It has been more than a year since Gov. Mike Dunleavy first attempted to dissolve the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council. In mid-March, the legislature rejected the action. But the council has yet to meet and the governor has not appointed council members to the three open seats on the board. 

“It’s been in a holding pattern,” said mayor Tom Morphet during an interview last week. 

However, Morphet said the borough has gotten encouraging news that the governor is willing to speak about the council’s future.

Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner wrote in a Jan. 24 email that applications are still being accepted for the open positions. He did not directly address a question about the reasons for the delay in appointments. 

The council, which is made up of 12 members appointed by the governor, is supposed to include representatives from the Haines Borough government, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and local tribes. It has other designated seats as well, but those are filled. It has not met since 2022. 

Morphet said his reading of the council bylaws suggests that even without the missing members, the council could still meet with a quorum of eight if representatives from the state agencies who sit on the council attended. 

Southeast State Parks superintendent Preston Kroes appears to agree with interpretation, but the two have been going back and forth about scheduling a meeting for the past year. 

Kroes said he contacted Morphet about scheduling and announced a meeting in May, but said the mayor – who is usually the default chair of the council – replied that he did not want to proceed. 

“I agreed after a little discussion back and forth,” Kroes said. 

Morphet forwarded an email he sent to Preston Kroes on Aug. 22, saying he thought they should start thinking of scheduling a meeting of the council. He then followed up on Oct. 8, saying he had sent nominees to the borough’s lobbyist to submit to the governor’s office. 

Morphet’s nominees are: 

  • Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee – Jessica Plachta
  • Commerce/Industry – Sean Gaffney
  • Conservation Group – Jim Stickler, Haines Sportsman’s Association
  • Mayor Tom Morphet
  • Assembly member Craig Loomis

At the time, Morphet also suggested agenda items including the construction of two trespass cabins in the preserve, highway work inside the preserve and addressing invasive plants along the highway. Morphet said he did not get a response to that email either.  

When he got Morphet’s email in August, Kroes said the council was on a summer hiatus and there was no urgent need for a meeting. 

“None of the circumstances from last spring have changed,” Kroes wrote. The council still has vacant governor-appointed seats, “which basically means all of the remaining members, maybe less one, have to attend the meetings to meet the current quorum requirements.” 

He added that the most recent attempts to hold council meetings failed due to vacancies and low attendance. 

Kroes said this issue is not isolated to the bald eagle preserve council. 

“Across the state, we are seeing a general decline in interest to serve on advisory councils,” Kroes wrote. 

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