Volunteers and some residents who live near Chilkoot River are calling on law enforcement officials to start ticketing bear-viewers and motorists who disregard the area’s rules.

State lawmen responsible for the area, however, are resisting that approach.

Bob Deck, a state campground host at Chilkoot, said traffic jams caused by bear-viewers, or “bear jams,” have been commonplace along the one-mile stretch of riverside road since August and peaked Sunday, Aug. 15, when Canadian visitation jumped with the Discovery Day holiday.

In the two hours starting at noon, about 180 vehicles packed the road, bringing traffic to a halt. Unable to move forward or back, motorists simply parked their vehicles in the road, and headed for a look at the bears.

“We have no enforcement power and as far as (visitors) are concerned, we have no right to be there,” Deck said. At last week’s “bear summit,” he made the case for ticketing as a means of gaining compliance.

“If you give a few tickets, people are going to talk about it, and if they’re local, word will spread even faster,” Deck said.

But state wildlife trooper Ricky Merritt said, “You can’t cite one or two people; you’d be fining 100 or 200 people a night. There’s a fine line out there.”

Merritt said tickets wouldn’t work as a deterrent for first-time visitors. “There are always new people coming out there… The overall picture is the road and parking space is not adequate.”

State park ranger Preston Kroes, who also can write tickets, said on busy days he gives as many as a dozen warnings to motorists parking in the roadway or fishermen crowding bears. But at the bear summit and in a later interview, Kroes said he’s working to educate users instead of penalize them.

“I am not one to write tickets to gain popular compliance. If they’re deserved, I’ll give them… but in terms of giving a citation, I have to see it. I can’t give a citation to a person based on what a volunteer (saw).”

Kroes said he believes management has improved at Chilkoot. He cites a 250-foot “bear-crossing” zone near the fish weir where cars and pedestrians are not allowed. The area allows bears access to adjoining forest and “gives them an area where people can’t walk right up to them.”

But Kroes acknowledged the zone is not always respected. “A lot of them abide by it when we’re standing there.”

Kroes said he understands his volunteers’ push for ticketing.

“A lot of that is just frustration with the number of people out there and how many people disregard what we’re trying to tell them. I can just imagine what kind of lip they’re getting. There are times I’m getting little or no respect. I’m sure they’re getting that ten-fold.”

Kroes said he may issue a ticket for a resident’s loose dog that was harassing two cubs on Aug. 11, then bit a Fish and Game weir worker who tried to grab the dog that had come up on the weir.

Chilkoot bears this season also have twice stolen fish or bait from anglers. Kroes said fishermen generally are getting better about following guidelines, like moving coolers into cars when bears come around, and yielding to bears fishing in the river. “A lot of time (anglers) will back off just a little bit.”

Kroes said manpower is an issue. Even when bear monitor Shannon Donahue is on site with two volunteers, staff is out-numbered by crowds following bears, plus fishermen and motorists, Kroes said. “At any one time we have a number of bears out there and a number of bears to control. On busy days like when we have cruise ships, we need at least two (staff) and three or four would be better.”

With a bear sighting, traffic on the road “closes down really quick,” Kroes said. “You have three cars stop in one area and you’re pretty much done for being able to get through the area.”

Still, Kroes said he believes a gradual, informative approach is best. “It’s been a relatively unmanaged area. We’re trying to take some control and management and we’re easing into it. In the next few years, as we keep reinforcing what you can and can’t do, (compliance) will become more commonplace. People will know the limits of what’s allowed.”

Kroes said the state has made little headway on bigger changes at Chilkoot. A plan to make state parks the single management authority along the corridor fell through and an idea floated by state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, to build a second road to the lake didn’t get past the governor’s office.

“Until the politicians and the agencies all agree, there’s nothing new in the near future,” Kroes said.

Kroes said he’d like to see the speed limit on the road lowered from 25 mph to 20 or 15. Lutak resident Sally McGuire said she supported more enforcement of speeding in the neighborhood, as it endangers bears.

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