At this week’s Talkeetna Community Council meeting, Commissioner James Cockrell spoke about the potential for a new Trooper post in Talkeetna. And about the challenges of patrolling the Upper Valley being farther from more populated areas in the Mat-Su.
The Upper Valley, Wasilla, and east to Glenallen, called B Detachment, covers an area the size of West Virginia. When Cockrell spoke to Trapper Creek residents in the summer of 2023, he said there were only about five Troopers on duty at any one time in the Valley.
But Governor Dunleavy has proposed reinstating the Trooper post in Talkeetna, which would add five more Troopers specifically to patrol the Upper Valley.
Cockrell says the budget still needs to be approved before anything else can be decided. But, he says he has requested three Troopers, a Wildlife Trooper, and a sergeant to be posted at the station. Cockrell stressed that these would be new positions rather than moving Troopers from other locations.
The station once was at the beginning of the Talkeetna Spur Road, making it easy for Troopers to access Talkeetna, the Y, Trapper Creek, and even Willow. It was removed about 10 years ago during a cycle of budget cuts. He says he’s unsure where the new Trooper post would go, but if the budget is approved, it could be built as early as 2026.
