BUSINESS PLAN





Sitka Maritime Heritage Society

JAPONSKI BOATHOUSE &

MARITIME HERITAGE CENTER



P. O. Box 2153

Sitka, Alaska 99835


www.sitkamaritime.org

Phone 747-3448 (board president)



Board of Directors


Rebecca Poulson, president

Mike Litman, treasurer

Linda Blankenship, secretary

Jan Steinbright

Matt Hunter

Jerry Dzugan

Joe D’Arienzo

Mark Gorman


November 2008

Table of Contents



1.0 Executive Summary

    1. Mission

    2. Objectives

    3. Keys to Success


  1. Organization Summary

    1. Legal Description

    2. Historical Background

      1. Formation of the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society

      2. Current Board

      3. History and Significance of the Boathouse

Architectural Significance

Social Significance

    1. Site and Facility


  1. Program and Services Summary

    1. Interpretive and Exhibit Program

    2. Education Program

    3. Recreational Program

    4. Public Program and Special Events

    5. Benefits to the Community


4.0 Market Analysis

    1. Marketing to Local Residents

    2. Marketing to Visitors


5.0 Fundraising and Sustainability Plan

5.1 Sustainability

5.2 Boathouse Renovation

5.3 Strategic Partnerships

5.4 Milestones and Timeline


6.0 Personnel Plan

6.1 Organizational Structure

7.0 Financial Plan

7.1 Important Assumptions

7.2 Income and Expense Sheet

7.3 Staffing Plan

7.4 Start-up Expenses

7.5 Boathouse Renovation Project Plan


Appendix

A.1 Goals and Priorities







Executive Summary


This business plan provides the organizational, management, marketing and financial guidelines for the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, Inc. and its development of the Japonski Boathouse Maritime Heritage Center. The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization incorporated in Sitka, Alaska in 1999. It is currently all volunteer. The mission of the SMHS is to preserve the maritime heritage of Southeastern Alaska, with a focus on Sitka, and to educate the public about that heritage.


The SMHS will create a local and regional maritime heritage center and working boat repair facility in the Japonski Island boathouse, at the foot of the O’Connell Bridge on Japonski Island, directly across from downtown Sitka, Alaska. Schematic design drawings and plans for this project have been developed by Welsh Whiteley Architects, directed by the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society (SMHS) Board of Directors with advice from the community and city government of Sitka.


The maritime history of Sitka is as rich as that of any West Coast port: the home of the Sitka Tlingit people, charted in the age of exploration, the center of operations of the Russian colonial empire, and throughout the 20th century as a major fishing port. Maritime history shaped and defines this community. Yet there is no maritime heritage center in Sitka, or in the entire state of Alaska.


Recently consolidation and poor salmon prices have led to fewer people fishing for a living. While even now a visitor to Sitka sees 50- to 75-year-old wooden boats heading out to the ocean to fish, a way of life is disappearing. The pride, self-sufficiency and special skills are not as evident, because the way it used to be lives only in memory. The boats themselves are rapidly succumbing to neglect. Sitka is becoming more like everywhere else, and our rich maritime heritage is in danger of disappearing.


The boathouse maritime heritage center will keep this heritage alive in every sense. The marine railway for hauling out boats for repair will be restored to function. Visitors can watch boat repair, a crucial part of Sitka’s maritime tradition. Workshops and work on wooden boats will preserve and perpetuate skills and the boats themselves. They will also be designed to perpetuate pride and self-reliance through classes in boat building and navigation. The adjacent wings will be respectively a maritime heritage center and a workshop/classroom. The maritime heritage center will feature hands-on, interactive exhibits, which, with the restored historic building and working railway, will provide an unforgettable, authentic experience to visitors and locals alike.


Once built the facility will be self-sustaining through fees for maritime heritage center entrance, classes and space rental, sublease of uplands for a retail fuel dock, sales in a gift shop, memberships, and donations. Grants will be sought to continually do new research and exhibits. Sitka attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, who are just as interested as locals in seeing something authentic and true to place, and this large audience will help support the maritime heritage center. Development of this maritime heritage center will improve Sitka’s attractiveness as a destination. Visitor industry leaders have expressed a need for more attractions and activities in Sitka, and the need to interpret our fishing and World War II heritage.


The Japonski Island Boathouse itself is a listed historic building, part of a National Historic Landmark, commemorating Sitka’s Naval Air Station’s role in World War II. This Landmark has no interpretation and little recognition, in spite of the importance of this base to the nation and to Sitka. Local people and visitors alike are fascinated with the history of this era, and it is disappearing as old timers die and buildings are destroyed. The maritime heritage center will include an interpretive center for the National Historic Landmark. The facility will be a marine trailhead, with kayak and rowboat access and information on the Causeway, part of the Landmark accessible only by water. The Causeway portion of the Landmark was recently designated an Alaska State Historical Park.


The boathouse building is prominently viewed from downtown Sitka. It is an interesting and historical sight, once restored, and will contribute to Sitka’s scenic, historic landscape.


