Alaska
Congressional delegation pledges support as FEMA joins Western Alaska storm response
A day after Gov. Mike Dunleavy asked President Donald Trump to approve a major disaster declaration for Western Alaska to unlock funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed it had received the request and sent staff to Alaska, but did not provide a timeline for approving the disaster declaration.
“We’re in receipt of the governor’s request and working closely with Alaska and talking with the leadership hand in hand,” the FEMA press office wrote Saturday in an unsigned statement.
The request for the disaster declaration came days after the remnants of Typhoon Halong battered several villages in Western Alaska, leaving one person dead and two missing as dozens of homes floated off their foundations. Hundreds of residents from Kipnuk, Kwigillingok and other communities have been evacuated to Bethel and Anchorage.
As of Friday, 64 FEMA staff were dedicated to the Alaska storm response, the officials wrote, including two state liaison officers, two tribal liaisons and two mass care specialists who are embedded at the State Emergency Operations Center in Anchorage to provide technical assistance to the state and tribal partners.
FEMA also activated a response coordination center in Washington state and began collecting imagery of the impacted areas to provide early damage assessments to responders, officials wrote.
Members of Alaska’s congressional delegation in speeches at the annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Friday and Saturday praised the response from local, state and federal agencies.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski called the response from FEMA and other organizations “fabulous.”
However, she said she remained concerned about next steps in assisting impacted communities and residents.
“As with every disaster, it seems that complications always come when you are in that recovery end of things, when you’re actually working through individual assistance applications,” she told reporters in Anchorage.
She said there could be challenges for Yup’ik speakers who are not fluent in English in filling out FEMA forms that are not adapted to the unique concerns of rural Alaska.
“So I’m not worried about the immediate — I’m worried about what comes next,” she said.
Murkowski, along with U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, pledged their commitment to ensure the federal government assists impacted individuals.
Begich said he intends to work with Murkowski and Sullivan “to pursue every opportunity available to ensure that families have both the immediate relief that they need and the long-term support that they need to get back on their feet.”
Sullivan praised a social media post from Vice President JD Vance, who wrote on Friday that the federal government is working to get help to affected Alaskans.
“I think that’s good when it comes from the top of the administration,” Sullivan said.
Murkowski was the first member of the congressional delegation to have visited the impacted region, with a short trip to Bethel and Kipnuk on Friday. She provided a more detailed view of what lies ahead during her Anchorage speech.
“It’s pretty powerful to observe first, to hear carefully what the needs are, before we swoop in from Washington or from afar to tell you what to do in your communities,” Murkowski said.
“I want to underscore — what you decide is best, because I will not accept that there are those who are from Washington, D.C., from other parts of the country, who have never been to your region, who have never heard your stories, that they feel that somehow they can determine your future,” Murkowski said, addressing a crowd of hundreds of Alaska Native people from across the state, including the region hit hardest by the storm.
Murkowski said that after meeting with teachers in the Kipnuk school, she thought it was important for children from the affected community to be kept together, even if they are unable to return to their village site for the foreseeable future.
“The more that we can keep these children and these families together in these communities while they are displaced, while they are out of their home, that is what we can do to help them,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski also took time in her speech to respond to the Environmental Protection Agency, which this week defended its decision to rescind a $20 million erosion mitigation grant awarded to Kipnuk — one of the hardest-hit villages — under the previous administration.
In a social media post, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the cancellation of the grant prevented the money from being “swept into the Kuskokwim River.”
Murkowski said she was “offended” by the comment.
“I am outright mad that some have suggested that it is a waste of taxpayer dollars to protect Alaskan communities. We are Americans. Every single person that has been impacted is an American that deserves to be treated with that level of respect,” Murkowski said, eliciting prolonged applause.
The Kipnuk grant would likely not be revived, Murkowski said, “but we’re working to get some portion of that funding to go toward Kipnuk again.”
“We’re still fighting for the funding that we secured, including the resilience grants for Kipnuk that were canceled earlier this year, and while that funding may not have come in time to prevent the disaster that we saw this past week, they may prevent future disasters, and that’s the point,” said Murkowski.
