I Went to the Woods: Financial accountability

Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 3, 2026

It’s direct deposit time. The bonus for living here that’s seen as a bribe or redistribution of wealth to the Lower 48ers who don’t know.

Our state leaders had the foresight to set up a fund that would keep our state on financially stable ground indefinitely. They set up pensions and benefits for state employees to attract families from Down South to come to Alaska and make a life. Our leaders were so sure, they eliminated the state income tax in 1980. That was one of my perks that convinced my parents to move north and teach in 1986. But it’s not the ‘70s, or ‘80s anymore.

I want the check. I look forward to the check. I enjoy not being burdened by state income tax or a state sales tax. I’ll also continue to take the check because I don’t know what “they” will do with it. I don’t want my check to go to funding studies about damming the Susitna River, or damming the river itself. Southeast Alaska hydro projects work because of Southeast Alaska geography. It goes without saying that interior Alaska is different and the impact on salmon would be enormous.

I don’t want my dividend paying for enormous tax breaks for companies to build a gas line, but I’m not against the oil and natural gas industries.

In 2008, California voters approved the $10 billion bond to start the high speed rail that is now estimated to cost $126 billion with taxpayers on the hook. The state broke ground in 2015 yet there are zero operational miles of track so far. Maybe by 2030.

That’s the fear and that’s the conclusion that both Democrats and Republicans jump to — Alaska will become the worst version of the Lower 48 if we vote the wrong way. We see it in the deluge of ads that claim Mary Peltola is indistinguishable from Nancy Pelosi and that Dan Sullivan personally oversees the catching, killing and wasting of king salmon through trawl bycatch.

Advocates for eliminating the Roadless Rule use the term environmentalist like an attempted insult, but that shows a lack of awareness. I can’t imagine any hunter or angler in Southeast Alaska is on a waitlist for the next Greta Thunberg flotilla. Hunters and anglers support the Roadless Rule because they’d like taxpayer money going to repair roads, trails, cabins and maintain healthy habitat for the resources that provide millions for local economies. Not plow deeper into the landscape to access what wasn’t cut over the last century.

But that doesn’t mean we should ignore the logging industry.

So we wait for our local, state and national politicians to get creative and be the leaders we need them to be. Leaders that we trust to make decisions that help Alaskans, not just their political careers. Leaders who go all in on solutions, rather than ignoring public comment in favor of their predetermined (campaign donor-influenced) opinion.

It’s hard to be excited about the future of the state when candidates campaign on owning the other side rather than ideas. Blaming is not policy, and a larger dividend isn’t a viable platform unless it contains a viable financial path forward that includes stability and addressing financial issues. I want the PFD, other Alaskans need it. But it shouldn’t be a bribe. It should be the fruits of financial savvy, not a liability that further sinks the state.

Alaskans want, and deserve, long-term solutions rather than short-term wins for ambitious politicians.

I like it here. I have no plans to leave. But I want to know my daughter will grow up in an Alaska that doesn’t dare its residents to live here in spite of the climate — weather, political, educational and financial.

My vote, and willingness to sacrifice part or an up-to of the dividend for the good of the state, are in play. But it’s going to take a lot of work and trust.

Jeff Lund is a freelance writer based in Ketchikan. His book, “A Miserable Paradise: Life in Southeast Alaska,” is available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. “I Went to the Woods” appears twice per month in the Juneau Empire.