Alaska State Parks has announced the formation of a new Southeast Regional Citizen Advisory Board which will include two representatives from Haines. The board will provide non-binding feedback to the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation and will replace two existing advisory boards specific to Juneau and Ketchikan, as well as a Sitka advisory board which was dissolved in 2015.
Parks spokesperson Wendy Sailors cited as reasons for the change a lack of volunteerism, which she said became especially severe during the pandemic, as well as “streamlining staff time.” When asked for specific examples of inefficient staff time, Sailors said that one of the chief ranger and Parks superintendent had been attending all advisory council meetings.
Sailors said that the new board will be taking on all of the responsibilities of the old boards, noting it could be a “nice perspective having representatives from multiple communities.” The board will comprise two members from Ketchikan, one from Wrangell, two from Sitka, three from Juneau, as well as the two from Haines. Those members will be appointed by the Parks director. Applications will be accepted until May 15.
This is the first time Haines will have such advisory board representation at State Parks, outside of the Haines’ Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council , which advises only on the Bald Eagle Preserve. Haines mayor Tom Morphet said he’ll be grateful to now have broader representation for Haines. “As the state has started withdrawing management from our parks we’ve had many more problems,” Morphet said, pointing to issues including lack of road maintenance, outhouses, and bear-proof trash containers at Chilkat State Park and Mosquito Lake. “[The advisory council] is better than nothing, and right now we have nothing,” Morphet said.
Advisory boards have been in the news since last spring when Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an executive order dissolving the eagle preserve advisory council and Wood-Tikchik Management Council. Unlike the new regional advisory board, these councils are the two in the state established by statute, which gave the legislature the power to block its dissolution. Ultimately, the legislature voted to preserve both.
At the time, Dunleavy’s administration said that the purpose of the order was to “streamline and increase accountability of personnel administration within the executive branch,” the same rationale as last week’s regional board change. The eagle preserve advisory council last met in October of 2020, and Southeast State Parks superintendent Preston Kroes told CVN earlier this year this was due to vacancies on the council and low attendance at meetings.
But Morphet says there aren’t problems getting people to serve on the council. The council is made up of 12 total seats, with nine automatically assigned to borough officials, tribal leaders, and representatives of state agencies, and three appointed by the governor. Morphet submitted nominees for those governor-appointed seats to the Dunleavy’s office on Oct. 8 of last year, but the seats remain unfilled. Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner said this week that applications were still open, and while there is no specific date they would close, Turner said “it should not be much longer.”
Morphet said this week that he believes as soon as those members are named by the governor the council can begin to meet again.