The Bureau of Land Management may expand allotted helicopter landings on the 320,000 acres of mountain terrain in the Chilkat Valley from 300 to 11,000 annual landings (5,500 in the Haines), though local protesters believe that might negatively affect mountain goat habitat.
In October, BLM released its final environmental impact statement for the Haines amendment to the Ring of Fire Resource Management Plan, which will be used to determine land use and management designation in two land blocks, the north (in Skagway) and south (Haines).
An updated management plan has been on hold since 2012, when BLM delayed its decision while it commissioned Alaska Department of Fish and Game to research how helicopter activity in the proposed areas might affect mountain goat populations.
The document outlines four options, including the BLM’s preference which would increase landings in the “south block,” an area in the Chilkat Valley that runs through the Takhinsha Mountains above the Takhin River and includes a small portion of the Chilkat Range.
Currently, the Haines Borough allows 2,600 ski days (or an individual pick up and drop off) among three heliskiing companies. BLM allocates 300 landings—or 100 per company— and companies can use their portion of skier days to equal 100 landings on BLM land from Feb. 1 through May 3. There are currently no summer helitours operating in the Haines Borough.
BLM converted skier days (comprised of each person’s individual drop off and pick up) to average landings and came up with a formula of 2-to-1, that equates the Haines Borough’s 2,600 days to 5,200 landings.
Last month, the Chilkat Indian Village and Lynn Canal Conservation filed protests against BLM’s decision on the basis that it does not sufficiently protect wildlife.
BLM said the mountain goat research informed its tentative decision, but Lynn Canal Conservation protested that research pointing to disrupting wildlife did not seem to impact the agency’s decision to expand helicopter landings.
“BLM states it is relying on Alaska Department of Fish and Game expertise to help manage what BLM has finally determined to be an important and relevant resource,” Lynn Canal Conservation director Jessica Plachta wrote in the protest. “Yet ADFG is highly skeptical that BLM’s management choices and strategies will indeed protect goats.”
Between 2010 and 2016, 72 mountain goats were collared for study. Biologists reported that mountain goats are particularly sensitive to human and aerial disturbances, possibly credited to adaptation to predators such as golden eagles. The effects of human disturbance can lead to decreased reproduction rates and displacement from critical habitat.
In another report, state wildlife biologist Ken White projected warming summer temperatures to negatively impact goat populations based on a 37-year study of 10 coastal Alaskan populations.
“The best available science tells us that this population of mountain goats is imperiled by climate change alone,” Plachta told the CVN. “The addition of another known stressor such as exponentially increased helicopter tourism is too great of a burden to impose on goats.”
White told the CVN that the effects of increased helicopter landings on mountain goat habitat depends on location.
“If landings were not occurring within 1,500-2,000 meters of mountain goat habitat, then increased landings would not be expected to have any effect on mountain goats,” he said.
The increased landing alternative tentatively selected by BLM comes with a step increase system. In the first four years, BLM would permit up to 1,600 winter landings within high-use winter mountain goat habitat.
In year five, landing allocations could increase to an eventual maximum of 5,500 if operators use 75 percent of winter landings combined between them, and if goat monitoring indicates a healthy goat population.
BLM solicited comments during a 90-day period, and held meetings with local stakeholders in Haines. The agency informed its decision with the help of 470 individual comments and 35 letters, BLM spokesperson Lesli Ellis-Wouters said.
Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventure (SEABA) founder Scott Sundberg told the CVN he supported the increased landings and believes the proposal was properly vetted.
“This took almost 14 years to complete, so I think that everything that was considered in terms of culture and wildlife was done correctly,” Sundberg said. “The reality is that a lot of the area where they’re allowing these landings in winter are areas that don’t have a lot of wildlife population. And what we’re looking at from a ski perspective is that 1,600 landings might just be enough to let us operate.”
Heliskiing days utilized by ski companies have been steadily declining for years. According to 2019 borough stats, only 541 of 2,600 permitted ski days across three companies were used, down from 975 in 2018 and 1,574 in 2017.
In May, the Haines Borough Assembly wrote to BLM supporting maintaining the status quo.
“The assembly respectfully requests that any alternative plan ultimately adopted by BLM prohibit helicopter landings during the summer (May through August) in the South block,” borough manager Debra Schnabel wrote in the letter to BLM. “The Haines Borough does not permit summer helicopter tours, and would appreciate BLM’s support in the community’s desire to curtail summer recreational helicopter activity.”
BLM is currently reviewing the two protests, and expects a resolution by the end of December, a spokesperson said. Once the protest is resolved, a final decision will be announced early next year.