Murkowski said that the Alaska congressional delegation would “keep pushing the administration” to restore funding meant for Alaska, after dozens of grants were canceled earlier this year due to Trump’s targeting of renewable energy and climate change initiatives.
“Simply recovering from this storm isn’t enough,” Murkowski said. “We have to be ready for the next one and the next one to follow, in Kipnuk and in every village, because these once-in-a-century storms are now arriving seemingly every year, and we have to prepare.”
• • •
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KETCHIKAN, Alaska – An arched sign stretching between two city blocks welcomes travelers to “Alaska’s first city” and the “salmon capital of the world.” But Ketchikan, the first port on many Alaska cruises, has another nickname: the “totem pole capital of the world.”
Totem poles are unique to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The ones around Ketchikan are particularly old and numerous.
“The history and the clans that own (the totem poles), like their animal clan crests, those are still living,” said Irene Dundas, Cultural Resources manager for the Ketchikan Indian Community. According to KIC’s website, its tribal citizens descend from Southeast Alaska’s three main Native peoples – Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian – as well as other Alaska Native tribal nations. “We’re not black-and-white photos … We still practice our culture every day, and we live it.”
“Travelers should know that there are spectacular and diverse Indigenous experiences and stories across every region of the United States, each unlike the other and each transcending generations to get to them,” said Sherry L. Rupert, who is Paiute and Washoe and CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association.
Here’s what else visitors should know about Ketchikan, the “totem pole capital of the world.”
Why it matters
“Totem poles are often used to show like family history, clan relationships, crest animals, stories, events, or to memorialize a specific person or event, like a battle or a visit by a dignitary, those types of things,” said Hazel Brewi, a visitor information assistant at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, an interagency visitors center for public lands across the state.
There are more than 80 totem poles around Ketchikan, many of which are visible to the public, according to Erika Jayne Christian, program coordinator for Ketchikan Museums, which include the Totem Heritage Center, where the oldest totem poles are found.
Normally, she said, “They’re only really meant to last a generation – 70 or 80 years from the time that this giant western redcedar is felled and then carved and then raised in ceremony” until it naturally deteriorates.
However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, residents of Native villages on neighboring islands began moving to Ketchikan for various reasons, including job opportunities. When surveyors went back decades later, they discovered many totem poles had been vandalized or stolen.
“When it comes to the totem poles, our village was totally wiped out by an expedition that came up,” said Teresa DeWitt, who is Tlingit and serves as a program assistant for Ketchikan Museums.
To protect the totem poles that remained, elders from Tlingit villages on Tongass Island and Village Island and a Haida village on Prince of Wales Island allowed theirs to be moved. “It was a very big thing,” DeWitt said. “It’s not something we normally do.”
The Totem Heritage Center was built to house these totem poles, which still belong to the villages’ descendants, and preserve and perpetuate the traditions behind them, with continuing guidance from a Native advisory board.
Outside the center and elsewhere around Ketchikan, visitors can find newer totem poles, including recreations carved as part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project that began in 1930s and modern-day totem poles by master carvers.
“There has been a real revival effort, and so people are learning to carve and learning to do Northwest Coast design,” said Dundas. “Totem poles are just a little sliver of the overall beautiful, beautiful culture.”
What to see
Visitors can see totem poles throughout Ketchikan, but there are three clusters.
Totem Heritage Center: A $9 Museum Pass covers admission to both the Totem Heritage Center and its sister museum, Tongass Historical Museum. “You’re able to really learn about where it is that you’re visiting … where you are in place and time,” said Christian.
Single museum admission costs $6 for adults under age 65, and $5 for those who are older. Admission is free for children age 17 and under, active-duty military service members, and local residents. Both museums are in downtown Ketchikan and reachable by foot from the cruise port or the borough’s free shuttle bus during the summer.
Saxman Totem Park: Visitors can see recreations of historic totem poles, a community clan house and a working totem pole workshop in the Organized Village of Saxman, less than 3 miles from downtown Ketchikan. Totem park tours run throughout the cruise season, from late April to early October. They can be booked directly through Cape Fox Tours, part of the village’s Alaska Native Corporation, or as excursions through cruise lines. Self-guided tours cost $8 while Cape Fox’s guided tours start at $129 and may include additional experiences, like traditional dance performances.
