By Jessica Edwards
Inter-agency work to develop a management plan for the Chilkoot River
corridor was put on hold last week when Gov. Sarah Palin vetoed $92,000 in the
state’s operating budget, but an ad hoc group is lobbying the state for
funding of a bear monitor position this year.
In an interview this week, local parks ranger Joel Telford
characterized Palin’s veto as an oversight. "As close as we can tell, (the
governor) didn’t know what she was vetoing."
Palin’s staff said this week the planning money was nixed from the
operating budget because funding was available elsewhere.
The administration had funded few – if any – such studies,
Palin staffer Anna Kim said, and the governor vetoed the money with the rationale that
Division of Parks could fund the study out of its own management budget if it were deemed
a priority.
Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, said he found the veto surprising,
especially as the governor had sent top Division of Parks staff to Haines for a planning
meeting.
Thomas staffer Kaci Hotch said although Thomas was starting to pursue
funding for a bear monitor, it was highly unlikely any money would be allocated until next
fiscal year.
Division of Parks director James King, when announcing the loss of
planning money to a group of twenty-five residents at a Chilkoot planning meeting May 28,
said state parks didn’t have the money to fund planning or to implement a bear
monitor position without cutting other programs statewide. "We don’t have it.
We’re closing parks," he said.
Residents at the meeting formed an ad hoc committee to write letters to
Palin and Thomas requesting immediate funding of a bear monitor position as well as future
funding to create a multi-use management area and develop and implement a management plan.
The group has prioritized money for a bear monitor position, a job
state parks cut last July. Its purpose is to protect visitors and bears and minimize
potential liability to state and municipal governments.
"We’re going to have a disaster out there. It’s just a
matter of when," said Fish and Game Advisory Board chair Gary Hess.
Committee members are Hess, Norman Blank of Lynn Canal Conservation,
Greg Stuckey from the Chamber of Commerce, CIA tribal president Jan Hill, Chilkoot Bear
Foundation representative Tom McGuire, Lutak resident Richard Buck, tour operators Sean
Gaffney and Dan Egolf, and resident Pam Randles.
Randles said the group was working to draft a letter to present at the
next borough assembly meeting June 10 in hopes of showing widespread community support for
state involvement at Chilkoot.
Egolf said the letter would emphasize the potential liabilities of
unmonitored interactions between humans and bears at Chilkoot as well as the need for a
special management designation.
He hoped, with enough community outcry, funding might materialize from
the state for this season regardless of the budget cycle.
Palin had originally included the planning money in the state’s
operating budget at Thomas’ request.
Funds were meant to initiate a year-long effort between Alaska State
Parks, the Department of Transportation, Fish and Game, State Division of Forestry,
private and tribal landholders, and various user groups along the Chilkoot River to
address traffic congestion, interactions between bears and humans, the preservation of
sensitive cultural and archeological sites and other concerns.
Palin initially authorized the money for a year-long planning process
in response to letters from borough mayor Fred Shields and other residents who sought
resolution to escalating management problems in Chilkoot Corridor. "The governor has
heard there is an issue at Chilkoot," King said.
King said without designated state money, local stakeholders would have
to make a strong case to Thomas and Palin that single-agency management and designated
funding were community priorities.
Telford said grass-roots support for the planning money was crucial.
"Parks can’t approach the legislature and say, ‘We want more parks.’
It has to come from the community."
Residents at the meeting shared both short- and long-term management
concerns for Chilkoot.
King said a letter signed by disparate groups within the community
would show united support for improved mangement at Chilkoot.