The board of the SMHS are knowledgeable and passionate about maritime heritage and wish to see it alive for our children and grandchildren. In this group we have business experience, boat repair and building skills, nonprofit management experience, and pride in our community. The SMHS has already worked with the City and Borough of Sitka to have the property transferred from the State of Alaska and leased to the SMHS. The SMHS has secured and seen to completion numerous grants to survey the boathouse for condition and hazardous materials, develop a schematic architectural plan, and to stabilize, repair and paint the building. The SMHS has presented historical programs, including oral history panels, to enthusiastic audiences. To fulfill this community-wide dream of a maritime heritage center, the SMHS will continue to build membership and local donations and hire a director as soon as income begins flowing from the proposed fuel dock sublease, in 2009. A Save America’s Treasures matching grant is already in hand for actual rehabilitation. A National Scenic Byways grant for architecture and engineering has recently been authorized, and proposals are now being solicited (November 2008). Further large grants are currently being sought for the balance of funds needed for construction of the maritime heritage center – a rehabilitation of the boathouse to historic preservation standards and an addition or separate structure to house rest rooms and storage.


1.1 Mission


The mission of the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society is:


In keeping with this mission, the maritime heritage center will:



In addition, the historic Japonski Island boathouse, which will be restored as the site of the maritime heritage center, is itself part of a WWII National Historic Landmark, which currently has no interpretation. The World War II aspect of the center will:


.

1.2 Objectives

The SMHS objectives during 2009 and 2010 are:


1.3 Keys to Success


There are four primary keys to success for the SMHS. They are:


2.0 Organization Summary


2.1 Legal Description


The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society (SMHS) is a private, non-profit organization that was incorporated in August 1999 and received its Internal Revenue Service certification as a section 501.c.3 nonprofit organization in September 2000.


The current SMHS board has 8 members. Its officers are president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. The duties and responsibilities of the board directors are defined in the organization's bylaws. The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society is currently an all-volunteer organization. To move toward the phase of the operating maritime heritage center and boathouse we envision, at least one paid staff person will be needed. However, the SMHS will continue to rely heavily on the work of volunteers. The director’s responsibilities in the beginning will be primarily fundraising and management of grants and construction.


2.2 Historical Background


2.2.1 Formation of the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society

The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society (SMHS) was formed in July 1999 in response to the sinking of the 111-year-old sailing schooner Merlin. The owner did not have the funds to raise her, but offered to donate her as a maritime museum if she could be raised. Sitkans rallied to the cause by forming the SMHS.

Saving the Merlin, the oldest documented vessel on the west coast, was important to Sitkans because it is a distinctive local vessel, and people were seeing well-known local boats sink or get scrapped on a regular basis, watching our heritage disappear. The dramatic size and shape of the Merlin also made her attractive as a corner stone for a museum to save more typical but less dramatic boats.

With the help of generous donations of money and equipment, volunteers raised her and towed her to a shipyard in Sitka where the cause of the sinking was discovered. Several strips of baleen were found wedged near a 5-foot diameter hole that divers had discovered in the boat’s bottom. A humpback whale had struck Merlin at high velocity, apparently while attempting to breach. The sinking of a boat by a humpback whale is in itself a historic event. The last documented case in this area occurred at the turn of the last century.


Merlin’s hull was repaired and she was returned to the water. Accomplishments of the SMHS in the following year included incorporating as a non-profit corporation in the State of Alaska, obtaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and visioning with members of the Board and community of Sitka. Becoming a non-profit was seen as crucial to the mission of preserving and promoting maritime history, through greater access to funding sources. Restoration of the Japonski boathouse was identified as a goal of equal importance with the goal of restoring Merlin. It soon became apparent that either of these goals alone was more than enough to occupy a small organization in its start-up years. Old wooden boats cannot sit indefinitely, and when an offer came from the Pacific Marine Foundation in Seattle to take over Merlin, the SMHS Board decided to donate her. This move allowed the SMHS to concentrate on the restoration of the boathouse, a National Historic Landmark and an important part of Sitka’s waterfront.


2.2.2 Current Board


The board and members of the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society are all enthusiastic and knowledgeable about maritime heritage. President Rebecca Poulson is an artist and mother of two young children, who worked as a shipwright and crew member on Sitka’s commercial fleet for many years. She has also done professional writing and historical research on Sitka’s fishing boats. Treasurer Mike Litman owns and operates an aluminum boatbuilding and fabrication business, and his boats are in high demand. He also started out fishing and working on wooden boats. He has served with distinction on Sitka’s school board. Jan Steinbright is well known in Alaska for her work recording and promoting Native culture. She is a former owner of a classic wooden tug. She was most recently Assistant Director of the Native Studies program at Sheldon Jackson College. She has successfully managed major projects such as construction of Sitka’s 30-foot traditional Tlingit canoe, and is author of Qayaqs and Canoes: Native Ways of Knowing, on a project at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in which tradition bearers built traditional Alaska Native boats. Mark Gorman is Vice President of Community Health Services of the Southeast Regional Health Consortium, a regional non-profit providing health services to Alaska Natives, and cofounder of the Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race. Matt Hunter teaches math at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, a state boarding school in Sitka. He is also an amateur historian, often collaborating with professional archeologists and historians. He has presented his research on World War II in Sitka to veterans and history groups, and on his website on Sitka in World War II. Joe D’Arienzo is a shipwright and is active in community work, including Sitka Friends of Dance and the Sitka Tree and Landscape Committee. Linda Blankenship is a retired educator, who has taught grade school through college level courses. She has recently been presenting programs to visitors aboard small cruise ships and ferries. As a member of a Sitka Tlingit clan, she has a strong interest in and is active in Native culture and history, and is active in community groups such as the Sitka Women’s Club. Jerry Dzugan is executive director of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, an award-winning nonprofit that has substantially reduced deaths and accidents on the water in Alaska. He is also an amateur historian, and is on the board of the Sitka Historical Society as well.


