Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
03/22/2017 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB58 | |
| Confirmation Hearing: Board of Game | |
| SB88 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | SB 88 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 58 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 22, 2017
3:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair
Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair
Senator Natasha von Imhof
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Shelley Hughes
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Bill Wielechowski
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
Board of Game
Tom Lamal - Fairbanks, Alaska
Karen Linnell - Glennallen, Alaska
- CONFIRMATIONS ADVANCED
SENATE BILL NO. 58
"An Act relating to the Department of Law public advocacy
function to participate in matters that come before the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission."
- MOVED SB 58 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 88
"An Act authorizing a land exchange with the federal government
in which certain Alaska mental health trust land is exchanged
for certain national forest land and relating to the costs of
the exchange; and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 58
SHORT TITLE: DEPT OF LAW: ADVOCACY BEFORE FERC
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
02/13/17 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/13/17 (S) RES, JUD, FIN
03/20/17 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
03/20/17 (S) Heard & Held
03/20/17 (S) MINUTE(RES)
03/22/17 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
BILL: SB 88
SHORT TITLE: AK MENTAL HEALTH TRUST LAND EXCHANGE
SPONSOR(s): STEDMAN
03/10/17 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/10/17 (S) RES, FIN
03/22/17 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
TOM LAMAL, Appointee
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointee to the Board of Game.
KAREN LINNELL
Glennallen, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointee to the Board of Game.
LEWIS BRADLEY, representing himself
MatSu Valley, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game.
GREG TURNER, representing himself
Delta Junction, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game.
BRUCE CAIN, representing himself
Glennallen, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the
Board of Game.
DICK BURLEY, representing himself
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game.
SAM ROHRER, President
Alaska Professional Hunters Association (APHA)
Kodiak, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the
Board of Game.
RICHARD BISHOP
Alaska Outdoor Council (AOC)
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed Ms. Linnell's appointment to the
BOG.
JAMES LOW, representing himself
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game.
BEN STEVENS
Tanana Chief's Conference
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the
Board of Game.
MARK RICHARDS, Executive Director
Resident Hunters of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game.
NICOLE BORROMEO, Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the
Board of Game.
JEFF SAXE, representing himself
Valdez, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game.
FAYE EWAN, representing herself
Copper Center, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the
Board of Game.
AARON BLOOMQUIST, representing himself
Copper Center, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Ms. Linnell's and Mr. Lamal's
appointment to the Board of Game.
SENATOR BERT STEDMAN
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 88.
WYN MENEFEE, Deputy Director
Trust Land Office
Mental Health Trust
Department of Natural Resources
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 88.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:30:14 PM
CHAIR CATHY GIESSEL called the Senate Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Stedman, Coghill, Meyer, Wielechowski, and
Chair Giessel.
SB 58-DEPT OF LAW: ADVOCACY BEFORE FERC
3:30:47 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of SB 58. She said it was
introduced by the Rules Committee at the request of the
Governor. The Department of Law (DOL) is the bill manager.
Public testimony was heard on Monday and closed. The department
is here to answer questions today. She asked if there were any
questions on SB 58.
3:30:59 PM
SENATOR VON IMHOF joined the meeting.
3:31:45 PM
SENATOR COGHILL moved to report SB 58 from committee with
individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. There
being no objection, the motion carried.
3:31:56 PM
SENATOR HUGHES joined committee.
At ease.
^Confirmation Hearing: Board of Game
Confirmation Hearing: Board of Game
3:34:22 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of the Board of Game
nominees.
3:34:27 PM
TOM LAMAL, Appointee, Board of Game, Fairbanks, Alaska, related
that he was born in Ashland, Wisconsin, in 1948 and enjoyed
great hunting and fishing there. He probably read "Call of the
Wild" by Jack London 30 times when he was in elementary school,
so Alaska was on his radar from the third grade on. He went to
Regis College in Denver, Colorado, where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts and a teaching certificate. He came to Alaska
after graduation in 1971. He met his wife, Kate, in 1982 in
Livengood where she was exploring for gold, and they were
married in 1983. She is his best friend and hunting partner.
