Upper Trail Lake on the Kenai Peninsula. (iStock / Getty Images)
Since Dan Sullivan chose going to Germany over Alaska and Nick Begich deflects rather than leads, I guess this is directed more to Lisa Murkowski, who at least wants to know the impact of the recent firings while she scrolls through social media. But I want them to consider Jillian Jablonski, a single mom and ex-Forest Service employee, who was highlighted in the recent ADN article about the impacts the federal layoffs will have in Alaska. She represents their impact to fisheries management and families here.
Jillian lost her job due to government overreach, not job performance. The ADN paraphrase of Jillian’s post saying her work fighting invasive plants and ensuring salmon migrations would likely be shelved is an epic understatement. As her colleague since 2019, I know her too well to know we aren’t just losing a couple projects or some career federal employee lazily coasting to retirement. We are losing an Alaskan who devoted 15 inspired years here. She fits a mold many of us share in being a Midwesterner lured to Alaska for temporary work, then fell in love with the state (she via skiing, foraging, friends, plus an adopted sled dog), and committed to a career here to improve themselves as well as inform the state’s wise use of natural resources.
We are losing somebody who strived to be a career Alaskan by serving various positions from Cordova to Cook Inlet and earning a master’s degree from UAA while working full-time. Her relationships with the state of Alaska (Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Natural Resources), tribes and federal agencies went beyond conference rooms or Zoom calls. She led many missions crucial to meeting state objectives including surveying fishes in the proposed West-Su Access Road corridor, removing invasive northern pike to help Cook Inlet salmon fisheries, and even standardizing a tribal conservation district’s electrofishing protocol to Fish and Game’s (much harder than it sounds!). She was an effective grant writer who secured millions of dollars for projects enhancing or protecting fish habitat. Simply put, she was a leader and achiever forged in Alaska’s fishy fire. Alaska will miss her.
This reads like an obituary because it is one: for the American dream in Alaska. Alaska and the feds won’t replace the type of professional and person that Jillian is easily or quickly. I’m biased because Jillian and I are parents to our 3-year-old daughter. Alaska can’t replace this mom who was tending most to the Alaskan life blossoming for our kid, cultivated by farmers markets, tailgate ice cream, dance parties and berry picking. When Jillian leaves, my daughter goes with her — yet another person lost by a state that needs bright kids more than a greedy tech bro needs a government job. And when my daughter leaves, I will too.
America first? Sure, at the expense of Alaska, its families and its future. I’m tired of silence, deflection and social media posts from Dan, Nick and Lisa — folks who abhor government overreach while championing families. I don’t want to hear about European vacations, unrelated federal government issues or how digitally savvy you are while being so disconnected from your constituents. I want our delegation to show substantive, direct action on protecting Alaska jobs that improve Alaska economies, families and fisheries. There are no valid reasons for qualified fisheries professionals in Alaska to be fired by an unqualified South African oligarch in Washington, D.C. With the myriad issues already challenging Alaska fisheries and livelihoods, losing Jillian and others like her represents an alarming escalation to our natural resource and population problems that the state will have an increasingly difficult time recovering from.
Nate Cathcart has been an Alaska stream fish ecologist working statewide since 2015. His words are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of anybody other than himself.
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Publish date : 2025-02-25 14:01:00
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