Kristy Shields, who is Tlingit, recalls being told as a kid “that we were going to dance on the dock for big canoes and it ended up being cruise ships.” Now she helps pass the tradition on to younger generations as tours dance manager for Cape Fox Tours. “They are dancing. They know their songs. They know who they are. They know where they come from.” Saxman can be reached by Ketchikan’s free shuttle in the summer or $2 city bus. There is also a foot and bike path, but walking from downtown takes about an hour.
Totem Bight State Historical Park: More than a dozen Tlingit and Haida totem poles and a community clan house stand in this 11-acre state park, according to a guide on its website. Like many of the totem poles in Saxman, Christian said these were carved as part of a CCC totem pole restoration program. Park admission costs $5 per person from May through September and is free from October through April. The park is roughly 10 miles north of downtown Ketchikan and can be reached by $2 city bus.
Not-so hidden gems
Salmon Walk: This scenic 1.5-mile loop meanders through the heart of the city, along Ketchikan Creek, where salmon famously swim in the summer. There are various interpretative signs and points of interest along the way, including famous Creek Street and both Ketchikan museums. Visitors who don’t want to complete the loop can catch a free downtown shuttle from the Totem Heritage Center, which marks the path’s halfway point.
Southeast Alaska Discovery Center: This is a great point for learning about the region through ranger-led activities, educational films and elaborate exhibits. Three master-carved totem poles in the atrium represent the region’s three main Native peoples. Visitors can learn more through the Native traditions exhibit, developed by Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian elders so “they could tell their own story,” Brewi said. “The voices of the elders echo through that space and it is absolutely beautiful to walk through, especially at the quieter times of the day, because it’s all motion-activated and you can actually stand and just listen to those elders speak.”
The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center is located a few blocks from the cruise port. Admission is free from October through April. From May through September, admission costs $5 for visitors over the age of 15 and is free for anyone younger. Visitors with America the Beautiful Interagency Passes also get free entry.
Tongass National Forest: Ketchikan is nestled within America’s largest national forest and the “world’s largest intact temperate rainforest,” according to the USDA. Visitors eager to explore the great outdoors will find over two dozen hiking trails around Ketchikan, many of which can be reached on public transit, according to Brewi. She recommends first stopping by the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center for the latest information on conditions and bears.
Best time to visit
By far, summer is the busiest time of year with the mildest weather and the widest array of visitor experiences. Travelers hoping to avoid crowds may opt to visit early or late in the cruise season.
However, Dundas notes, “Later in the season, like in October, you’re really, really pushing it with weather and you have to be prepared for Ketchikan weather.” Ketchikan got over 12 feet of rain in 2025, according to the National Weather Service, and October is among its soggiest months.
She recommends visiting in July and early August, when various festivals are held, and packing a raincoat like locals.
If you go
Getting there: Most visitors arrive by cruise, including more than 1.5 million people in 2025, according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau.
Travelers can also fly into Ketchikan International Airport, a short ferry ride away on Gravina Island. Alaska Airlines provides daily service between Ketchikan and Seattle, as well as several other Alaska cities.
Where to stay: Ketchikan offers a variety of hotels. Campgrounds and vacation rentals are also available nearby.
The reporter on this story received access from Celebrity Cruises. USA TODAY maintains editorial control.
Avalanche professionals are warning backcountry adventurers to stay out of risky terrain after snow slammed the Upper Lynn Canal in late December.
National Weather Service data shows the storm dumped at least 44 inches of snow in Haines, making it the sixth snowiest five-day period in more than two decades. Other reports documented closer to six or seven feet.
“It was definitely one of the higher snowfalls you’ve gotten in five days, pretty much out of all your time that the station’s been there,” said Juneau-based meteorologist Edward Liske.
The dumping has created a risky situation in the backcountry that warrants extreme caution, said Jeff Moskowitz, the director of the Haines Avalanche Center.
His main message: “Avoid being in or around avalanche terrain.”
Earlier this week, Moskowitz dug a snow pit in town – in front of Haines’ historic Fort Seward – that confirmed his assessment. Standing chest-deep in the pit, he pointed out layers of snow stacked on top of each other, each representing a different storm.
