Law enforcement euthanized two more bears in Sitka, bringing the total to five this season. KCAW’s Lauren Salemo sat down with Steve Bethune, a wildlife management biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, to discuss bear season so far and how the decision to dispatch a bear is made.

BETHUNE: People ask me all the time, is this a better year than last year? How does it compare to prior years? And I’ve been doing this a while now, and the conclusion I’ve come to is that every year is the same and every year is different. We always have bear issues. Nothing ever happens exactly the same as it did the year before, but I’m not surprised, necessarily, at what’s going on this year.

KCAW: What happened with the two removals from this past weekend?

BETHUNE: So, right off the bat, I just want to say that we don’t kill bears in Sitka just because there’s bears in Sitka. We take those decisions very seriously. No bears are ever killed for no reason. Anytime we remove a bear, it’s because we think there is a high likelihood of additional property damage and a potential threat to public safety. So we could choose not to remove these bears —and there’s a chance that nothing would happen — but we’re not willing to take that chance. People are more important than bears, and if there’s a potential that somebody could get hurt, we’re going to take that bear then out of the population.

This year, things seem to be very related to livestock and chickens, in particular. And so we were kind of watching that and seeing, oh, this is going to be be the year of the chickens. We had a sow and two grown cubs that seemed to be keying in on that food source, and then they killed a goat, and that was kind of like over the edge. What’s next is potentially somebody’s pet. So that was like the moment where, like, okay, the decision we’re gonna make is to remove this bear.

So we started looking for those bears. And so one of the bears this weekend was kind of a case of mistaken identity — a bear in the wrong place, the wrong time — that we thought might be the sow that we’re looking for, but still exhibiting behavior that warranted removal. And then the bear in Totem Park was a bear that had been allowing people to get pretty close to it. And there was information that suggested that bear might have a gunshot wound from a previous incident with the police department. Well, now we have a bear that’s potentially wounded. Those bears can be aggressive and tend to be more dangerous, and also we have people approaching, and so we needed to check out this bear. So we did, and we determined it was not that sow, it was just a bear doing bear things in its natural habitat.

We kind of left it at that, and kind of handed it off to the park service, like we’re going to have to do some people management here. But then later that night, that same bear did have a negative interaction with a person where it acted very aggressively and bluff charged somebody. And so that, combined with people approaching this bear closely, we decided this is too dangerous of a situation for people. So we’re going to protect people even if people are behaving poorly and making poor decisions, because, again, people come first even when they’re not acting wisely.

KCAW: How exactly do you come to that decision, and why is it necessary, as opposed to, say, just relocating a bear?

BETHUNE: Relocating bears doesn’t work. We’ve demonstrated that over and over and over with the department over the past 50 years. We’ve tried it on numerous occasions that it rarely works. Every situation is a little different, and I guess that’s kind of where my expertise and experience dealing with these over the years comes into play. Sometimes it’s a very quick decision; a bear will have some sort of action that we’re like, “Well, we’re going to do this now.” For instance, bears that kill pets, bears that break into homes, bears that break into garages, that’s an absolute over-the-line. Other times it’s a series of events that kind of escalate. It’s on a trajectory that it’s not going to come back from, and we often take preventative measures in these cases.

KCAW: What happens to the bears’ remains after they’re put down?

BETHUNE: The hides get skinned and we send them to Anchorage, and they get sold at it. We have an annual hide, horn, fur auction. The carcasses generally are taken to the transfer station because the meat is not palatable. Oftentimes the raptor center doesn’t want the meat because they’ve been shot with lead bullets, and so that poses a hazard to the birds they have there, and the meat’s not fit for human consumption, it’s not fit for animal consumption, just because of the high parasite loads in them.

KCAW: Anything else you’d like to tell Sitkans?

BETHUNE: Because the bears were focusing on livestock this year, I just want to reiterate electric fences for your livestock. Your electric fence needs to be part of your action plan before you even start to gather your animals. You need to have those in place rather than getting your animals and then figuring out what your fencing is going to be like, and you’ve got to do a really good job of it. You can’t just string one one line of electric fence around the top of your chicken coop and call it good. These are very resourceful animals. They’re going to figure out a way to defeat weak electric fence systems.

The City of Sitka is continuing to brainstorm solutions to the island’s childcare shortage. In a special work session Tuesday night (6-16-26), the assembly decided to move forward with an option from a recently completed childcare study. It’s estimated to cost about $1 million a year. 

But assembly members still need to refine what they want in the plan before figuring out how to pay for it. 

Sitka has been grappling with the issue of childcare for years now: There aren’t enough options, it’s expensive for families already struggling with increasing daily costs, and there simply aren’t enough people working in childcare to expand capacity. 