The current board all got involved in the project because our lives have been enriched through working and subsistence food gathering on the water, and contact with old timers, old boats and maritime culture. We see this culture being dispersed, and want to continue it for future generations. The board sees the need to expand its capacity to engage more fully in fund development activities that will enhance our sustainability. We are also hoping to identify and recruit new board members with organizational expertise and a wider array of important community and statewide connections, to complement our “grass roots” strengths.


2.2.3 History and Significance of the Boathouse

The Japonski Island Boathouse was built in 1941 by contractor Siems-Drake-Puget Sound as part of the Naval Air Station. It is a covered marine ways (a track with cradle for hauling boats out of the water) with adjoining workshops, storage, office and boiler room.

In 1939, a Navy seaplane base, the first in Alaska, was built on Japonski Island. Beginning in 1941 an Army base, to protect the harbor and air base, was built on adjacent islands. The boathouse was used to maintain military boats, including the shore boats, which carried military personnel between Japonski Island and Sitka. The Navy had a large number of patrol boats and launches. In 1942 the Navy employed 26 shipwrights at Sitka. As many as 10,000 troops were stationed here.

After the end of World War II, the Japonski Island complex, renamed Mt. Edgecumbe, included the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, Public Health Service hospital, the Indian Health Service, the Federal Aviation Authority, and housing and services for federal employees. Until the bridge was built in 1972 everyone rode the "shore boats" between Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe. The boathouse was used for repairing the shore boats and other government boats. Government employees also used the ways for working on their own boats through the SAFE (Service Activities for Federal Employees) program.


At one time the boathouse was the only haul-out facility in the Sitka area. The only alternative was the grid, on which work had to be completed between tides. The boathouse was transferred from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the State of Alaska in the early 1980s and has been vacant since that time. For a time it was owned by the Department of Natural Resources and leased to the University of Alaska. In 2004 the SMHS initiated the transfer of the property fro the DNR to the City of Sitka, which now leases it to the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society.


Architectural Significance

The boathouse is included in the Sitka Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Coastal Defenses National Historic Landmark. It is a physical reminder of a time when the United States was preparing for foreign invasion. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, plunging the United States into war, Sitka's air base was the only one ready to defend the North Pacific coast, which was seen as a target of the Japanese. Later two more air stations were completed, and Sitka became an important way point until the Japanese were driven from the Aleutians.


The military installations on Japonski Island included hundreds of wooden
buildings - temporary housing, warehouses, garages, service buildings. Today
very few exist, and these are mostly slated for demolition. The marine ways building is one of the few remaining examples in Sitka of the type of wood construction used in the buildup of WWII. One feature is the high quality wood used and the extreme simplicity of design. This expresses in a physical way the attitudes and goals of the defense installation: the best resources were put into this base, which, at the time, was of top strategic military importance.

Another significant aspect of the marine ways is in their traditional use of the waterfront. Once there were several marine ways in Sitka. Much of the Sitka waterfront now, like most towns and cities, is largely rock fill and bulkheads. There is less and less of the original beach, and few of the traditional waterfront buildings, which were such a distinctive feature of southeastern Alaskan towns.


This building is also significant in its design in not having an end wall to take side wind stress; instead it incorporates massive roof bracing to withstand side wind loads. This type of design is typical of marine sheds and of very long buildings, like canneries.


Social Significance of the Boathouse
Before World War II, Sitka was a sleepy little fishing town in the middle of the wilderness. The military installations had an enormous impact on the community of Sitka. Thousands of servicemen patronized Sitka businesses; wage employment was suddenly available; and the presence of the military led to changes in social attitudes, bringing the town into mainstream American culture.

After the war, Mt. Edgecumbe remained a community of federal workers and their families, distinct from the town of Sitka. This community was absorbed into Sitka with the construction of the bridge in 1972. The boathouse is significant as an important part of that now dispersed community. The shore boats which were maintained there are a fondly remembered part of community life for Mt. Edgecumbe residents and for Sitka residents, who had to take them to get to Sitka's airport.

2.3 Site and Facility


Sitka, Alaska is on the outer coast of Baranof Island in Southeastern Alaska. The natural harbor and rich resources have attracted visitors and residents since the last ice age. The Japonski Island Boathouse is located near, and in sight of, downtown Sitka, within easy walking distance across the O’Connell Bridge. It has a spectacular view of the bridge and Sitka Sound.


The Japonski Boathouse itself will be both the main classroom and the central living history exhibit. Restoration of the marine railway will preserve a unique part of maritime history. It will provide the only facility in Sitka for local boat owners and craftsmen to repair, restore, or build a boat under cover. As such it can provide an important source of revenue for the maritime heritage center. Giving priority to classic and historical vessels will further the SMHS mission of preserving maritime heritage.


