The Haines Borough Assembly voted 4-1 Tuesday to put a moratorium on commercial tour permits in the Chilkoot River corridor, following discussion of an Alaska Mountain Guides application for guided canoe tours on Chilkoot Lake.
Assembly member Jerry Lapp was opposed.
The assembly agreed to take up AMG’s permit application again once a management plan addressing carrying capacity is established for the corridor.
The company proposed tours four times per day with a maximum of 24 people per trip, using a combination of paddle-powered canoes and ones with small, outboard motors.
Several tour operators spoke against the proposal, including Sockeye Cycle’s Thom Ely, Alaska Nature Tours’ Dan Egolf, and Chilkoot Lake Tours owners Tim and Nicole Holm.
Ely, whose company guides bike tours from the old sawmill to Chilkoot Lake, advocated for the moratorium and said the area is already “overrun” with people and vehicles.
Tim Holm said AMG’s business is squeezing out the other companies who have already established tours and that AMG is “taking over” various recreational areas around town. Holm’s wife and co-owner Nicole added the company was “stepping on our toes” by offering a similar guided canoe tour.
Egolf also criticized the company’s pavilion-like structure that has taken over two of the most desirable public campsites at the campground near the lake.
Assembly members echoed the operators’ concerns, including Joanne Waterman, who said she sometimes drives out to the lake with her boat and turns around for lack of a parking spot for her boat trailer.
Lapham said she had “an unsettled feeling” and “didn’t feel good” about authorizing the permit knowing about congestion in the area.
Alaska State Parks is working on a management plan for the Chilkoot River corridor.