DNR to Pursue Safeguarding Stampede Trail Bus at UA Museum
The Alaska Army National Guard used a helicopter to move Bus 142 to a “secure but undisclosed location while considering options for its long-term disposition.”
Alaska DNR, Division of Mining, Land, and Water
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) intends to negotiate with the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North as the likely repository of the well-known historic Bus 142, removed from the Stampede Trail last month.
“Of the many expressions of interest in the bus, the proposal from the UA Museum of the North best met the conditions we at DNR had established to ensure this historical and cultural object will be preserved in a safe location where the public could experience it fully, yet safely and respectfully, and without the specter of profiteering,” DNR Commissioner Corri Feige said.
The bus became well-known after Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book Into the Wild and a 2007 movie with the same name popularized the story of 24-year-old wanderer Chris McCandless, who sadly died there alone in 1992 after a 114-day stay at the site, about 25 miles west of Healy.
Over the years unprepared travelers to the bus sometimes became lost or injured, requiring the assistance of local search and rescue teams; two travelers died in their attempts to reach the bus, in separate incidents in 2010 and 2019. Seeking to reduce the risk of future tragedies, DNR asked the Alaska Army National Guard for help, and on June 18 the Guard helicoptered the bus away from the site. DNR has since kept the bus in a secure but undisclosed location while considering options for its long-term disposition.
Current Issue
December 2024
As the bus was abandoned on general state land, DNR is responsible for its disposal, and has received dozens of suggestions and offers from museums, institutions and individuals across the state and nation who had a variety of plans to preserve, exhibit, monetize, or memorialize it, Feige said.
After careful consideration, DNR decided to entertain the UA Museum’s proposal, which fully met the departments’ requirements that any long-term disposition must enhance public safety, minimize financial impact the state, be legally defensible, and be respectful to the families that lost loved ones in connection with the bus.
The UA Museum of the North proposal has several advantages, Feige said: It is one of just three official state repositories, and the only one in the Interior able to accept and curate state-owned historical items (and the only one in the Interior); it has experts on staff who can help restore, curate and display the bus; it can legally accept non-profit donations to pay for the costs of the bus; and it would allow DNR to retain legal ownership of the bus and play an active role in its use, including whether and to whom to lend it out for display elsewhere.
Two Minimum Wage Increases Set for 2025
Minimum wage earners get two raises in 2025. An inflation adjustment to $11.91 takes effect in January before a voter-approved hike to $13 per hour in July.
Mat-Su College Opens New Suite to Train Veterinary Technicians
Mat-Su College opens a new veterinary technician education suite to train students for an in-demand job they can carry anywhere.
Ten Years of Fiscal Stability with SB21
In the ten years since voters upheld SB21, oil taxation has seen a decade of relative stability. Has the tax structure lived up to its promise of boosting investment in Alaska’s oil fields?