In 2003, with a grant from the federal Historic Preservation Fund to the City of Sitka, the SMHS had a hazardous materials survey and condition survey done on the building. The results were favorable, with only lead paint, one underground storage tank and a very small amount of asbestos in taping mud in the furnace room. The condition survey showed that the building was basically sound except for the open end of the boat shed and exposed ends of floor joists.

In the summers of 2005 and 2006 the building was cleaned up, painted, stabilized, repaired, and a new foundation built under the wings. This work was accomplished with Historic Preservation Fund Grants, in-kind donations from the City and Borough of Sitka and others, and private grants, and hundreds of hours of volunteer work.


The covered dry dock is 50 feet deep and 25 feet wide. On either side of this main boathouse are attached buildings, one 16 feet wide by 43 feet long, and the other 24 feet wide by 41 feet long. One, which was historically used as a woodshop, will provide a workshop and classroom area. The other, formerly used for storage, will house interactive exhibits. There is also an office on the back, which is 12 ½ feet by 20 feet. It is essentially as it was in WWII, and could become a time capsule of that era, with authentic clothing, tools and furniture. An addition and/or separate building will provide space for gift shop, office and toilets.


The Schematic Design planning by Welsh Whiteley Architects, a Ketchikan firm with historic preservation experience, focused on maintaining the building's historical character while creating a multi-use facility featuring a hands-on, interactive maritime heritage center, a boat repair program, and community education, including programs for youth.


The area will have parking for cars and buses and landscaping for a waterfront park, with access to the beach below the maritime heritage center. Eventually there will be a float for storage and launching of kayaks, as this is not available in the City harbor system. This float could also permit access to the maritime heritage center by small boat or water taxi. Rental of kayak storage will be a source of revenue for the maritime heritage center.


3.0 Program and Services


3.1 Interpretive and Exhibit Program


Sitka’s maritime history is as rich and important as that of any port on the West Coast. Sitka was an important village and fort site of the Tlingit, visited and charted by the great European explorers, the headquarters of the Russian American colonial empire, and is still a major fishing port. Hundreds of boats and ships have been built here. In recent years many have left the fishing industry, and the wooden boats are surplus, as fewer boats are needed and many are now fiberglass and metal. This fishing industry heritage of self-reliance, spirited independence and community is disappearing as old timers die and boats sink. The focus of the maritime heritage center will be on 20th century fishing and the people, stories and boats. Other aspects of Sitka’s maritime heritage will be covered as well in permanent and temporary exhibits.


Today Sitka is still defined by our maritime heritage. Sitka is still an important fishing port, there are multiple boatbuilding operations, marine repair is a major part of the economy, and there is a Coast Guard Air Station and a Cutter stationed here. Sitka is a major cruise ship port of call, a sport fishing Mecca, nearly every resident participates in salt water recreation, and, Sitka is a kayaking paradise. Maritime history is undeveloped and unrecorded. Local people and visitors alike are hungry for local knowledge, and the maritime history of this place.


Across the country, and in Alaska, museums and heritage centers are moving away from static exhibits and towards more interactive interpretation. These are more attractive and fun, and if done with integrity, are more effective as education. The maritime heritage center will be full of activity. Exhibits can include such things as a caulking wall, where visitors can try their own hands at this important skill, hammering cotton into boat seams to make them watertight. The display on fishing can include a full-size troller (fishing boat) cockpit with pictures around to simulate the feeling of being in the pit in your own boat. Actual tarred cotton seines and other old-style gear can give visitors a hands-on experience. Part of the building can be restored to the World War II period, with authentic clothes, gear, tools and memos.

The maritime heritage center will also feature a Willits Brothers canoe (made in Tacoma) that was paddled to Juneau in the late 1920s by Jack and Sasha Calvin. Besides being an example of fine Northwest boatbuilding, the Calvins had many connections to the literary and artistic avante garde of the 1920s. This canoe can be the centerpiece for a display on Sitka in the 1930s, populated by recent immigrants and Natives, fishermen and artists.

The proposed exhibits tell stories not told anywhere else. For instance, The Sitka Tribe has identified the need to present the history of the Tlingit people’s cultural adaptation in the 20th century. Most of the boat building and seining in Sitka was done by Native people. Audio and video clips of interviews with Sitka’s old timers will give a first person account of fishing.


The maritime heritage center will display exhibits such as the following:

The maritime heritage center will include historical artifacts, eye-catching interpretive narrative and graphics, and windows allowing views of craftsmen at work on boats in the marine ways.

Another vital part of the maritime heritage center will be a resource library containing books, videos, and other materials about general and local maritime history, and oral histories of the colorful mariners and fishermen of Sitka’s past. The shop will sell high quality maritime books, gifts, gear, clothing such as halibut hats and t-shirts, ship models, and other unique items.


As agents for boat tours, the maritime heritage center will arrange for visitors to go out on fishing boats or other classic boats for harbor tours. Fishermen who are retired or between openings could earn income while giving visitors an unforgettable experience. This is also a way for old boats to earn their way, furthering the goal of preserving maritime heritage. Five or six vessels could be booked as available. The SMHS would assist in licensing and safety requirements and would book visitors. The state Legislature recently passed a bill allowing visitors to purchase a one-day crew license, with the idea of encouraging tours in which a visitor could participate in commercial fishing.


