By Jessica Edwards
A public meeting of state agency heads and local stakeholders May 28
marks the beginning of a yearlong planning process for managing conflicts between people
and bears along Chilkoot River.
The state Division of Parks will host the meeting 1 p.m. Wednesday at
the American Bald Eagle Foundation, with the intent of identifying stakeholders and
developing a problem statement.
"We have operating money for a year," said local parks ranger
Joel Telford. "Ideally we’d like to finish this up within a year’s
time."
Telford said Division of Parks director John King would attend the
meeting, and expected other agencies would send commissioner or deputy-level
representatives. Linda Kruger of the U.S. Forest Service, a former regional superintendent
for parks, will facilitate Wednesday’s meeting.
Telford said work by prior committees, such as the Chilkoot Corridor
Working Group, would provide a foundation. "The department’s intent is to build
on past work and come up with a plan that the state as well as the community can
support."
Community and state buy-in are priorities as a long-term plan is
developed, Telford said. The plan would allow agencies to request future management
dollars from the Alaska Legislature.
The legislature this spring approved $92,000 to formulate a Chilkoot
management plan at the request of Gov. Sarah Palin.
Concern about close calls between human and bear interactions at
Chilkoot over the past decade has been largely unresolved, and local groups have voiced
frustration at the inability or unwillingness of state agencies to work together toward a
solution.
Management of the river corridor has been stymied in the past by
complicated overlapping jurisdictions that left no agency obviously responsible for
planning or management.
Land, water, wildlife and people management along the river fall
variously under the jurisdiction of state parks, state Department of Transportation, the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game, state forestry, tribal groups and private landholders.
The Chilkoot Corridor Strategic Planning Group assessed problems at
Chilkoot from 2000 to 2003, collating findings in a 2003 document.
The group focused on increased tourism and related impacts in the
Chilkoot corridor.
An action plan with thirteen goals were identified by the group, which
included commercial tour operators, Lutak residents, tribal members, conservationists, and
hunters and fishermen.
Among its goals were cooperative management between the division of
parks, forestry, and DOT, reducing overnight roadside camping, establishing a bear monitor
position, possibly funded by day-use donations, providing designated access routes for
bears, providing users with a published code of conduct and behavior checklist, promoting
Chilkoot historical resources and minimizing visitor impact on historic sites, and
improving lakeshore parking areas.
In fall 2007, Parks stopped funding for a bear monitor job in place
since 2002. As originally envisioned, the bear monitor’s role was public education
and awareness, but parks personnel said the job morphed into an enforcement position
lacking the necessary authority to effect management.
Mike Case, who was mayor during the period the Chilkoot Corridor
planning group met, said he’d seen planning efforts at Chilkoot over the past decade
with no real action taken.
Asked if he thought the inter-agency meeting was a positive step
towards resolving long-standing problems there, Case said, "Well, I do, but
they’ve all been positive steps." He named traffic control as the primary
problem at Chilkoot.