They also enjoy retriever training, field trial training,
rafting, cross country skiing, flying, and gold mining in
Alaska.
MR. LAMAL said he has had jobs that have given him the
opportunity to live and work in several areas of Alaska. In the
early 1970s he worked for the Division of Aviation, surveying in
bush airstrips on the Seward Peninsula and the West Coast of
Alaska. He also worked on the pipeline staking out the Haul Road
from the Yukon to Prudhoe Bay. Then he worked on the main line
after the road was built. Surveying also gave him the
opportunity to work on remote defense sites and airstrips
throughout the Brooks Range.
MR. LAMAL said he was in Southeast for a while working on a
seine boat, fishing from British Columbia to Juneau. He also
drifted several years in Bristol Bay and had a Lower Yukon drift
permit and a Norton Sound herring permit. He taught school in
Fairbanks for 16 years, which allowed him to keep commercial
fishing, because he had the summers off. Working in the school
system gave him the opportunity to facilitate the hunter
education program in the Fairbanks schools. He is a life member
of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Wild Sheep
Foundation, and several other organizations like Ducks
Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Fairbanks Retriever Club, Resident
Hunters of Alaska, Rough Grouse Society, Alaska Airman, Alaska
Waterfowl Association, and others.
MR. LAMAL said he has been contemplating ways to maintain the
ability of Alaskans to have quality hunting experiences and he
is honored that the governor chose him for this position. He
feels he can be effective in maintaining this experience.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked why he resigned from the Alaska Professional
Teaching Practices Commission.
MR. LAMAL said he resigned from the commission after he quit
teaching, because he didn't think he would have the pulse of
what was going on in the schools.
SENATOR COGHILL thanked him for being willing to serve and added
that every email he has received says his credibility is very
high. Allocation is one of the issues the Interior struggles
with, he said, but the antlerless moose hunt continually raises
its head and asked if that is something that the board deals
with in a big way or if it is a department policy issue.
MR. LAMAL said normally the department does studies and
recommends shooting cows or not. The board has to approve what
the department presents to them.
SENATOR COGHILL said he personally isn't a fan of antlerless
moose hunts, and asked if Mr. Lamal had been in on some of those
discussions and if he holds a particular view.
MR. LAMAL said he is not a fan shooting cow moose either, but he
wasn't saying he would never vote for a cow season if such a
situation arose. His feeling is that in managing for abundance,
there are a lot of moose there will also be a lot wolves. So,
trappers can trap the wolves and people can harvest moose.
Therefore, until there is a crisis he doesn't see the reason to
shoot the cows. Wolves are a big issue right now and people want
to see them.
3:41:15 PM
SENATOR COGHILL said the bear population is another big issue
for predator management and the wolves and bear are probably the
hardest to control under intensive management, and asked if he
had been a part of a discussion on any way to better manage
bears or if it is something the state is already doing well.
MR. LAMAL said black bears are more predacious on moose than
wolves especially in the spring when they are calving. So, he
has no problem with bear baiting and predator control on bears.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if he was involved in any of the
discussions about flying in for sheep hunts.
MR. LAMAL said he is quite aware of proposal 207. He doesn't
approve of it, but for a different reason than most people do.
He doesn't approve of it because it was a board-generated
proposal. He feels that proposals should come from the public,
and then the board should decide if they are going to oppose or
support those proposals. This proposal came about because some
people were upset with people flying around looking for sheep.
Well, he has a super cub and doesn't do that; he doesn't approve
of people who do that either. Dr. Todd Brinkman did a survey
that indicated other things were more important to residents
than airplanes and sheep.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if that resulted in an allocation for
local sheep hunts.
3:44:11 PM
MR. LAMAL responded no. Dr. Brinkman had two surveys: one was a
random survey that picked several people throughout the state
and the other was a non-random survey where people could weigh
in on the issue. In the random survey, 77 percent of the people
said that non-residents were the problem. In the non-random
survey, 100 percent said non-residents were the problem.
