Prince of Wales Aquaponics Tour
by Kevin Allred
On April 13th, Carlene Allred and I traveled to Prince of Wales Island to join a large group touring three aquaponic greenhouses located in Coffman Cove, Thorne Bay, and Kasaan. The tour was hosted by REAP (Renewable Energy Alaska Project), and had participants mostly from Alaska, but also two folks from Canada. A staff person from Washington DC was also there. Our trip down was pretty routine except when we were surprised to witness our arriving Ketchikan Airport Ferry go out of control and smash into the landing dock, throwing a few people down and damaging the dock, and at least one vehicle. Since it was uncertain how badly the ferry was damaged, we were delayed in getting to the Prince of Wales Ferry, but still made it in good time.
We stayed in Klawock at a lodge and spent the next day touring the greenhouses from a couple large vans. Everyone was very impressed with the operations in these towns. The Schools are managing the greenhouses which are all run off Biomass cord wood or fake fire-wood logs. Biomass is used because it is much cheaper to operate than heating oil. It also has the advantage of providing employment to students and local citizens in both procuring the 2′ long split cord wood and managing the biomass boilers, which are quite large and each have 2500 gallons of water with temperatures up to 200 degrees F. Thorne Bay and Coffman Cove have dual boilers that heat the schools, teacher housing, greenhouses, and other buildings. Kasaan has only one boiler.
The Coffman Cove operation generates about 50,000 dollars a year, and provides local employment, and great learning opportunities for the school children and youth. Some of the projects they are working on are yellow cedar starts for the Forest Service, mushroom farming, and hanging baskets for mothers day. The school at Coffman Cove has a bee hive built into one of its classrooms. The bees enter and leave the hive from the out-side through the lower hinge, and can be viewed through the glass.
The Thorne Bay folks have built a small restaurant in which they sell food containing their greenhouse-grown produce. We ate lunch at the restaurant.
The Kasaan operation was in a town about the same size as Tenakee Springs. I could envision folks here enjoying the benefits of harvesting year-round produce in a nice green-house next to a tank with visible large goldfish swimming around. According to my notes, their single wood fired boiler heats the school, teacher housing, community center, and greenhouse. They have plans to add the library soon.
We were inspired to try and promote a similar undertaking tailor-made for Tenakee Springs. There are at least half dozen different options for us, ranging from a couple potential geo-thermal sites, waste heat from the present light plant, or bio-mass somewhere in town to take advantage of heating other houses or buildings. Management of the greenhouse might either be through CCC or the newly fledged garden committee.