3.2 Education Program

Classes will include a broad range of subjects, such as:


The Maritime heritage center education program will meet a broad spectrum of learning needs and age levels, from pre-schoolers to high school students to seniors.


3.3 Recreational Program


Our vision for the facility includes a kayak and small boat float immediately adjacent to the Boathouse. Classes in small boat building could produce boats which could be rented to the public for rowing around Sitka Channel.

The Sitka Trail Plan, formulated cooperatively in a three-year planning process by Sitka Trailworks, the City of Sitka, the Sitka Tribe, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, and adopted in 2003,

addresses the need for a float for storage and launching of kayaks. The location would be a good launch site for exploring the Causeway Trail proposed in the Sitka Trail Plan:

“Cultural Interest Trails World War II Causeway Project Description

The Sitka World War II causeway has the potential to be the best and most informative World War II historic walk in Southeast Alaska. Users of this trail would be able to explore fascinating underground ammunition bunkers or stand on a gun platform and look out to the open ocean. The Causeway Trail has commercial potential as a destination for independent visitors and cruise ship passengers.”


The Japonski Boathouse Maritime heritage center could display the background information about the causeway, provide maps, and, with its float in place, serve as the first stop for a boat tour, or a jumping off place for independents who wish to explore by kayak.



3.4 Public Programs and Special Events


The SMHS has already sponsored public events such as slide presentations on maritime history, dinghy races on the 4th of July and historic harbor tours on Alaska Day, and annual meetings featuring oral history panels, on such themes as Cannery Life and Trolling for Salmon, and will continue to do so. Once the maritime heritage center is operational, the SMHS will pursue project grants for documenting and researching maritime history, to result in exhibits, lectures, and publications. The maritime heritage center will become a center for this type of activity, for Sitkans and visitors to share and learn about our heritage. One side of the building will be designed as a multi-use space, for such things as a video series, talks and slide shows, fundraising events, and rental for functions.


3.5 Benefits to the Community


The first and most obvious benefit is the restoration of a historic waterfront building and preservation of the beach below it. This preserves a piece of the unique character of Sitka’s waterfront, rapidly disappearing under shot rock and concrete. It improves the waterfront by restoring a building that has been allowed to sit empty, and which would otherwise have been filled in as a parking lot.


The interpretive program allows old timers and youth to share the history of Sitka. Sitka’s elders are eager to share their experience, and younger people have much to gain from their perspective. Children will learn how their home is special, which leads to a stronger sense of identity. Native and non-Native youth will gain by learning about the technological achievements of Tlingit culture, and the courage and accomplishments of the early 20th century generation of Native leaders, many of whom were boatbuilders and fishermen. Historical programs which explore issues such as work and employment, resource development, public policy, racism, and immigration show how our predecessors dealt with the very problems we face today. We also learn the origin of our institutions, attitudes and landscape. This education makes us better people and more informed citizens. When we learn the good and the bad in our history we have a better understanding of current affairs. This maritime heritage center will help the visitor experience how people used to live, how it was better, how it was worse.


Visitors to Sitka will benefit by having a satisfying look at a real town with a real history. The maritime heritage center’s interpretation will give historical depth to all they see outside the maritime heritage center. Watching work being done on actual boats gives a sense of continuity with previous generations. Adding the maritime heritage center as an attraction in Sitka will also benefit the community by providing jobs and sales tax revenue, and another reason for people to come and stay longer. This economic development is the kind people in Sitka can be proud of.


Old boat tours allow owners of classic vessels a way for the boat to help pay for itself, and may make the difference between a boat being abandoned or kept up. More and more of these boats are becoming derelict and have to be destroyed. The marine ways could be leased for work on classic vessels with priority or at a reduced rate, toward the same goal.


Education in boatbuilding, navigation and other traditional skills develop a sense of self esteem in youth and adults. And, the ocean doesn’t change – perpetuating skills of small boat handling contributes to marine safety. Boatbuilding classes are not currently available in Sitka.


There is a pressing need for a kayak launch in Sitka, which can be filled at the boathouse. No place downtown is ideal, but from the boathouse paddlers are close to town yet can begin in a sheltered cove, then hug the shore and stay out of traffic. It is part of developing the state park on the Causeway, part of the Landmark only accessible by kayak or other small boat. Having a kayak launch adjacent to a historical facility allows paddlers and rowers access to information that will enrich their time on the water.


4.0 Market Analysis


The Japonski Boathouse & Maritime heritage center will serve two main markets. It will serve Sitka residents by providing educational, cultural, recreational, and work opportunities. Every Sitkan is a potential visitor to the Japonski Boathouse, and a consumer of its programs, services and products. The maritime heritage center will be designed to appeal to diverse ages, ethnic, educational and economic backgrounds, and to have activities all year round. Our geographical market includes both Sitka residents and visitors from throughout the world.

It will contribute to Sitka’s economy by serving cruise ship passengers and independent travelers. It can also serve an important purpose in educating visitors about the importance of our ocean resources. Telling the story of our fisheries helps in marketing Alaska’s wild fish products.