3:45:19 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked what he thought about allowing moose
hunts in the Anchorage Bowl.
MR. LAMAL answered that he doesn't go to Anchorage and isn't
that familiar with the problem. Fairbanks had moose hunts in the
past, but not now.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said another issue that pops up every other
year is establishing a buffer zone in Denali State Park to
protect the wolves in Denali National Park. What are his
thoughts on that?
MR. LAMAL answered that he would not vote for the buffer zone.
He understands people wanting wildlife viewing, but the animals
migrate in and out of the park all the time. In his recent trip
to Tanzania he saw many protected animals in the wildlife
viewing areas, but outside those areas where hunting is allowed
the animals are wary of hunters and all you see is dust. Tags
are allocated for hunting outside of the parks. It's kind of
cool that the hunters and the park people worked the issue out
together. He said wolves travel a lot and that they go from his
place on the Wood River to the park in any one day.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if spotting or land and shoot is
something he would support for predator control.
MR. LAMAL answered he supports the most economic and most humane
way to control animal populations. He would have no problem with
aerial shooting a pack of wolves, but not harassing them in the
process.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he supported bear baiting outside
of Denali National Park.
MR. LAMAL said he doesn't have a problem with bear baiting, but
he supports not allowing bear baiters to shoot wolves over bear
bait in the spring when their hides aren't valuable. He also
said trapping for wolves shouldn't be banned.
3:50:16 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he supported bear baiting but not
wolf baiting - if it were the most economical way to get rid of
them.
MR. LAMAL said he wasn't familiar with wolf baiting, and that
all trappers have something to attract animals to their traps.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he is okay with bear baiting
outside of Denali Park.
MR. LAMAL answered yes.
3:50:56 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked if aerial wolf hunting is permitted in the
State of Alaska.
MR. LAMAL answered if the Board of Game authorizes it in certain
areas.
CHAIR GIESSEL said the state has predator control, but it
doesn't do aerial wolf hunting.
MR. LAMAL said he stood corrected.
SENATOR VON IMHOF thanked him for being here today and in
person, and asked what he has done in particular to prepare for
this position in the time since he was initially appointed.
MR. LAMAL replied that he just had both knees replaced and was
recuperating from that and then was in Tanzania for a month. He
has kept up with reading the proposal books and talking to
friends who had attended the meetings.
CHAIR GIESSEL said he mentioned being part of Resident Hunters
of Alaska and BOG folks are supposed to come in with an open
mind, and asked if he feels his organization affiliation would
bias him related to guides and out-of-state hunters.
MR. LAMAL responded that people get labeled and there is no way
around it. When he was a teacher he would invite people on both
sides of an issue to talk. He told his kids if you don't listen
to other people they are not going to listen to you. Even if you
don't agree with how somebody thinks, if you listen to what they
have to say, you will learn something and become better
educated; maybe they will convince you and maybe you'll convince
them. It has always been his policy to be open minded.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI read regulation 5 AAC 92.110 on control of
predation by wolves. He didn't know if it had been repealed or
not, but it's showing up on the state website right now. It
says: "The commissioner or the commissioner's designee including
contracted agents or other governmental agencies may reduce wolf
populations in an efficient manner by any means, but as safely
and humanely as practical including the use of a helicopter."
CHAIR GIESSEL thanked Mr. Lamal.
3:56:30 PM
KAREN LINNELL, Glennallen, Alaska, Appointee, Board of Game,
said she has been in Alaska all her life, but went to South
Carolina for a few months. She has lived in many places around
the state including Soldotna, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Chistochina,
Valdez, and now Glennallen. She is Ahtna Athabascan and Tlingit
from Kake.
As chair of the Wrangell/St. Elias Subsistence Resource
Commission (SRC), Ms. Linnell said she wanted to thank them for
SR 4 opposing federal overreach.