There was a somewhat fluffy layer on top, from the snowfall in early January. Below that, there was a roughly three-foot-deep layer that was more compact, from the late December storm.
And then there was a thin, feeble layer of snow just inches from the ground that crumbled like sugar when Moskowitz ran his hand through it. That snow was on the ground before the big storm – it’s the layer that could collapse and trigger an avalanche under the weight of more precipitation, snowmachines or humans.
“We have about a meter of really strong snow just sitting over this sugar,” Moskowitz said, calling it a “dangerous combination for avalanches.”
Starting Dec. 27, the situation prompted the center to issue warnings about high avalanche risk in the Haines area. Moskowitz said people should stay off slopes that are greater than 30 degrees – and avoid traveling beneath them.
“It’s just a tricky situation, because there’s lots of snow, and we want to go play,” he said. “But we still have this strong-over-weak layering in most places.”
In some places, he said, the weak layer may be buried so deep that a human or snowmachine wouldn’t trigger it. But in shallower areas, like near trees or rocks. the layer would be closer to the surface and more likely to trigger an avalanche.
“People could ride that slope numerous times until one person finds that weak spot,” he said.
The deluge has stopped for now. But the situation could get worse before it gets better, as temperatures rise and the top layer of snow consolidates into a heavier, thicker slab. New precipitation or other conditions could trigger a natural avalanche cycle, wiping that weak layer out.
“Otherwise, it’s a little bit like a ticking time bomb,” Moskowitz said.
Haines Avalanche Center
The Haines Avalanche Center is a nonprofit and the main source of avalanche information in the Chilkat Valley, which draws backcountry adventurers from around the world. Moskowitz emphasized the importance of donations, grants and borough funding to make that work possible.
In the past, the Haines Borough has asked nonprofits to apply for funding from a $100,000 bucket. But Haines Mayor Tom Morphet said that, amid a steep budget deficit, the assembly discontinued that grant process for fiscal year 2026, which runs through June.
That has meant less funding than usual for the Avalanche Center, which has just three part-time employees, including Moskowitz.
“Less funding means less staff time,” Moskowitz said. “And staff time means that locals who are avalanche professionals and have certifications are out there, digging in the snow, making assessments, posting that information publicly.”
The center posts a general avalanche information product every week, plus a weather forecast and season summary. They also issue advisories when avalanche danger is high, including three days in a row in late December.
But the center does not currently have the funding or staff capacity to consistently publish advisories when avalanche risk is low, moderate or considerable.
“What we don’t want, is that there’s an accident that sparks the public interest in supporting the Avalanche Center,” Moskowitz said. “We just need to maintain the services we provide and just keep it going year after year after year.”
Morphet, the mayor, said the borough and assembly are “acutely aware” of the center’s importance.
Moskowitz said people who recreate in the backcountry can help by paying close attention to their surroundings – and he urged them to send in their observations online.
That could mean details about a human-triggered or natural avalanche, about where the sun has hit the mountains on a particular day, or an observation that feathery crystals – known as surface hoar – have started forming on the snow’s surface.
“There’s very little information that we’re not going to find useful,” Moskowitz said. “All of that is very valuable, and it helps to inform this bigger picture.”
Alaska
Alaska delegation mixed on Venezuela capture legality, day before presidential war powers vote
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska’s congressional delegation had mixed reactions Wednesday on the legality of the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela over the weekend, just a day before they’re set to vote on a bill ending “hostilities” in Venezuela.
It comes days after former Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro was captured by American forces and brought to the United States in handcuffs to face federal drug trafficking charges.
All U.S. Senators were to be briefed by the administration members at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to CBS News.
Spokespersons for Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, say they were at that meeting, but from their responses, the two shared different takeaways.
Sullivan, who previously commended the Trump administration for the operation in Venezuela, told KDLL after his briefing that the next steps in Venezuela would be done in three phases.
“One is just stabilization. They don’t want chaos,” he said.
“The second is to have an economic recovery phase … and then finally, the third phase is a transition to conduct free and fair elections and perhaps install the real winner of the 2024 election there, which was not Maduro.”
