The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center is officially reopening to the public next week on Tuesday, April 29. The center, located downtown near the ferry terminal at 402 Center Avenue, has been closed for several months.
The Refuge headquarters and admin building at 1390 Buskin River Road continues to be open Monday through Friday.
According to an email from the visitor services manager Natalie Fath, the center will be open Tuesday through Saturdays from 12pm to 4pm until the end of September. Typically the visitor center would be open nearly year-round with some intermittent closures and transitions between seasonal schedules.
Fath said via email on April 15 that the Kodiak center will reassess its summer hours based on staffing availability. She told KMXT Tuesday morning, April 22, that insufficient staffing at the federally-operated visitor center has led to this year’s extended closure. According to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge’s website, there are currently nine federal employees including a recently hired visitor center manager, Isabel Justiniano.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s regional office in Anchorage, which oversees National Wildlife Refuges around the state such as Kodiak’s, did not respond to KMXT’s multiple requests for comment about the center's current staffing.
Andrea Medeiros, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s public affairs specialist for Alaska’s regional office, said in a social media post that she took a “deferred resignation program” offer. She, along with thousands of other federal employees, are still expected to work until an undetermined date in May according to reporting from Government Executive.
The center is working to hire seasonal employees for the summer season, which lasts from this month through September, according to Fath’s email. She says the visitor center is hoping to hire two to three park rangers in partnership with Koniag and a summer intern that is shared with the Alutiiq Museum. But as of April 22, those positions have yet to be filled.
Fath said the visitor center downtown will also be open to the public during all scheduled cruise ship days this summer and mainly rely on volunteers or other staff as needed.
For the latest updates from the center, visit the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Facebook page.
*Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include additional comments from Natalie Fath as of Tuesday morning, April 22.