MS. LINNELL said her activities in wildlife management started
when she got on the Ahtna board and became involved with Ahtna's
CNT and went to many BOG meetings. She became vice chair for the
Copper Basin Advisory Committee (AC), but she resigned that post
when she was appointed to the BOG in November. When she became
involved with the Copper Basin AC it was to try to effect
positive change in terms of what is best for the resource. In
doing that, she learned to talk and listen to both sides: they
can agree to disagree, but they are still neighbors. She also
chaired the governor's transition committee on wildlife that
included environmental folks, the non-consumptive users, guide
outfitters, former department staff, and subsistence users. They
were able to come to a consensus that the wildlife resource is
the most important piece and that having healthy populations
benefits all Alaskans. That is one of the goals they put forward
to the governor.
SENATOR STEDMAN said it was good to hear she has family in
Southeast and a background on Southeast issues and asked her to
elaborate a little more on that.
MS. LINNELL responded that she grew up in the North, but her
mother was born and raised in Kake and she still has family
there. Her mother eventually went to the Children's Home in
Sitka and later went to Sheldon Jackson. A lot of Ms. Linnell's
family are in Juneau today for the Gold Medal Tournament.
SENATOR COGHILL thanked her for being willing to serve. He said
it's very seldom that people hear of Eastern Alaska, but it's
important to have someone familiar with that area. Because of
her work with Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission and the
board she could maybe explain where the differences are and
where the tensions rise and comment on whether she could look
past some of those tensions.
MS. LINNELL answered that she didn't see tension. They all want
the same thing: healthy populations and access to those animals.
The Commission has been working with Ahtna, Inc., and have done
roughly 1,500 acres of moose habitat improvement projects using
mechanical manipulation and they are looking at doing some
community wildfire protection plans around three communities.
There are three ways to make wildlife habitat: mechanical
manipulation, fire, and hand manipulation (planting of trees,
etc.); so, they are trying to integrate all of those.
Right now they have been working with Ahtna and the USDA to
enhance the fire line on the north side of Glennallen. Instead
of just a straight fire line that is there now they are looking
at using pockets of moose browse to break up the tree stands to
lessen the fire danger. The SRC also wants to protect access and
subsistence uses in the park.
MS. LINNELL said she hoped to marry her experience on the Copper
Basin AC and the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission to see
what works best across the different landscapes. The animals
know no boundaries and cross them all the time. When you talk
subsistence with park folks they are talking about rural
residents and when they talk about sport users they are talking
about folks that are non-federally qualified. With state folks
subsistence users is still an ambiguous term and sport users are
the non-residents who come to Alaska to hunt. So, there is a
vocabulary difference. If that can be improved to where they
understand each other, they can maybe get rid of a lot of
differences. Again, they all want the same thing: healthy
populations and a habitat that can sustain those populations.
4:08:38 PM
SENATOR COGHILL asked what the SRC is.
MS. LINNELL replied it is the Wrangell Saint Elias Subsistence
Resources Commission that is tasked with protecting subsistence
access, which is for federally qualified users.
SENATOR COGHILL said when she sits on the BOG she will have to
put on a little different hat than looking at it from both the
resource conservation and the SRC views and asked if she would
be able to do that comfortably.
MS. LINNELL replied that being a tribal member, she has had to
change hats frequently, because representing small communities
requires being able to wear multiple hats, as well as wear the
tribal hat in dealing with council business and the corporate
hat in dealing with corporate business. Sometimes they don't get
along so well. But the vocabulary issue is the same for party
lines and for boundaries and they should be able to work through
those issues.
SENATOR COGHILL said coming from the Ahtna region she has a lot
of knowledge, but that region also has a lot of visitors from
other areas of the state, because it's on the road system and it
happens to be a good game area. It is an intense area, but it
needs to be figured out.
MS. LINNELL agreed and said finding that balance and looking at
both sides is something she can bring to the table. She has
experience on the federal side and can talk to those issues. She
has heard quite often that they have a federal priority and
that's good enough, but when you look at the little sliver of
federal land that is available for hunting in that unit, it's
not as large as one would think. That got demonstrated by Bureau
of Land Management staff at a recent meeting; it opened some
eyes and came from the mouths of others besides Ahtna folks.
