Tim McDonough and Derek Poinsette were elected last week to the State’s Fish and Wildlife Upper Lynn Canal Advisory Committee. Five other seats on the 11-member board will be decided in December, committee chair Ryan Cook said this week.
McDonough, former chair of the committee, was elected to fill a one-year seat created by the resignation of Dean Risley. Poinsette filled a vacant seat.
At its Friday meeting, committee members also expressed opposition to overtures by the Skagway municipality to regulate trapping. Members Jamie King and Randy Jackson are drafting a letter on the matter.
Cook said the group’s concern about Skagway centered on municipal – rather than state – regulation of trapping activities. “They just went around everybody and came up with an ordinance restricting trapping. The state should have the authority,” he said.
Last week’s meeting included discussion of the local moose hunt. Difficulty with getting annual aerial counts of moose has created uncertainty about the size of the local herd. “The state still thinks the herd size is between 250 and 350, but that’s a pretty wide range,” Cook said.
The five seats on the board that will be up for election at the group’s December meeting include three Haines seats held by Kip Kermoian, John Katzeek and Terry Pardee, one Klukwan-designated seat held by Johnny Gamble and a Skagway seat held by John Tronrud.