Inside Alaska industry.

Facts and Figures From Around the State.

Corrections Department: The June issue's article on frequent flier programs contained a pair of numbers that were incorrect. The article should have read that merchants pay 1 percent to 4 percent of credit card sales back to the credit card company. Also, credit card companies pay airlines between one-half cent and 1.2 cents per mile as premiums for customers.

Timber

Fire's Aftermath. In addition to the fire that raged near Houston, which Gov. Knowles called the worst in Alaska's history, fires broke out in the Interior and on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Alaska Legislature, luckily in special session, doubled fire-relief funding to $24.5 million. Total funds include $20 million for fire suppression, $4.1 million for disaster relief and $400,000 to the Mat-Su borough for its costs.

In addition, President Bill Clinton signed a declaration of major disaster for the Mat-Su Borough. This action makes federal funding available to individuals and businesses and includes:

* Temporary housing assistance of up to three months for renters and 18 months for home owners;

* Individual and family grants up to $12,900, based on value of property lost;

* Low-interest loams from the Small Business Administration;

* Other individual assistance such as disaster unemployment insurance and crisis counseling.

Relief Funds Expected. State officials have offered up a plan for the distribution of $110 million in federal economic disaster relief funds that would spread the money to every community in Southeast. The bulk of the funds are headed to the more timber-dependent towns of Sitka and Wrangell.

Sen. Ted Stevens wrestled the money loose this spring during debate over the 1996 federal budget. The money is intended to help counteract the impacts to the region's economy from the loss of logging and timber processing jobs and related economic activity. Stevens blames the decline of timber-related jobs on the forest management policies of the U.S. Forest Service. The $110 million will be paid to Southeast communities over four years, beginning in the current fiscal year.

The Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs has proposed a plan for distributing more than $6 million of the relief fund targeted for communities outside of organized boroughs. The federal plan, devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, practically excluded outlying communities such as Angoon, Gustavus and Klukwan by relying solely on a federal timber receipts program formula. That formula distributes receipts from the national forest based on a town's student population and miles of roads.

Several of Southeast's smaller communities have few roads and are part of a regional school district, and would have received little or no relief funds. The state plan contends that the entire region has been affected by the loss of timber jobs. The Department of Agriculture must approve the spending plan, or propose some other method of fund distribution.

The largest share of the fund will go to Wrangell, with $32.8 million over four years, and $16 million is earmarked for Sitka. Juneau is slated to receive just over $1 million from the fund.

Tourism

Rust's Buys K2. Rust's Flying Service, one of Southcentral Alaska's best-known air taxi operators and a standard-bearer at Anchorage's Lake Hood, recently bought K2 Aviation, one of Talkeetna's mountain flying and flightseeing specialists.

K2 Aviation owners Jim and Julie Okonek announced the sale in time for the start of the tourism season. Todd Rust says the family doesn't plan significant changes to K2's successful business and the entire K2 staff will stay on. Todd and Suzanne Rust will oversee the day-to-day operations of the business in Talkeetna, while the Okoneks will serve as consultants during the transition.

Jim Okonek, a retired Air Force helicopter pilot, purchased K2 Aviation in 1981, one year after the business was founded. He will continue flying for the company after the sale, taking climbers to Denali and sightseers to the glaciers that surround the peak.

"K2 Aviation and Rust's Flying Service will operate independently and complement each other perfectly," Okonek says. "The future growth potential for the company is exciting and I am pleased to have K2 Aviation remain a family-based business."

K2's fleet...