Maybe it's just a question of having the right people in the
room to be able to share that balance.
4:12:38 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if she thought the Alaska
Constitution should be amended to comply with Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) or the other way
around.
MS. LINNELL said that is way above her pay grade, and that would
have been an easier fix a while ago, but not now.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said the problem has still not been solved,
and as a BOG member she would be in a position to take a
leadership role in solving it.
MS. LINNELL said she wouldn't be dealing with that issue as a
BOG member. That will be coming from the public to the
legislature. She added that the local folks at a BOG meeting
talk well with each other and the biologists from the park and
the state work well together, but the dialogue changes when it
gets higher up in the ranks. A lot of that could be driven on
the federal side from D.C. and some of it is driven by mandates.
Some education could happen there, especially in regards to
ANILCA. She has mentioned to the delegation that the Park
Service and Fish and Wildlife Service need to know more about
ANILCA and what its mandates are. They can't do this top down,
cookie-cutter approach across the nation and have it fit what is
mandated in Alaska.
4:15:50 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said the fish and game website says the
board is also involved with setting policy and direction for the
management of the state's wildlife resources.
MS. LINNELL agreed.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said that's very much in her tasks.
MS. LINNELL agreed, but said the BOG has no authority to move a
constitutional amendment forward.
SENATOR HUGHES thanked Ms. Linnell for being here today and
acknowledged her wealth of information and experience. She said
she also appreciates the fact that Ms. Linell is experienced in
trading off various hats. Senator Hughes said she represents a
district that likes to go into Game Management Unit 13 and her
understanding is that Ahtna has proposed a preference for the
local folks and yet the State Constitution and the McDowell case
say the BOG cannot allocate based on where people live, and that
will need to be reconciled even though her goal is healthy
populations.
SENATOR STEDMAN said most folks in rural Alaska could be
expected to support subsistence. His district has one town that
is not a subsistence community, and one of the most sensitive
local issues that comes up is when the federal government looks
at a particular community and decides if they want to rule it as
non-subsistence. There is no interest in going to non-
subsistence, in fact there is an interest in the one community
to convert to subsistence. They are just forced out of it by the
federal government.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if at this point she is still chair of the
Intertribal Resource Conservation Commission.
MS. LINNELL replied no; she is the executive director.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if that creates a conflict.
MS. LINNELL replied the commission is working with Ahtna through
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create moose browse projects
and has an MOA with the USDA and Department of Interior to
cooperatively manage wildlife on federal lands. At this stage no
one knows what that is, but it will immediately create a
subsistence local advisory committee that will consist of some
appointees from the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission, the
Eastern Interior and Southcentral Rural Advisory committees, and
from the Denali and Wrangell St. Elias SRCs, and ADF&G will get
to appoint somebody to make a plan on federal lands within Ahtna
traditional territory including BLM unencumbered lands and the
park.
SENATOR COGHILL said it looks like she is trying to increase
species management and that won't conflict with the BOG
allocation focus.
MS. LINNELL agreed. It's long been her view that not acting when
there is an abundance of bears or wolves is choosing one species
over another. There is an imbalance that can be seen in the
decline of the Shoshana and Mentasta caribou herds. More of the
traditional trapping could be used, but there are access issues.
So, if access can be improved within those areas, maybe that
type of management could be improved.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked if she is an advocate for science-based
management and intensive management of species.
MS. LINNELL answered yes; there needs to be a balance. At one
time the Copper Basin AC put forward three proposals: one to set
the population objectives, one to set triggers for when
intensive management would go into effect, and the other to
trigger when cow hunts would come into effect. But that holistic
type of approach doesn't always come across well, because it had
to be submitted in three separate proposals (because of
codification) and none of them passed.
CHAIR GIESSEL thanked her and opened public comment on both
appointees.