4.1 Marketing to Local Residents


Sitka residents have a strong sense of connection with the sea. Out of Sitka’s population of 8835, a high proportion of people make their living in commercial fishing and other maritime industries. Many more turn to the sea for recreation. Long-time residents wish to preserve maritime heritage and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. Newcomers are eager to learn.


The community-wide design process will ensure that the center meets local needs. The design process involves public meetings and a review committee of representatives of fishing and visitor industries and the historical community. Marketing to locals will involve special events highlighting maritime heritage and the Boathouse and educational programs and classes, listed above. Exhibits will change regularly.


The Sitka Public Schools, and in particular, Pacific High, Sitka’s alternative school, have expressed an interest in cooperative programs to serve their students, even in the construction phase. Sitka is also a regional center for education. Mt. Edgecumbe High School, the state boarding school, and the campus of the University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka branch, are immediately adjacent to the Boathouse. Sheldon Jackson College campus is currently vacant, but should eventually be an educational facility once again. There is strong potential to offer vocational training as well as historical and cultural programs in cooperation with these schools.


When the Boathouse is restored to functioning condition, it will provide the only covered repair facility in Sitka. With Sitka’s rainy climate, there is a strong demand for a place to work on longer boat projects out of the weather. The opportunity to view shipwrights at work should be a strong draw for the maritime heritage center.


The idea of a maritime heritage center and of interpretation of World War II in Sitka enjoys strong community support. Sitkans generally are practical and are intensely proud of what makes us unique. Older people have a desire to share their history. The SMHS has requested and received letters of support from the Visitor’s Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Sitka Trail Works, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, the Sitka Historical Society, and the City of Sitka Parks and Recreation Department. The Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka has unanimously approved in-kind matching for three grant applications. The SMHS has done joint projects with the Sitka National Historical Park, the Cape Decision Lighthouse Society, the Sitka Historical Society, the Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race, and presented to many other groups.


    1. Marketing to Visitors


Approximately a quarter million visitors come to Sitka each year, most on cruise ships. Cruise ship passenger numbers are dropping, however. If Sitka is to maintain its status as a prime tour ship stop, and expand its allure as a destination for the independent traveler, more attractions are needed. The Japonski Boathouse & Maritime heritage center will allow visitors to experience a very important aspect of Sitka’s cultural heritage not represented in existing facilities. Many cruise ship visitors lived through or even fought in World War II and have a strong interest in the history of that era. A World War II interpretive center could be a strong draw for both the cruise ship passenger and the independent traveler. It would be a particularly strong attraction when paired with the Causeway Trail.


The independent traveler is perhaps of even greater economic importance to Sitka and the Japonski Boathouse & Maritime heritage center. Research shows that visiting and experiencing historical museums and sites is among the very highest rated destinations of travelers within the United States and from foreign nations. A 1997 study by the Travel Industry Association of America revealed that approximately one-third of United States adults (65.9 million) took either an historic trip or a cultural trip or both. Compared to travelers overall, these historic and cultural travelers take longer trips, spend more money, participate in more activities, and stay more often in hotels, motels and bed and breakfast inns.1 The SMHS proposes to attract this type of visitor.


In recent years Sitka has begun to distinguish itself as a relatively authentic and less generic destination, in comparison to other cruise ship ports of call. The Sitka Maritime Maritime heritage center will be part of the development of this high-quality niche for cultural travelers. The historic building itself, the working marine ways, and planned interactive exhibits will make Sitka more attractive.


While the mission and function of the Japonski Boathouse & Maritime heritage center is similar to other maritime heritage centers in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in the nation, it is the only one in Alaska, and may also be the only one with a functioning boathouse and marine railway. By offering high quality exhibits in this authentic heritage setting, the Boathouse will carve out a complementary market niche rather than competing with other maritime heritage centers or other museums in Sitka. By so positioning itself, the maritime heritage center will be able to gain both local and wider national and international recognition and generate donor, admissions and other financial support.


The organization in Sitka with a mission closest to that of the boathouse is the Isabel Miller Museum, which is dedicated to presenting all of the history of Sitka, with an emphasis on history since the Russian occupation. Other museums are devoted to Russian and traditional Native culture. All are traditional museums, with an emphasis on artifacts and text, and responsibility for priceless archives and collections. The boathouse will cover history not addressed in any existing institution, and with an emphasis on interactive exhibits rather than a collection.


Marketing efforts will begin by making the maritime heritage center visible and attractive from the airport road and from downtown Sitka and getting on tourist maps. The boathouse will be featured in the 2009 Alaska Milepost traveler’s guide, which has a theme of finding World War II in Alaska. Other steps include securing a place on local bus tours, pre-selling admission aboard the ships, and development of small boat tours and water taxi service around the Sitka waterfront, with stops at the Boathouse. An effective worldwide website is already used to attract independent travelers. Advertising and listing in local and regional tourist publications such as All About Sitka will attract visitors once they have arrived in Southeastern Alaska. Feature articles in newspapers and magazines like Alaska and Alaska Airlines will be sought out. There are also maritime, travel and historic preservation publications that could feature the maritime heritage center or activities. Brochures can be placed throughout the region and on ships and ferries, and sent out with Visitor Bureau packets.


A kayak storage/launching float adjacent to the boathouse will bring a natural audience right to the door.


