On a 6-5 vote, the Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee endorsed top-level protection for the Chilkat River Friday, then rescinded its action on reconsideration.
The group also expressed support for changes in the local goat hunt to reduce harvest of females and heard a moose population report.
Responding to a request by the village of Klukwan, the committee took up a resolution supporting the nomination of the Chilkat River to be designated as an “Outstanding Natural Resource Water,” also called a Tier 3 designation.
Member Jamie King, who supported the endorsement and then sought reconsideration, said afterward that his vote was in favor of endorsing the importance of the river and the village’s right to pursue the designation. He said he changed his vote for lack of information on what such a designation would mean for the future.
Committee members who opposed the endorsement initially expressed some of the same concerns.
Will Prisciandaro asked if the designation might limit use of jetboats on the river in the future. “I’m all for clean rivers, but there are only a couple rivers in the U.S. with Tier 3 designation,” he said.
Gershon Cohen, who authored the resolution for the village, said the enhanced protection would apply only to operations requiring a State of Alaska permit to discharge into the river. “What any of us would do individually would not require (a state discharge) permit,” Cohen said.
He was asked whether the designation would automatically stop a mine at the Constantine Metal Resources site.
“No,” Cohen said. “Would it make their bar high? Yes. They’d have to come up with a mine plan that wouldn’t degrade water quality.” Under the river’s current “Tier 2” designation, development can impact water quality to a certain point, he said.
Daniel Hotch, a Klukwan representative on the committee, said the village is seeking the designation out of concern for the river’s salmon. Diminished runs have raised concerns, he said.
The quality of water in the river is critical to the village’s livelihood, he said. “Fishing is a big part of our tradition and we want to keep it going twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years from now,” Hotch said.
Audience member Gary Hess said he didn’t see why enhanced protection of the river was necessary. “Why, after all these years, do we have to make it Tier 3? The economics of this town doesn’t depend just on fish. Mining is already heavily regulated.”
A Tier 3 designation protects waters of “exceptional recreational, environmental or ecological significance” and is the highest designation protection level a body of water can receive.
There are no Outstanding Natural Resource Water designations in Alaska. Other states including Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Mexico have awarded the designation.
States are required to adopt policies allowing a Tier 3 designation to be made, though Alaska hasn’t yet complied with that mandate from the federal level. In the meantime, the only other way to obtain the designation is through the Alaska Legislature.
Chilkat Indian Village tribal council president Jones Hotch Jr. brought a similar resolution to the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council in October. Members of the council expressed reluctance to endorse the resolution before Hotch withdrew it from consideration.
Committee chair Tim McDonough and members John S. Hagen, Kip Kermoian and Derek Poinsette joined Hotch and King in support of the initial motion. Prisciandaro, Ryan Cook, Randy Jackson, and Skagway members Luke Rauscher and Darren Belisle were opposed.
Chair McDonough said he expected the group to revisit the issue at its next meeting, set for Feb. 12.
The Sitka-based Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association endorsed the nomination of Tier 3 classification for the Chilkat in April 2015. “Our 100-plus members believe granting Tier 3 status to the Chilkat River presents a rare opportunity to protect a critical habitat area for salmon,” executive director Linda Behnken wrote in a letter to Alaska Gov. Bill Walker.
Cohen this week said he expected to get endorsements of other groups after the state has designation procedures in place.
In the wake of some high numbers of female goats harvested in recent years, committee members voiced support for education efforts, including use of a voluntary or compulsory “goat quiz,” to help hunters learn to distinguish between male and female goats.
Harvesting females is legal but discouraged as it significantly impacts herd size, leading to reduced hunting opportunity. On Takshanuk Ridge, more females than males were harvested in 2013 and 2014. In the past 10 years, hunters have taken an average of 20 males per year and 9.3 females, according to Fish and Game statistics.
Advisory committee members expressed concern with Fish and Game statistics showing that 40 percent of female goats were taken by hunters knowingly. That led some to question the efficacy of education efforts and to suggest alternatives, including closing specific areas following harvest of a female or penalizing hunters.
Biologists reported spotting 183 moose during a Dec. 19 aerial count, a number they said was slightly below the 10-year average count of 187. They positively identified 24 bulls, 29 cows and 29 calves.
Assistant area management biologist Carl Koch said Jan. 6 that the bull to cow ratio appeared a little bit low, but some of the unidentified moose maybe have been antlerless bulls.
The count is considered a minimum, or about 70 percent of the local herd.