4:24:37 PM
LEWIS BRADLEY, representing himself, MatSu Valley, Alaska,
supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the Board of Game. Mr.
Lamal is very concerned with management issues and understands
the BOG process. He has an open mind, is fair and honestly seeks
solutions to issues, and wants what is best for the wildlife. He
once said that listening to all sides of an issue is very
important in making informed decisions.
4:27:29 PM
GREG TURNER, representing himself, Delta Junction, Alaska,
supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the Board of Game. He is an
enthusiastic outdoorsman who has a deep respect and appreciation
for all Alaska has to offer. He will serve with fairness,
honesty, and integrity.
4:28:39 PM
BRUCE CAIN, representing himself, Glennallen, Alaska, supported
Ms. Linnell's appointment to the Board of Game. He has known Ms.
Linnell for 25 years and worked with her on a number of issues.
She has a lot of experience with the BOG process and knows the
federal issues and can be a bridge to resolving some of those
issues. She is a hard worker, studies issues, and listens; she
can make a balanced and informed decision.
4:30:09 PM
DICK BURLEY, representing himself, Fairbanks, Alaska, supported
Mr. Lamal's appointment to the Board of Game. He is was a very
respected teacher; he also served on the Fairbanks AC where he
did a good job. He approaches everything he does with enthusiasm
and has done a good job, and he will continue that if he is
confirmed to the BOG.
4:31:15 PM
SAM ROHRER, President, Alaska Professional Hunters Association
(APHA), Kodiak, Alaska, supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to
the Board of Game. She will be an asset to the board process,
especially with all the recent issues in the Ahtna region. She
will bring information to the board and back to the region. They
also appreciate having one more woman's voice on the board as
there is now only one woman member.
4:32:27 PM
RICHARD BISHOP, Alaska Outdoor Council (AOC), Fairbanks, Alaska,
opposed Ms. Linnell's appointment to the BOG. Due to her
responsibilities in the Ahtna community she has an "intractable
conflict of interest" with the duties and obligations of a BOG
member, specifically regarding the MOA the she signed as
executive director of the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission
with the Department of Interior. The MOA anticipates
establishing a new federal Ahtna cooperative structure under the
Federal Subsistence Board for regulation, management, and
harvest allocation of moose, caribou, and other game and fish on
federal lands adjacent to Ahtna lands and the eight villages
with triable representation. This structure would basically shut
out the State of Alaska's game management, BOG, and state
advisory committee process on federal lands in the area and
could impair state management on adjacent state and private
lands.
He said only token, meaningless participation in the MOA
proposal is offered to the state with a caveat that the state
would take no action on nearby private lands that would
interrupt the decisions of the advisory committee set up under
the MOA. Allocations of harvest would favor tribal members of
the eight villages in that area. That amounts to a racial
priority on top of the existing federal rural subsistence
priority. The goals of the department and the Ahtna Commission
are substantially inconsistent with the State of Alaska's
Constitutional and statutory responsibility and authority.
4:35:56 PM
JAMES LOW, representing himself, Fairbanks, Alaska, supported
Mr. Lamal's appointment to the Board of Game. Most of Mr. Low's
contacts with Mr. Lamal were through the after school program as
part of the crew of the ADF&G hunter education basic course
where he was a teacher. He was also invited to talk to Mr.
Lamal's Alaska studies class on the topic of wildlife
enforcement. He would bring in speakers from both sides of an
issue making sure his students were well informed and then let
them make up their own minds.
4:37:47 PM
BEN STEVENS, Tanana Chief's Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska,
supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the Board of Game. They
believe she has the skills, abilities, and knowledge to serve
the people of Alaska well. She is able to find consensus among
seemingly incompatible philosophies and has a wide array of
experiences and a favorable track record when it comes to the
various regulatory regimes in the state of Alaska including the
Copper River AC.
She also honor's the Alaska State Constitution's Article 8, in
particular, regarding the sustained yield principle and
considering the health and productivity of the land as a factor
in order to achieve and maintain abundant wildlife resources.
