Utah Republican who introduced the provision, then tried to write about 1.2 million acres back in. 

But on Saturday, Lee withdrew the land sale provision completely, announcing on X that it was because he was unable to prevent the land from being sold to foreign interests or BlackRock.

Republicans, including U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, initially said selling the land would allow it to be developed into affordable housing. But much of the identified public lands, which could have included areas of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests and remote parts of the Interior, are not suited for housing development. 

The idea sparked public outrage among outdoor recreation enthusiasts from across the political spectrum. Some Republican representatives from Colorado, Idaho and Montana even spoke out against the sell-off. U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan indicated support for the land sales before they were stripped from the bill. 

Senate Republicans aim to pass the bill by July 4.

Update, Tuesday 11 a.m.:

The glacial outburst flood event on the Taku River has ended.

According to an update from the National Weather Service, the river crested early Tuesday morning without reaching flood stage. Water levels will continue declining throughout the day.

“People who live on or near the Taku River should remain alert of the river conditions and potential remaining debris in the water. Otherwise no impacts are expected,” the update reads.

Original story:

A glacial outburst flood is underway on the Taku River south of Juneau. Although water that was held back by glacial ice is draining out of Lake No Lake, the National Weather Service forecasts that the release is not expected to breach the Taku River’s banks. 

Aaron Jacobs, a senior hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Juneau, said the release started Sunday night. To issue the forecast, he looked at water volumes that burst from Lake No Lake in past years and snowpack data from this winter. 

“Since we are about below normal on our snowpack, we’re not seeing any additional inflow into Lake No Lake that would have put our water volume above what the normal water volume released would be,” Jacobs said.

The water is expected to crest at 41.9 feet around 10 a.m. on July 1. That’s below the height that would make it a minor flood, which is 43 feet, so no flooding is expected at this time. 

But Jacobs said boaters should be vigilant.

“People in the area should be aware of any debris floating down the river and then also into Taku Inlet,” he said. 

Jacobs says the National Weather Service will update the forecast if there are major changes.