5.0 Fundraising and Sustainability Plan


A priority for the SMHS is that the boathouse maritime heritage center be sustainable without depending on city or state appropriations. This is also very important to the community, because taxes and fees are already increasing locally as state and federal monies are harder to come by.


5.1 Sustainability


Fundraising for the SMHS can be broken down into two parts: building a capital fund to rehabilitate the building as a maritime heritage center; and ongoing fundraising to operate and maintain the facility and programs.

The major source of ongoing funding will be a marine fuel dock near the boathouse. Distributor Delta Western will sublease the corner of the boathouse property for attaching a fuel dock, and will pay a minimum of $50,000 with a cap of $75,000 annually, based on a rate of 6.5 cents per gallon of fuel sold. This will support the position of executive director.

At this point the SMHS has a limited membership, publishes a newsletter, has successfully won and implemented approximately $500,000 in grants, including a Save America’s Treasures grant to be used for rehabilitation. The SMHS has put on various fund raising events such as maritime art auction and grilled fish lunches, and sells original t-shirts. There is great potential for increasing income in all of these areas.


A key fundraising strategy for the SMHS is membership growth. As people see the restoration of the Boathouse in progress and as services expand, membership should rapidly increase. We will also solicit memberships from visitors and on our website.

The opening of the maritime heritage center will bring revenue from admissions fees, classes, rentals of the ways, kayak storage, and gift shop sales. Once built, the SMHS anticipates that approximately 90 percent of the Maritime heritage center’s annual revenue will be generated by a combination of fuel dock sublease income, haul-outs, membership, admissions, programming, retail sales and related activities.


The board will be actively engaged in designing a development plan that will lead to the overall sustainability of the maritime heritage center. In addition, the board recognizes the need to seek members who have greater community and statewide connections, as well as expertise and interest in financial resource development in order to enhance our sustainability.


Hiring a staff person skilled at fundraising and managing grants will be crucial for the coming years of project development. This person will have development experience and administrative expertise. This position will probably be in addition to contracting day-to-day management of construction and of volunteers doing physical work on the building.


5.2 Boathouse Renovation


Renovation of the building as a maritime heritage center will require funds from outside the community. There are funds available for just such a capital project, a historic preservation project which will contribute to Sitka’s cultural landscape as well as to economic development. To rehabilitate the building, fundraising will include all sources that will be used for maintaining the building. In addition, there are funds available for capital projects that are not available for day-to-day operations. Ideally, the rehabilitation can be achieved with a few large grants. The SMHS has been awarded a Save America’s Treasures grant, for $365,000, one of the few in Alaska that was awarded not as an earmark, but through the highly vetted competitive process at the federal level. Other possible sources, particularly for matching, include the Rasmuson Foundation and the Murdock Charitable Trust. These organizations have funded similar projects in Alaska. Other potential sources are economic development funds through the Department of Agriculture Rural Development and the Denali Commission, because Sitka is classified as a rural community. In the case that federal projects now under way on Japonski Island are found to have adverse impacts to the Landmark, remediation funds for the boathouse may be available. We are actively pursuing all of these possibilities.


The remainder of cash and in-kind donations will be generated by the following activities:


Fundraising strategies will include:



Meticulous records and receipts are kept of all monies and in-kind donations, and our financial documents are prepared by a professional.


5.3 Strategic Partnerships


The Boathouse restoration is already a collaborative effort of the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, City of Sitka and its Historic Preservation Commission, and the National Park Service. Initial grants for the condition survey, hazardous materials survey and schematic design were to the City of Sitka, with matching provided by the SMHS and in-kind matching by the City. Professionals with the National Park Service have done research, consulted on the project, and are on the design review committee. The Alaska Office of History and Archeology and the State Historic Preservation Office have been intimately involved with the project from the beginning. Other organizations include the Sitka Historical Society, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, the Sitka Convention and Visitors Bureau, and private businesses in marine fields in Sitka. We have letters of support from all of these organizations, as well as the Sitka Chamber of Commerce, Sitka Trail Works, and the boathouse was listed by the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation as one of the Ten Endangered Properties in Alaska for 2003.


The SMHS offers maritime expertise, enthusiasm and creativity. For fundraising and organizational development the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce, private businesspeople such as Sitka Tours owner John Litten, and professionals of the Foraker Group have been essential for the background and knowledge we lack.


For its educational and recreational programs, SMHS will seek partnerships with the Sitka Public Schools, the University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka Trailworks, Kettleson Public Library, and the Canoe Club. Many of the programs described above have high potential for cooperative development, which has been discussed with these organizations.


The National Park Service is responsible for National Historic Landmarks, and they have been concerned about the one on Japonski for years. It has no interpretation and little recognition. The NPS Alaska Support Office has given and will continue to offer technical assistance in the areas of historical research, historical architecture and engineering, managing historic preservation projects, and design of an interpretive center. They may also assist with interpretive signage while the project is under way.

The City of Sitka will assist in and review the plans and construction. The city building inspector, Public Works Director, City Engineer and Parks and Recreation Coordinator are the key personnel. The City and Borough of Sitka has committed $15,000 in in-kind services toward the rehabilitation.

The City of Sitka Historic Preservation Commission has been involved throughout the project, coordinating and representing historical interests, the city government and the public.

