Wrangel Jensen
“My name is Wrangel Jensen. I’m 31 years old. I was born and raised here in Anchorage, and I pretty much grew up flying around the area with my dad, a lot of it in the West Susitna valley area.
When I started learning to fly, I was 16. I spent pretty much most of my building time (building hours to get a pilot’s license) in the airplanes in the Susitna Valley exploring the area and finding cool places.
I started flying for Trail Ridge Air in 2012, and I’ve spent the last 10, 11 years just servicing the area.”
—Wrangel Jensen, Trail Ridge Air pilot, lifelong Alaska resident
“I think I first heard about the West Susitna Industrial Access Road two years ago or so. I didn't really know a whole lot about it at first. And then I started learning what it was. It definitely had me concerned, not only for the business itself, but also for all the employees that we have. And then also the other side like the damage that would take to the Susitna Valley.
There's a lot of different places where the money would be better off spent. I don't even know where to begin.
There's quite a few roads that definitely could use more attention, that are commonly used roads, rather than adding another one to be poorly maintained.”
—Wrangel Jensen, Trail Ridge Air pilot, lifelong Alaska resident
“There’s a lot of people that have remote cabins, and there’s actually a lot of people that live out there full time. A large part of our operation is flying in that area and it revolves a lot around the Susitna Valley.
There’s also a lot of lodges and stuff to do a lot of, fishing or, even guided or outfitted hunts. So there are several services around the Anchorage and Willow area. It's a really large area out there with a lot of opportunity. Fishing, hunting, exploring, camping. Float fishing trips.
A lot of people love a lot of those rivers out in that area that are just great fisheries. And so it was always awesome and to be able to take people to go experience that.
But there has been some struggle with some of the king salmon runs in particular, and this is in the valley. So I don't know how the West Susitna Industrial Access Road would affect that. Plus the last few winters have been pretty tough on the moose out in the area. Normally there's a lot of moose out there. And for the last couple of years I've been seeing less and less of that.
Having a road out there would be even worse for that ecosystem.”
—Wrangel Jensen, Trail Ridge Air pilot, lifelong Alaska resident
“One of the coolest things is being able to take these people out and just go show them everything that there is to offer out here. From the airplane, you can see a lot of the area and a lot of wildlife.
And so it's really awesome to be able to show that, and how you just get across the Cook Inlet from Anchorage. And then you're just out in remote areas. For tourists those trips are, a lot of times, one of the best things that people do on their entire trip in Alaska. It might just be an hour or two, and it has made their entire trip.
And we have so many clients that have cabins or live out in that area. We build relationships with those people, and it's nice to be able to help them out.
A road would ruin a lot of what is out there.”
—Wrangel Jensen, Trail Ridge Air pilot, lifelong Alaska resident