KETCHIKAN, Alaska (KTUU) – Geologists with the State of Alaska are currently in Ketchikan researching slope conditions in an effort to ensure the area is safe before looking into the actual cause of Sunday’s deadly landslide.
“When talking about this, it’s really difficult to imagine what the residents are going through, and our thoughts are really with the families impacted by the recent landslide,” Dr. Gabriel Wolken, the manager of the climate and hazards program with the Alaska division of geological and geophysical surveys, said on Wednesday.
Wolken is also a research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“[Geologists are] making sure that the area is safe for the responders and the people trying to put their lives back together. And then soon after this, we will thoroughly analyze the information and the data that are being collected by the geoscientists on the ground, and come up with some causal mechanisms for this event.”
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Ketchikan Landslide Drone Footage
While not sure of the root cause of the landslide — which claimed the life of 42-year-old Sean Griffin — Wolken says that landslides are nearly impossible to predict.
Wolken said geoscientists are gaining a better understanding of what conditions need to be present in order for landslides to occur.
“One thing that is certain is that extreme weather can play a large role in how landslides develop, and intense, prolonged rainfall can play a really large role in this. It can weaken the stability of the slopes,” Wolken said. “This is especially true if the slope’s already saturated, [rainfall] can change the condition of the soil, causing the pore pressure in the soil to increase, which really weakens the stability of the slope. So whenever there’s a lot of rain, a lot of extreme weather, then that can be problematic.”
Wolken says there are warning signs that a landslide is imminent, particularly in Southeast Alaska, where people can keep an eye out for springs in the soil.
That, he says, is an indication the soil is quite saturated. New cracks in the ground or unusual bulges are something to watch out for as well.
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“Another thing to keep a lookout for is any precursor indications that movement is occurring, perhaps in a creep fashion,” Wolken explained. “So if you’re in your house, you might notice that there’s cracks that have developed in the drywall or plaster — if you have that in your house — or maybe the door is not closing properly.
“These are all indications that things are kind of changing in the structure of the house, and those are things to look out for in the event that a slow creep might be occurring on the slope.”
Wolken is leading a study on landslide hazards in Haines, 364 miles northwest of Ketchikan. The project is analyzing data from the spring of 2021, taken one year after a deadly landslide claimed two lives.
“There have been too many destructive and deadly events, resulting in 12 fatalities in the last decade,” he said. “So determining whether landslides in Southeast Alaska are occurring more frequently in recent years than in the past is very difficult, if not impossible, to answer at this time.”
He says it’s difficult to determine if landslides are happening more frequently because of a lack of data, as well as inconsistencies in landslide reporting. He explained that the research in Haines is ongoing and reports are currently being prepped.
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That’s the work that’s happening now. Scientists and geologists are collecting data that will provide future generations with a better understanding of why these landslides occur.
“Our work is really aimed at generating the actionable science that is needed to improve decision-making across the state, across multiple sectors of society,” Wolken said. “And this doesn’t stop at one landslide. This doesn’t stop at one location of the state.
“So we’re really focused broadly on a statewide landslide hazard preparedness, which means that we’re focused on lots of different places at a single time to try to understand, characterize and assess these different places.”
The work now is happening in Ketchikan, as people like geologist Martin “Mort” Larson are collecting data.
“They’re very busy on the ground, going to different places in the high elevation terrain, looking for different signatures on the landscape that would indicate unstable slope conditions, and that can vary across the board, but certainly looking at saturated ground issues, any scarps that are on the landscape, and doing some preliminary mapping of the area,” Wolken said. “We have deployed personnel to the area to work with our partners from both state and federal agencies. I know that the Department of Transportation is collecting some airborne drone-based remote sensing that’s helping with the folks on the ground in a rapid response sort of way, we have deployed a remote sensing specialist to go down and collect some broader Lidar of the area so that we can use that in our analysis.”
The first Jesuit missionaries in Alaska sailed up the Yukon River in 1887. By the turn of the 20th century, the religious order of the Catholic Church had as many as 50 Jesuits in the state.
Now, only two remain. And by the end of June, there will be none.
The Jesuits’ nearly 140 years in the state was honored at an event at Bethel’s Immaculate Conception Church on June 16. A procession of priests wearing long white gowns with red hems walked down the aisle to open the event. The Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Stephen Maekawa, thumped the ground with a shimmering silver staff known as a clozier as he approached the altar.
Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Steven Maekawa, walks toward the altar at the Immaculate Conception Church in Bethel.
“My brothers and sisters, we gather together to celebrate this wonderful and blessed occasion to acknowledge the love of God and the work of God through the 139 year mission of the Society of Jesus of the Jesuit fathers,” Maekawa said to open the event.
