There’s a new face in Haines, and more importantly, a new voice. A grant helped bring a public radio reporter to town who will focus on local issues with statewide impact.

 

When journalist Avery Ellfeldt applied to be an Alaska Desk reporter, she only applied for the position in Haines. Her other choices were the Aleutians, Anchorage and Fairbanks.

“It didn’t take much research to find out how beautiful it is here,” she said. “And then looking into some of the issues that I might be reporting on seemed really interesting. I also love mountains and the outdoors, so it seemed like a pretty good place to land.”

The Alaska Desk is a new statewide collaborative. It’s funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with the goal  of increasing local news in rural communities. Participating stations pay 1/4 of the reporter’s salary and benefits the first year and half the following year. 

Although Ellfeldt will work out of the local KHNS studio, she’ll technically be an employee of Alaska Public Media. She’ll dig into topics important to Haines, and the rest of the state. An example could be housing or the impacts of climate change.

Ellfeldt is from Colorado. After getting the Alaska job, she sold her furniture, packed up her Subaru and took the ferry from Bellingham. She arrived in Haines just before the New Year.

Most of Ellfeldt’s career has focused on environmental reporting. For the past five years, she wrote for POLITICO’s E&E News. The Es stand for environment and energy. 

“I wrote about all sorts of things, but sort of had a focus on business and finance,” she said. “So, how climate issues impact household finance and financial institutions.” 

Ellfeldt says she chose this career because she’s curious.

“I decided to become a journalist because I love meeting people and learning new things,” she said. “So the idea that I could do that for work, essentially, was really appealing.”

The other reason journalism drew her in is because it allowed her to play with technology.

“I think I’m pretty inherently creative, or really enjoy kind of the process of stitching together words, or photographs or audio to kind of tell a story,” Ellfeldt said. “I find that just endlessly fascinating and entertaining.”

While asking a journalist to pick a favorite story is a little like asking a parent to name their favorite child, Ellfeldt points to a 2022 piece she wrote for POLITICO about credit unions in Puerto Rico. 

“This kind of very homegrown network of lenders that usually work with lower income households had served as a financial lifeline after Hurricane Maria,” she said. “And then in the time since, have really stepped up to invest in solar and prepare their communities for future storms. At the same time, big traditional banks have really fled the island.”

It was Ellfeldt’s first field story. She took the photographs and conducted the interviews in Spanish, which is not her first language.

When asked for an interesting fact about herself, Ellfeldt gave a unique and surprising answer.

“I had the chance to live in Ecuador for five months when I was in school and was in the Amazon rainforest, and ended up getting chased and bitten by a wild tapir, who was a defensive mom and I was in her way,” she said.

So, what IS a tapir? 

“It looks like an anteater,” Ellfeldt said. “Kind of anteater, kind of pig. More anteater I would say. They’re herbivores usually found in South and Central America and Southeast Asia. And I don’t know that generally they’re very aggressive, but clearly I was in her path.”

The new Haines reporter loves to camp, hike and ski. She said she’s looking forward to meeting residents and discussing what issues are important to them.

Funding for the Alaska Desk reporter is guaranteed for two years, with the hope that grants can be found to further extend the position.