Murkowski spokesperson Joe Plesha said she had similar takeaways to Sullivan on the ousting of Maduro, but still held concerns on the legality.
“Nicolás Maduro is a dictator who led a brutally oppressive regime, and Venezuela and the world are better places without him in power,” Plesha said in a statement Wednesday. “While [Murkowski] continues to question the legal and policy framework that led to the military operation, the bigger question now is what happens next.”
Thursday, the Senate will decide what happens next when they vote on a war powers resolution which would require congressional approval to “be engaged in hostilities within or against Venezuela,” and directs the president to terminate the use of armed forces against Venezuela, “unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force.”
Several House leaders have also received a briefing from the administration according to CBS News. A spokesperson for Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, said he received a House briefing and left believing the actions taken by the administration were legal.
“The information provided in today’s classified House briefing further confirmed that the actions taken by the Administration to obtain Maduro were necessary, time-dependent, and justified; and I applaud our military and the intelligence community for their exceptional work in executing this operation,” Begich said in a statement.
Looming vote
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, authored the war powers resolution scheduled for debate Thursday at 11 a.m. ET — 7 a.m. AKST.
It’s a resolution which was one of the biggest topics of discussion on the chamber floors Wednesday.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, said on the Senate floor Wednesdya that the actions taken by the administration were an “act of war,” and the president’s capture of Maduro violated the checks and balances established in the constitution, ending his remarks by encouraging his colleagues to vote in favor of the resolution.
“The constitution is clear,” Paul said. “Only Congress can declare a war.”
If all Democrats and independents vote for the Kaine resolution, and Paul keeps to his support, the bill will need three more votes to pass. If there is a tie, the vice president is the deciding vote.
“It’s as if a magical dust of soma has descended through the ventilation systems of congressional office buildings,” Paul continued Wednesday, referring to a particular type of muscle relaxant.
“Vague faces in permanent smiles and obedient applause indicate the degree that the majority party has lost its grip and have become eunuchs in the thrall of presidential domination.”
Legality of actions under scrutiny
U.S. forces arrested Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their Caracas home in an overnight operation early Saturday morning, Alaska time. Strikes accompanying the capture killed about 75 people, including military personnel and civilians, according to U.S. government officials granted anonymity by The Washington Post.
Maduro pleaded not guilty Monday in a New York courtroom to drug trafficking charges that include leading the “Cartel of the Suns,” a narco-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. The U.S. offered a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Whether the U.S. was legally able to capture Maduro under both domestic and international law has been scrutinized in the halls of Congress. Members of the administration, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have been open in defending what they say was a law enforcement operation carrying out an arrest warrant, The Hill reports. Lawmakers, like Paul or Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, say the actions were an act of war and a violation of the constitution.
While the president controls the military as commander in chief, Congress constitutionally has the power to declare wars. Congressional Democrats have accused Trump of skirting the Constitution by not seeking congressional authorization before the operation.
Murkowski has not outright condemned or supported the actions taken by the administration, saying in a statement she was hopeful the world was safer without Maduro in power, but the way the operation was handled is “important.”
Sullivan, on the other hand, commended Trump and those involved in the operation for forcing Maduro to “face American justice,” in an online statement.
Begich spokesperson Silver Prout told Alaska’s News Source Monday the Congressman believed the operation was “a lawful execution of a valid U.S. arrest warrant on longstanding criminal charges against Nicolás Maduro.”
The legality of U.S. military actions against Venezuela has taken significant focus in Washington over the past several months, highlighted by a “double-tap” strike — a second attack on the same target after an initial strike — which the Washington Post reported killed people clinging to the wreckage of a vessel after the military already struck it. The White House has confirmed the follow-up attack.
Sullivan, who saw classified video of the strike, previously told Alaska’s News Source in December he believed actions taken by the U.S. did not violate international law.
“I support them doing it, but they have to get it right,” he said. “I think so far they’re getting it right.”
Murkowski, who has not seen the video, previously said at an Anchorage press event the takeaways on that strike’s legality seem to be divided along party lines.
“I spoke to a colleague who is on the Intelligence Committee, a Republican, and I spoke to a colleague, a Democrat, who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee … their recollection or their retelling of what they saw [was] vastly different.”
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