A review committee recommended opening seven areas to heliskiing Monday following a protest of the make-up of that group.
A five-person committee has until Nov. 30 to recommend whether the Haines Borough should approve 14 requests by Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures and Alaska Heliskiing.
Co-owners of the two companies making the requests – Sean Brownell of Alaska Heliskiing and Scott Sundberg of SEABA – are on the five-person committee making the recommendations. Their presence on the committee is legal, according to legal advice provided to the borough.
At Monday’s meeting, Dana Hallett charged that the committee is violating the borough’s code by allowing Brownell and Sundberg to vote on the 14 requested changes. He argued that Brownell and Sundberg “have a significant financial interest” in the expansion of the areas in which heliskiing is to be allowed. Hallett argued that poses a conflict of interest under the borough’s code.
Hallett requested the committee’s votes on recommendations be redone with the two heliskiing company members not voting.
The review committee took no action on Hallett’s request. Sundberg and Brownell declined to comment on the request.
The local heliskiing industry selected Brownell to the committee as its representative. Sundberg and Lori Smith were picked at random from seven applicants to be the two general public representatives. On Oct. 26, the borough’s attorney Patrick Munson of Anchorage wrote a memo to the heliskiing committee to address the fact that Brownell and Sundberg are on the same advisory committee that will make recommendations on their requests.
Munson recommended that at-large representative Sundberg recuse himself from voting on his own requests. Sundberg is doing that.
Meanwhile, Brownell represents the heliskiing industry as a whole, and is expected to advocate pro-heliskiing stances on the committee, Munson wrote. Therefore, Brownell can vote on his and Sundberg’s requests.
By 5-0 and 4-0 votes on Monday, the committee recommended expanding seven areas – four requests by Alaska Heliskiing and three by SEABA. The committee trimmed the sizes of almost all proposed new areas after discussions.
The three recommended SEABA expansion requests are in the neighborhood of the Garrison and Davidson glaciers.
The four recommended Alaska Heliskiing expansions are around Porcupine Creek, a ridgetop north of the Tsirku River and the northern face of Four Winds Mountain.
The committee will look at the remaining four SEABA and remaining three Alaska Heliskiing requests on Nov. 21. One SEABA request is near the Davidson Glacier, the remaining six requests are along the Tsirku River or west of Chilkat Lake.
Biologists for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are reviewing all 14 parcels for the presence of mountain goats.
The review committee’s recommendations are supposed to go to borough manager Bill Seward by Nov. 30. He will then make his own recommendations to the borough assembly in early December, with the assembly having the final say.