News from Southeast Conference

Thanks to all that attended the Annual Meeting in Prince Rupert!

A special thanks to all of our sponsors!

For those of you that were unable to make it we missed you all. No, really we did!

All day Monday was the Prince Rupert Export Trade Conference and welcome event. Prince Rupert really has a port to be proud of and they presented a lot of information about the port and the railway system that connects them to the rest of the United States and Canada. Tours of the Port of Prince Rupert were also offered on this day.

Although the weather in Ketchikan created a challenge, most of the folks that were persistent managed to arrive in Prince Rupert on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thank You to those who contributed to our Scholarship Auction we raised $14,045. This will be a great asset to the students of Southeast Alaska that are planning to stay and raise their families.

Some highlights from the conference are:

Affordable Energy

There is lots of energy going around these days, Human Energy that is used to study and design intertie connections, hydro projects, geothermal projects, and bio-mass projects for communities in Southeast Alaska. Wood Energy that is used to heat schools in Craig Alaska. Rivers that are busting at the seams to become Hydro Energy. Thanks to Jim Strandberg, Dave Carlson, Percy Frisby, Lisa Lang, Greg Mickelson, Andy Hughes, Jodi Mitchell and Hendrick Kadake for sharing their knowledge and projects with us on Wednesday.

Swan Tyee will be connected in October of 09. We are working to get the Kake Petersburg intertie underway and along with that the Reynolds Creek Hydro Project in Hydaburg is making progress. Sitka is expanding their dam and Inside Passage Electric Cooperative is doing all they can for Hoonah. Michael Margolick shared with us his wind project. NaiKun and the Northwest Coast's Wind Potential.

Full Time, Year Round, Wage Earning Jobs

Workforce Development is very high on the list of needs in Alaska. We are always looking to improve our workforce. We are hoping that Southeast Alaska will soon be the place where oil companies, mining companies and other industry companies can come for employees. Alaska Workforce Development has many innovative ideas for getting our workforce trained and our people working. They are offering funding for things such as, On the Job Training and Centers of Excellence where professionals can train workers and get them on the job.
University of Alaska Southeast is also keeping up with the needs for development. Some of the questions Rick Wolk is asking are:

� What business are we in?

� What business should we be in?

� What are our long-term objectives?

� What is our sustainable competitive advantage?

� Who are our strategic allies?

� Who are our competitors?

� How should resources be allocated?

� What opportunities and threats do we face?

� What are our organizational strengths and weaknesses?

� What are our strategic alternatives?

He is looking for the entrepreneurs that have the vision and the drive to make things happen. Check out his classes on the University of Alaska Southeast website. www.uas.alaska.edu

Dependable Transportation

We have a three year schedule for the marine highway. We have a funded vessel replacement fund.We have visions of a ferry design. We have got to keep the momentum going. Let's all do our part to improve and maintain the Alaska Marine Highway. Ridership is going up as the boats become more dependable. Thanks to Department of Transportation for their work. We heard from Vern Skagerberg about the Angoon EIS progress and the importance of getting this airport project completed for Angoon and the surrounding communities. What a great boost that would be for Angoon and the Southeast Region. Air travel and the infrastructure involved with it, is vital to us. Did you know we have 20 Airports, 41 Seaplane Bases, and 11 heliports in Southeast Alaska? Infrastructure maintenance is important. The Draft Plan is available at

http://dot.alaska.gov/stwdplng/projectinfo/ser/SRASP/index.shtml

We had a great time at our Annual Meeting in Prince Rupert and want to thank everyone that attended and especially thank the folks in Prince Rupert for all the work they put into making us feel like we were home.

We'll See you all next year in Haines.

Sincerely,

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