A nonprofit trade group focused on growing Alaska’s industries visited Unalaska Aug. 7 - 9. Board members from the Resource Development Council toured landmarks around town, including processing plants and city facilities.
The council advocates for policy at the local, state and federal levels. Board members do an annual outreach trip to a new community, and this year, they chose Unalaska.
“What we try to do with the community outreach trip is meet with city leadership, get to understand what the local infrastructure is, what the energy and power sources are, and what types of water and wastewater facilities there are,” said Leila Kimbrell, executive director of the council. “We really like to get in the weeds.”
The group’s board has 78 members representing different aspects of Alaska’s economy, including fisheries, forestry, mining, oil and gas, and tourism.
Christy Resler is the executive board’s vice president. She said that even though various priorities come to the table, members still find commonality. Public officials sometimes consult the group to get clarity on a subject.
“I’m always kind of amazed and pleased when folks reach out to this organization at a time when they really, truly need information and they need to understand before they make a decision that’s going to affect the state,” Resler said.
For Unalaskans, fisheries are often top-of-mind when it comes to local economic stability. That’s something board member Sinclair Wilt understands. He’s an executive with Westward and Alyeska Seafoods and spent more than three decades in Dutch Harbor. He said this visit helped show other board members what logistics look like in the country’s largest fishing port.
“Fishing is cyclical,” Wilt said. “Currently, the market situation is challenging on a worldwide basis, with products coming from Russia flooding the market. The strong dollar makes it difficult on exporting our product to other nations. It’s a challenge, but we’ve seen it before, and we’ve worked through it.”
Kimbrell said seeing how the fishing industry works on the ground will help the council better explain fisheries-related issues to policymakers.
“These are industries that are historically important to the state of Alaska, and will continue to be,” she said. “By knowing how things operate here, we’re able to share that message and be another outlet for communication and education.”
The Resource Development Council plans to return to Unalaska down the road.
