“First City” – A Sustainable Economy and Community?

“First City” – A Sustainable Economy and Community?

The first port-of-call on our Alaska 2016 sea tour was Ketchikan – nicknamed the “First City” as it is the first town one comes to when traveling “North to Alaska” via boat through the inland passage.  The town’s actual name of Ketchikan, in the Native American Tlingit language, is thought to mean “thundering wings of an eagle” (the rough shape of the Ketchikan Creek from a “birds-eye-view”).

For most of us from the “lower 48” (meaning the contiguous continental United States of America), calling Ketchikan a “city” is quite a stretch.  The permanent, year-round population of Ketchikan (not including the Native American peoples living on a nearby Indian Reservation – which we learned is the only one in Alaska – more on this later) is about 8,000 people.  This number of residents (a small town in the State of Georgia) qualifies Ketchikan to be the fourth-largest city in Alaska!

Like many settlements in Alaska, Ketchikan got its start as a base for natural resource extraction businesses.  The primary businesses attracting new settlers to Ketchikan in the late 1800s and early 1900s was salmon fishing and processing (canning).  The large volume of canned salmon exported from Ketchikan led to its self-proclaimed title of “Salmon Capital of the World.”

Other economic activities which followed the early fishermen to Ketchikan led to another nickname for Ketchikan in the 1920s which was not so flattering – in some circles, it was called “the worst in rat hole America” (or something close). The center of these not so savory economic activities is a place in town called Creek Street.  The “street” is actually a small river running out of the mountains, through the town, and into the ocean.  Salmon migrate up this river to spawn.

In addition, back in day, many houses of “ill repute” were located along this river.  As was the case in a lot of frontier towns in the early days of Western U.S. expansion, Creek Street saw its share of drinkin’, shootin’ and hootin’ &  hollerin’.  Warning: the next sentence is rated at least PG-13!  When describing Creek Street and its primary business during frontier days, people said it is where “salmon and fishermen come to spawn!”    The locals (and tourists) seem to still like this description of old Creek Street as it on a sign right out in public for all to see (see photo of Dolly’s House in Alaska Trip Photos) and also on postcards, hats and t-shirts all over town!.

In my classes at the University of Georgia, I teach about optimal commercial fishing from an ecologic-economic perspective.  As long as commercial fishermen do not totally decimate a fish population (e.g., the population stays above the extinction threshold), commercial fishing can be a sustainable, long-run industry.  Thus, Ketchikan theoretically could have continued on with a salmon-based economy for a long time.

However, we humans seem to have a hard time showing restraint – especially when it comes to making and spending money.  This is no surprise to economists as one of the principle tenants of economic theory is the “axiom of non-satiation.”  This axiom, which helps to drive market economies, says that when it comes to consuming material things, people are never completely satisfied – that is, “more is always preferred to less.”

So, according to the axiom of non-satiation, people of the world will always want to eat more and more salmon – and, in fact, consumer demand for salmon has steadily increased over the years.  The Ketchikan commercial salmon industry worked overtime to help meet this demand for many years, until eventually the abundant natural salmon stocks were depleted.  Today, the commercial salmon industry continues to survive in Ketchikan, but it is no longer the predominant industry.

Guess what is?  If you have already looked at the Ketchikan photos in the Alaska Trip Photos section of this blog, you have probably already guessed the correct answer – recreation and tourism!  During the summer, as many as six huge cruise ships may be disembarking as many 10,000 tourists (like me) into Ketchikan during the day.   These tourists spend lots of dough (not “sourdough” – money!) on clothing, souvenirs, food & beverages, historic building tours (including Dolly’s on Creek Street), scenic flight tours, Native American culture tours, and wildlife viewing tours (we took one of these and saw orca whales, black bear, Sitka black-tail deer, harbor seals and bald eagles).

Provided it is managed correctly, recreation and tourism can be a sustainable, long-run industry supporting the economy and people of Ketchikan for a long time to come – while also enriching the lives of thousands of visitors who come to enjoy, spend their money, and then leave (which, I think, is how most locals like it!).  The main thing Ketchikan, State of Alaska, and U.S. leaders need watch out for is ruining a good thing by over-doing it in terms of promoting and allowing huge numbers of visitors who may eventually “love the area to death.”

We are having a similar problem in our National Parks across the U.S. – too many visitors not managed correctly may eventually ruin the natural environment everyone is coming to see and experience.  Nature-based recreation and tourism (and ecotourism) is an example of where a healthy environment sustains a healthy economy (and by the way, vice-versa if we’re smart).

But the town of Ketchikan and the surrounding area still has that frontier feeling to it from both human and natural perspectives and is a great place to visit  – but my advice is to “Catch-It- While-You-Can” (my new nickname for this community!).