The State Historic Preservation Office has also been involved and will continue to be as the agency responsible for seeing that all the various landowners in the Landmark follow federal law, as the Japonski Island Infrastructure Plan and other construction goes forward. They also offer technical assistance in all areas of historic preservation projects. Four of the grants received so far have been through this office.

The community of Northwest maritime museums and heritage centers has been invaluable in offering information and encouragement. The SMHS will be drawing on them for skilled instructors to visit Sitka.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has given the SMHS a grant for the schematic design, and is an excellent source for information and training for historic preservation nonprofits.

Community volunteers, including the U.S. Coast Guard Sitka Air Station and USCG Cutter Maple, coordinated by the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, have been involved in work on the building.

The Sitka Shipwrights Cooperative, a business that builds and repairs wooden boats, and other maritime tradesmen active and retired have been involved in archiving the contents of the building and expertise on historical use of the building.

The Sitka Historical Society will be involved with research and photo archives on the building and planning the maritime heritage center to complement their displays.

Sitka Tribe of Alaska will be the agency to facilitate research on Sitka Native history as it touches on the project, and design of the museum: what to include and how to present that history in the maritime heritage center.


5.4 Milestones and Timeline


The following table and chart show our specific project development implementation milestones.

Milestone Completion Date Status

SMHS Founding July 1999 Complete


SMHS reorganized to focus on building 2002 Complete


Grant from Historic Preservation

Fund for $11,000, for building assessment 2003 Complete

and hazardous materials survey


Grant from National Trust

For Historic Preservation for $2750,

and second HPF grant for $8,000

for Conceptual Design 2003-2004 Complete


Conceptual Design 2004 Complete


Lease Signed 2004 Complete


HPF grant for $12,000

For repair and clean up of site 2005 Complete


Save America’s Treasures Grant Awarded December 2005 Pending Matching


Building roof, walls repaired, foundation

Replaced 2006 Complete


National Scenic Byways grant award

for complete architectural documents December 2007

Byways Grant funding available September 2008

Architecture RFP advertised November 2008

Architectural Firm Chosen January 2009

Construction Documents complete September 2009


Delta Western fuel dock operational Spring 2009

Executive Director hire 2009

Building Renovation 2010



Boathouse & Maritime heritage center

opens 2011



6.0 Personnel Plan


To date, the SMHS is an all-volunteer nonprofit group. The Delta Western fuel dock sublease will go toward hiring an executive director. This position in these early years will be someone experienced with development and administration, who can see the project through to a functioning maritime heritage center. The board and volunteers will continue to be responsible for fundraising as well. Management of volunteer work on construction of the building will be contracted as part of construction.


The next position will be a maritime heritage center administrator. This person will report to the executive director and be responsible for managing day-to-day maritime heritage center operations, exhibits and collections, programs and activities. It may be possible to combine the executive director and maritime heritage center administrator as one full-time position. Duties to be covered must include budget preparation and maintenance of financial records; overall administrative support including grant management; implementation of interpretive exhibits, collections, education and related program tasks; management of rentals; coordination of the membership and volunteer program; and support of community outreach initiatives.


A part-time (seasonal) gift shop manager will be in charge of staffing and running the museum shop. There will be part-time position to run and maintain the shop and marine ways. This person will be in charge of hauling boats and overseeing use of the facilities. Operation of the maritime heritage center will also require seasonal gift-shop staffing. Contracting custodial services is also part of the plan. Volunteer docents are essential to museums large and small. Sitka has a wealth of wonderfully knowledgeable and generous people. Visitors value local, informed guides. Development of a volunteer program is a priority for the SMHS.


The professional staffing needs for the next few years will be phased, with emphasis

on systematic marketing and fund raising planning, management and implementation. At the same time, however, planning will proceed in high priority program development areas -- interpretation and exhibits, education, and collections for example – using well-qualified, specialized consultants working closely with the staff and volunteers.

7.1 Financial Plan



7.1 Important Assumptions


Overall


Income


Admissions


Classes

($1500/student x 8 students = $12,000 - $4000 for instructor - $3200 for materials)


Kayak Storage


Marine Ways


Boat Tours


7.2 Income and Expense Sheet


7.3 Staffing Plan


7.4 Start-up Expenses


Action Plan


A.1 Goals and Priorities


Short Range Goals


  1. Choose architect and work with them to complete the rehabilitation design for the Boathouse.

  2. Send out regional press release on this project

  3. Develop exhibits and design committees



Mid-Range Goals


  1. Develop a marketing and fund development plan, as the first element of the revised business/ strategic plan, to guide short, mid and long range project marketing and fund raising efforts.

  2. Design and implement major capital fund raising campaign plan



Long Range Goals


  1. Expand the executive director funding up to full-time and/or hire additional professional staff in key positions, to operate, market and manage the maritime heritage center and its activities.


  1. Implement the major capital fund raising campaign plan for exhibits and interior space improvements.


  1. Implement the maritime heritage center program sub-plans – including interpretive themes and exhibits, education, facilities, and collections.


  1. Open the maritime heritage center on time, within budget, and with a strong membership, volunteer and on-going donor support base.




1 Commencement Bay Maritime Association, Working Waterfront Museum, Tacoma, Washington, 2002, p. 5.