After months of debate, the Haines Borough Assembly granted a heliski tour permit to a fourth operator in the Chilkat Valley.

The Jan. 11 decision came three weeks after the assembly, in a 4-2 vote, adopted changes to the borough’s heliski code, raising a cap on tour permits for three years and replacing regulations on skier days with a limit on helicopter use.

The ordinance, which was adopted on Dec. 22, allows for up to four heliski permits each season through 2024, and it limits to six the total number of helicopters used by operators any given time, except for special occasions (like a professional skiing competition), when a total of eight choppers can be in use. Previously, the borough regulated the number of skier days — i.e., individual skiers on a tour each day — not helicopters.

Assembly members Caitie Kirby, Paul Rogers, Cheryl Stickler and Gabe Thomas voted in favor of the ordinance, while Tyler Huling and Debra Schnabel opposed it.

Huling said she favored maintaining the permit cap following a recent management decision by the U.S. Forest Service in the Chugach National Forest near Cordova, where the agency granted only three heliski permits in an area significantly larger than the terrain in the Haines Borough.

Schnabel said she favored keeping the permit cap at three and devising a system in which permits could be transferred away from operators that aren’t making use of them to operators that would more actively participate in the industry.

At the Jan. 11 meeting, the assembly unanimously voted in favor of permitting Stellar Adventure Travel, a company based in Idaho, that has guided clients in Haines for several years in various partnerships with the three local operators. The permit will be up for review after the 2022 season, which runs from February to May.

Assembly members Stickler and Rogers said Stellar adequately filled out its application form and that granting the company a permit was the “next logical step” after the December ordinance was passed.

“We’re super excited to have this opportunity. We’re honored to be able to represent the community of Haines in the heliski industry,” Stellar owner Reggie Crist told the CVN.

Schnabel moved to add a condition to the permit that would require Stellar to report daily GPS location data to the public, but the motion failed 4-2. Huling joined Schnabel in favor.

Lynn Canal Conservation executive director Jessica Plachta, in a public comment on Jan. 11, requested that GPS data be made public to help the borough hold operators accountable and to assist the state with wildlife management.

The assembly first discussed regulating helicopters instead of skier days at a Committee of the Whole meeting in November. The idea was proposed by representatives of local heliski operator Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures (SEABA), and it garnered support from the two other local operators as well as Stellar. (SEABA supported a six-helicopter limit for three operators, not four.)

Although questions lingered about how many permittees should be allowed in the valley, the new helicopter-based regulatory scheme was seen by many as a successful compromise after months and years of contentious discourse over how to manage heliskiing. “I think tonight you just removed one of the biggest barriers to the success of heliskiing in Haines,” Alaska Mountain Guides president Sean Gaffney said at the Dec. 22 meeting, after the new regulation was passed.

But three weeks later, at the Jan. 11 assembly meeting, the three longtime permit holders expressed concerns about how the code change was playing out.

They criticized the borough for changing code within weeks of the heliski season, which starts in February, and for not having allocated helicopters soon enough.

Code tasks the borough manager with allocating helicopters to operators by Jan. 15. At the assembly meeting, Kreitzer explained that she was waiting until the assembly decided whether to permit Stellar before determining how many helicopters to grant each operator.

“​​It’s just really a stressful situation to be in this position and not know if I can keep my promises to the guests that have booked, and most of the guests have booked prior to these changes,” said Alaska Heliskiing owner Sean Brownell.

“We’re seeing our independent bookings just go through the roof this year,” Gaffney said at a Jan. 13 tourism advisory board meeting. At the Jan. 11 assembly meeting, he said without access to two helicopters, AMG would “be turning guests away.”

All four operators applied for two helicopters. Based on historic skier-day use, Kreitzer allocated two helicopters each to SEABA and Alaska Heliskiing and one to AMG and Stellar. (Code says preference should be given to existing permit holders in good standing. The assembly didn’t define “good standing,” but rather tasked the Government Affairs and Services (GAS) Committee with determining how to assess each operator’s use of its tour permit.)

Assembly member Schnabel questioned what would happen in future seasons if clientele increases and operators request more helicopters to meet demand. She said she worried that helicopter allocation would become subjective.

At the Dec. 22 meeting, Mayor Douglas Olerud advised the assembly to establish clear objective metrics to assess whether the new regulations are a success. At the end of the 2022 season, the assembly will need to determine whether to renew Stellar’s permit. In 2024, the assembly will need to determine whether to extend or tweak the helicopter limit.

The assembly directed the GAS Committee to take up the issue, which is on the agenda for a meeting on Jan. 20.