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A traditional Catholic mass followed, with readings in both English and Yup’ik. During the sermon, Maekawa acknowledged the vastness of the Fairbanks diocese, and the tremendous amount of work done by the Jesuits to establish it.
“All of the 46 churches of the Diocese of Fairbanks that we currently have were established by either the Jesuit fathers or by direction of a Jesuit bishop,” Maekawa said. “We have a long history of the Society of Jesus’ presence and ministry here in all of Alaska.”
The Jesuits are an order within the Catholic Church, akin to the Dominicans or Franciscans. They have a reputation for taking on some of the Catholic Church’s most remote assignments.
That missionary spirit brought the Jesuits to the Yukon River in 1887, where they built churches, schools, and ministries. Without their work, Catholicism may not have taken root in huge swaths of Alaska, particularly among Alaska Native communities.
The Immaculate Conception Church in Bethel.
But the Jesuits leave a complicated legacy. Their methods of converting Native people to the religion, particularly in the first half of the 20th century, created generational traumas still felt to this day.
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Fr. Sean Carroll is the provincial of the Jesuits West Province, which oversees Alaska and nine other states.
Fr. Sean Carroll, provincial of the Jesuits West Province, speaks at an event recognizing nearly 140 years of Jesuit service in Alaska.
“Thank you for all that you have taught us about who Jesus is and how to love and serve Him wholeheartedly,” Carroll said. “I also thank you for your patience with us. For there have been times when we have sinned and when we have hurt you.”
Missionaries, including the Jesuits, forcefully converted and assimilated Alaska Native people into Western culture and religion. Students at Jesuit-run boarding schools were forced to abandon their Native languages and physically punished when caught speaking languages other than English. Native dancing and drumming were also banned.
The Jesuits West Province maintains a list of 150 Jesuits with credible claims of sexual abuse against minors or vulnerable adults. A quarter of the accused Jesuits served in Alaska at some point in time.
“I ask for your forgiveness for all that we have done that was not rooted in Christ and love for Him, and for when we did not value your culture nor recognize the presence of God in you,” Carroll said.
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Carroll gave the order to withdraw from the state last spring. A big issue was the recruitment of Jesuits willing to travel and serve in remote villages. He told the congregation that the Jesuits’ work would continue, just without a permanent presence.
Fr. Rich Magner, one of the two remaining Jesuit priests in Alaska, attends a ceremony in Bethel.
Fr. Rich Magner is one of the two remaining Jesuit priests in Alaska. His last day serving Chevak, Hooper Bay, and Scammon Bay is June 30.
“We all always knew coming in, or should have known, that we’re not going to be here forever. It’s going to be mission accomplished at some point,” Magner said. “And then we hand it off to the diocese that we’ve helped create, and so that’s a good feeling.”
Magner’s next stop is a Clinical Pastoral Education residency in Tacoma, Washington.
The other remaining priest, Fr. Tom Provinsal, first came to Alaska in 1968 to teach. A fond memory, he said, was meeting Elders that practiced traditional subsistence lifestyles.
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“Some of the grandmothers, their fingers were just all bent with arthritis and stuff like that, you know, their whole lives they’ve been working out in the cold and the wet, doing food, sewing, all that kind of stuff,” Provinsal said. “I’d say I just feel very privileged to have come when I did come and to see that.”
Provinsal returned in 1975 as a priest and has served in the region ever since. After moving away, he plans to take a five month sabbatical. What happens next, he said, is in God’s hands.
Two lines formed in the aisle for communion at the end of the mass. After taking communion, Bethel’s Parish Administrator Susan Murphy gave a final thank you.
“It’s difficult to say goodbye to people who have been a part of our lives for so long,” Murphy said. “We know that you have done what was yours to do, and have taught us to do what is ours to do. We are grateful.”
Jesuit priests form a row along the altar of Bethel’s Immaculate Conception Church as members of the congregation lift their arms and pray.
Dominic Hunt, a Yup’ik deacon that flew in from Emmonak for the event, led the congregation through a final prayer.
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“Bless them with your wisdom, that they may be a word of hope, a world in need. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen,” Hunt said.
About 70 people posed for a photo on the altar – priests, deacons, parishioners, Elders and children — many of them smiling, some standing quietly.
The photo doesn’t tell the whole story. But it’s a moment when gratitude, grief, and memory all shared the same room.
Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Steven Maekawa, stands in the middle of a crowd waiting to take a photo at Bethel’s Immaculate Conception Church.
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Supreme Court of Alaska will be taking up the case of the State of Alaska, Division of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.
The oral arguments will be held Monday at 10 a.m. via Zoom, according to an order and opening notice.
The document also specifies that a decision is expected to be made before noon on Tuesday.
According to documents from the Division of Elections, the state must start printing ballots at noon on the same day.
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This comes after an Anchorage Superior Court Judge ordered Dan J. Sullivan on to the ballot Friday.
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