What others say: Southeast Alaska Discovery Center worth saving

  • Wednesday, August 10, 2016 6:37pm
  • Opinion

When the Southeast Alaska
Discovery Center opened in 1995, any visitor who stepped inside the $10 million facility was immediately aware of its world-class quality.

Its combination of static and interactive displays provided illuminating information about the natural environment, Native culture and industries of Southeast Alaska. Its theater/presentation space was top-flight. Its learning room and book shop space evoked a fine wilderness lodge. It was a comfortable, intriguing place in which people could learn many things about this region.

It still is.

The continued wonderfulness of the facility belies the difficulties that its owner, the U.S. Forest Service, appears to be having in providing anything more than the most threadbare of shoestring budgets for the center’s operation. The remaining staff members should be commended for their energy, efficiency and enthusiasm in doing the best possible job under the circumstances.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

To its credit, the agency has reshuffled its organizational flowchart to put the Discovery Center under the broader Tongass National Forest rather continuing it under the smaller Ketchikan/Misty Fiords Ranger District. That could prove helpful to the Discovery Center’s future. The Forest Service in Southeast Alaska, however, is an agency that’s evolving with changing times. We don’t have hard data, but the Forest Service’s presence in the region appears to have shrunk since the mid-1990s — not at the same rate, but certainly in parallel, with the decline of the timber industry.

The agency’s many responsibilities in managing a vast tracts of federal land in Southeast Alaska likely means that the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center is rather low on the priority list. Fiscal constraints seem to be hampering its ability to maintain existing recreational facilities in this area.

Attracting more visitors to the Discovery Center would help. At first glance, it seems as though visitors would be swarming a quality interpretive center that’s just steps away from Ketchikan’s cruise ship docks. But the competition for those visitors’ time, attention and dollars is fierce, and few folks who depend on the visitor trade have a big incentive to promote the Discovery Center. That leaves Discovery Center promotion and program offerings largely in the hands of the Forest Service, which appears to already have its hands full in just trying to keep the Discovery Center’s doors open.

It’s a difficult situation, without evidence of a simple solution. The Ketchikan community has great facility in the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center. It’s worth finding a way to keep it intact and viable for many years to come.

—Ketchikan Daily News, Aug. 4, 2016

More in Opinion

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. (Doug Mills/The New York Times file photo)
Opinion: Mistaking flattery for respect

Flattery played a role in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Life is harder when you outlive your support group

Long-time friends are more important than ever to help us cope, to remind us we are not alone and that others feel the same way.

Deven Mitchell is the executive director and chief executive officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.)
Opinion: The key to a stronger fund: Diversification

Diversification is a means of stabilizing returns and mitigating risk.

A silver salmon is weighed at Three Bears in Kenai, Alaska. Evelyn McCoy, customer service PIC at Three Bears, looks on. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Will coho salmon be the next to disappear in the Kenai River?

Did we not learn anything from the disappearance of the kings from the Kenai River?

Jonathan Flora is a lifelong commercial fisherman and dockworker from Homer, Alaska.
Point of View: Not fishing for favors — Alaskans need basic health care access

We ask our elected officials to oppose this bill that puts our health and livelihoods in danger.

Alex Koplin. (courtesy photo)
Opinion: Public schools do much more than just teach the three Rs

Isn’t it worth spending the money to provide a quality education for each student that enters our schools?

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters at the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter to the Editor: Law enforcement officers helped ensure smooth, secure energy conference

Their visible commitment to public safety allowed attendees to focus fully on collaboration, learning, and the important conversations shaping our path forward.

Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire file photo
The present-day KTOO public broadcasting building, built in 1959 for the U.S. Army’s Alaska Communications System Signal Corps, is located on filled tidelands near Juneau’s subport. Today vehicles on Egan Drive pass by the concrete structure with satellite dishes on the roof that receive signals from NPR, PBS and other sources.
My Turn: Stand for the community radio, not culture war optics

Alaskans are different and we pride ourselves on that. If my vehicle… Continue reading

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) delivers his annual speech to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Sullivan, Trump and the rule of lawlessness

In September 2023, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan established his own Alaska Federal… Continue reading

UAA Provost Denise Runge photographed outside the Administration and Humanities Building at the University of Alaskas Anchorage. (courtesy photo)
Opinion: UAA’s College of Health — Empowering Alaska’s future, one nurse at a time

At the University of Alaska Anchorage, we understand the health of our… Continue reading

U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, address a joint session of the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: A noncongressman for Alaska?

It’s right to ask whether Nick Begich is a noncongressman for Alaska.… Continue reading

Boats return to the Homer Harbor at the end of the fishing period for the 30th annual Winter King Salmon Tournament on Saturday, March 23, 2024 in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Opinion: Funding sustainable fisheries

Spring is always a busy season for Alaska’s fishermen and fishing communities.… Continue reading

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in