The city decided to do something about it, and in January, hired a regional education nonprofit to write a report about the barriers to childcare and suggest possible solutions. Blue Shibler with the Southeast Childhood Collective released the 30-page report in March, and now the city is figuring out what to do next. 

“I think [Shibler] did a pretty good job of finding answers, or at least giving us some clarity as to what’s available and what isn’t, and some ideas about how we might move forward,” Assembly Member Tim Pike said at the June 16 meeting.

He said the city started its childcare discussion with three main goals in mind: To increase capacity, stop the rise in childcare costs for parents, and maintain the viability of existing childcare facilities in town.  

“My goal tonight is to see if we, as a group, can come up with what Sitka’s plan for childcare looks like going forward, so that we can see whether that matches what the community wants and/or needs, and also [have] a conversation as to how we figure out how to pay for that,” he added.

Eight community members spoke at the meeting, saying there’s a dire need for childcare solutions in Sitka. 

Dr. Kimberly Capp is a local pediatrician. She said childcare centers and programs like Head Start are important for children’s safety and for catching developmental disabilities. She said while the city, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, and Sitka Tribe of Alaska all continue to have meetings about childcare, no one wants to “own” the issue, and it’s time for that to change. 

“People are willing to pay for childcare, they just can’t pay more than they make,” Capp said. “So count the fees, count the possibility of grant partnerships or things like that, use the resources you have for excellent childcare in the limited spaces that exist, and help them help you expand.”

Patricia Bauder manages Avis Alaska Car Rental at the airport. She said they’ve lost several employees due to the lack of childcare options in Sitka, and it’s negatively impacted their business. She said the city needs to be involved in a solution, and suggested it provide subsidies to both families and childcare providers. She also pointed to a proposal in New York City that would tax high-value second homes to fund city programs, including expanding affordable childcare. 

“It’s difficult to attract people in the business of childcare because they’re not paid enough, and if you pay them what they’re worth, then parents can’t afford the cost of childcare,” she said.

Erin Clay moved to Sitka with her husband in 2014. She said finding childcare has been a continual stresser on her family since their four-year-old son was born, and that it’s affected her ability to work outside of the home. She said the system’s flawed, and suggested funding a career pathway for youth. 

“One of the biggest challenges that we’ve found is the turnover,” she said. “He’s had great caregivers, but they can make more money cleaning Airbnbs, which feels really broken.”

Assembly Member Katie Riley thanked the community for showing up. She said she thinks a “phased approach” is the best way to tackle the issue, and suggested filling Sitka’s existing facilities and stabilizing the system before trying to expand it. 

“There are not many problems that you can just throw money at and they get better, but this really seems like one of them, and that’s a unique opportunity,” Riley said.

Pike said the city could continue to study and study and study this problem, but it’s time for action. He said there are a lot of things the city asks the community to invest in because Sitkans want their lights to turn on and their roads to be paved. He said this is no different than that, and the city is going to ask the community whether or not they want to invest in their kids. 

“Is it going to cost people? Yeah. Is that a question that should be asked on a ballot? Absolutely,” he said. “We want the people of the community to tell us whether or not they want to invest in kids. I think everybody up here says this is good. Everybody in the room here says this is a really important thing, but the community is going to have to step up. It’s going to have to spend money, and they’re going to have to say, ‘This is important.’”

Ultimately, assembly members agreed to move forward with the report’s Program Option 3, a blended model which combines three strategies, including workforce incentives, per-child operating grants, and a family affordability component, which is estimated to cost about $1 million. They also unanimously expressed support for adding a workforce development component for youth into the plan.

The assembly plans to hold another work session on the issue in the coming months to hash out how to pay for it before putting the issue before voters. 

Sitka’s elementary schools made the Alaska Reads Act work last year. Now they’d like the funding to keep it working – KCAW

In Sitka, the results from the first year of the state education initiative program, Alaska Reads, were extraordinary. But this year is more of a struggle, as the state grant funding to support the program has mostly dried up, and positions once funded by the program have been cut or reassigned.

Students and teachers report a sharp decline in support for non-native English speakers in Ketchikan schools— KRBD

As flat funding continues to impact schools across the state, one demographic in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District may be getting hit especially hard – the large number of students who don’t speak English as their first language. Many current and former school district staff have been raising the alarm about what they say is a severe and concerning decline in resources for these students.

Skagway School credits community, teachers and a unique testing culture for its high test scores – KHNS

Skagway School District contains just one school, a one-story building with students from preschool to twelfth grade. It serves the families of the Southeast Alaska community that’s approximately 20 miles from the Canadian border. For the 13th year in a row, Skagway’s school district had the highest state scores in all assessed areas, according to administrators. KHNS reporter Melinda Munson interviewed school staff to get a better understanding of what makes this rural Alaskan school flourish academically.

In Wrangell, police and educators look to make students safer from school shootings – KSTK

School safety has been top of mind for a lot of school districts in recent years. Even though school shootings happen every year in the Lower 48, gun violence also happens in rural Alaska. And the state knows that – they require mandatory safety drills every month at public schools. KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki talked with Wrangell schools to see how they’re starting to improve keeping kids safe on their remote island.

As Alaska schools close, one Aleutian village bucks the trend – KUCB

While Alaskan schools are closing their doors, one remote Aleutian community is flipping the script.

For the first time in over a decade, children in Nikolski are back in the classroom.

A community’s fight to save Unangam Tunuu on St. Paul Island– KUHB/KUCB

In the remote, Bering Sea island community of St. Paul, educators and community members are working to preserve Unangam Tunuu, the traditional language of the Unangax people. But even as students learn to speak their ancestors’ tongue, the language faces an uncertain future.

In Southeast Alaska, travel for school activities can be a nightmare, but it’s worth it- KFSK

In remote Southeast Alaska, travel for school activities can be a logistical nightmare. But studies show it’s worth it – activities are good for kids academically, physically, and emotionally. Petersburg’s activities director agrees. This fall he spent long days working to bring seven teams to town for a high school volleyball conference.

Career openings at KCAW:

Sarah Hughes News Residency:
Raven Radio’s News Residency is a one-year program for early-career journalists looking to further develop their skills in a supportive, small newsroom environment in Sitka, Alaska, with a proven track record for training the next generation of exceptional audio journalists. View the job description here. For more information about the residency, please visit the Sarah Evangeline Hughes News Residency page here.

How to Apply: Submit a letter of interest, resume, and links to three examples of your best journalistic work to applications@kcaw.org. Please include your first and last name and the position title in the subject line.

Open until February 18, 2026 or when filled.

On December 16^th, KCAW aired special, locally-produced news and public affairs programming as part of “Southeast Celebrates News Day”, a one-day fundraiser for our News Department.  During the day, we raised $19,000.  Thank You to all new and sustaining members!

All who contributed, including sustaining members, were entered into a drawing for 2 roundtrip tickets on Alaska Seaplanes to any of their destinations.  We appreciate Alaska Seaplanes and you for contributing!

“Southeast Celebrates News Day” is a reminder of the vital community service Raven News provides – and it’s a service made possible by YOU.  We aired 5 one hour shows.  In case you missed them or would like to listen again, click on the links below.

“The Public Service of Raven Radio” 

Host:  Becky Meiers

Panelist:  Rich McClear

“Birds, Bears, and Baleens” 

Host:  Jacyn Schmidt

Panelists: Lauren Bell, Louise Brady, and Matt Goff

“The State of Health in The Panhandle” 

Host:  Martha Pearson

Panelists:  Kari Lundgren and Monica Chase

“Our Next Guest:  The Community Calendar” 

Host:  Cara Crain

Panelists:  Megan Pasternak, Andrew Roseman, and Michelle Friedman

“The Future of Fishing” 

Host:  Rob Woolsey

Panelists:  Heather Bauscher, Linda Behnken, and Harvey Kitka

If you contribute by December 31^st, you will be entered to win Alaska Seaplanes tickets.  Make your contribution here or call (907) 747-5877.  Thank You!

The mission of KCAW’s Community Advisory Board is to contribute to a dynamic conversation about what a commitment to community means for KCAW’s programming, partnerships, and presence, both on-air and off. 

KCAW seeks Community Advisory Board members who bring ideas, relationships, passion and follow-through, and are able to envision KCAW as a cultural institution as well as a broadcaster. The time commitment is expected to be one hour a quarter for meetings, plus the time needed to complete CAB-identified projects. The CAB will create a quarterly report to the Raven Radio Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors.

Specific tasks include, but are not limited to:

• Engaging in robust discussion about the role of public radio and how KCAW can best serve all our communities of license, including translator communities.
• Providing feedback on programming, including advising station leadership in setting programming goals and evaluating on-air programs. 
• Helping KCAW to see opportunities for community engagement and voice in alignment with the station’s strategic priorities.
• Auditioning interstitial content (audio pieces under 10 minutes in length) and making recommendations.
• Informing and drafting a ‘show proposal’ process for new programs, identifying underrepresented voices and areas where KCAW can better meet our mission.
• Conducting focus groups and other audience fact-finding/assessment activities, focusing on quantifiable, measurable data collection.

If you’d like to become a member of the CAB, or have any questions, please contact generalmanager@kcaw.org.

Our next CAB meeting will be September 15th, 6-7:30pm at the station (2B Lincoln Street, Sitka) and via Zoom (link here)

CAB members include:

• Jeanne Stolberg
• John Herchenrider
• Noah Galarza
• Columbus Byrd
• Mary Hames
• Taylor White (Board Representative)
• Mariana Robertson (Management Representative)