4:40:11 PM
MARK RICHARDS, Executive Director, Resident Hunters of Alaska,
Fairbanks, Alaska, supported Mr. Lamal's appointment to the
Board of Game. Mr. Lamal has been involved in wildlife
management and conservation issues for a long time. He
epitomizes the type of Alaskan who would be an asset on the
board. With his personal experience across Alaska as a hunter
and fisherman, as an instructor and board member of several
hunting conservation organizations, and serving on the Fairbanks
F&G AC, he can step right in on the Board of Game, because he
knows how it works. He listens to all sides of an issue and
respects all opinions and, in fact, encourages informed debate
from all sides.
4:41:43 PM
NICOLE BORROMEO, Executive Vice President and General Counsel,
Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), Anchorage, Alaska, supported
Ms. Linnell's appointment to the Board of Game. She supported
and echoed Mr. Rohrer's comments from the Alaska Professional
Hunters Association (APHA). Ms. Linnell has other traits that
will make an ideal BOG member: she is passionate and cares
deeply about the purpose of the board, namely conserving and
developing Alaska's wildlife resources. Second, she has the
experience that is required of a board member and is a life-long
Alaskan including a hunter and fisher. She is from a rural area
understands the BOG purposes very intimately. Third, she has the
time necessary to devote to this board. She is very attentive
and monitors all of the BOG proposals and findings and stays up-
to-date on them. And fifth, she is collegial and ready to take
on tough issues and work through them. She is comfortable with
healthy conflicts and knows how to achieve resolution while
keeping working relationships intact.
MS. BORROMEO said AFN does not believe Ms. Linnell has a
conflict of interest as Mr. Bishop stated. In regards to the
state participation in the MOU with the Department of Interior,
that is something that they and Ahtna had pushed for, and the
door is still open to state participation. This is not a race-
based priority, because the committee well knows Indians are
classified as a political entity under federal law.
4:44:10 PM
JEFF SAXE, representing himself, Valdez, Alaska, supported Mr.
Lamal's appointment to the Board of Game. He has been around the
state for a long time and has seen a lot of things go on. He
would be very open minded on both sides of an issue.
4:45:13 PM
FAYE EWAN, representing herself, Copper Center, Alaska,
supported Ms. Linnell's appointment to the Board of Game. She
has a lot of traditional knowledge about moose and caribou and
all the land around Alaska. She is not biased or prejudiced.
Ahtna hired her to do her job; it has nothing to do with the
Board of Game where she would be representing the State of
Alaska.
MS. EWAN said in being a council member and on different boards
in the Ahtna region, she works closely with Ms. Linnell. They
frequently talk about hunting in the Copper River and other
areas, the shortage of game, and how many times they heard on
the Yukon River there was no fish and no moose. They always
talked about how they should be sharing with the other regions.
Ms. Linnell never said anything bad about anyone on the boards
or any agencies.
4:47:26 PM
AARON BLOOMQUIST, representing himself, Copper Center, Alaska,
supported Ms. Linnell's and Mr. Lamal's appointment to the Board
of Game. He said he lived in Anchorage for 10 years and was
chairman of the Fish and Game Advisory Committee. He lived in
Tok for six years and now he lives in Copper Center where he has
spent the last 15 summers. He served on the previous governor's
transition team with Ms. Linnell and got to know her pretty
well. She is a great leader and a great consensus builder. She
is open minded and can really put a few people together that
don't necessarily agree and get some stuff done.
MR. BLOOMQUIST said he had known Mr. Lamal a little bit for the
last six or seven years and thinks he would also be a suitable
board member.
4:49:07 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL found no further comments and closed public
testimony. She said in accordance with AS 39.05.080, the
Resources Committee reviewed the following and recommends the
appointments be forwarded to a joint session for consideration:
Board of Game: Karen Linnell and Thomas Lamal. This does not
reflect an intent by any of the members to vote for or against
the confirmation of the individuals during any further sessions.
SB 88-AK MENTAL HEALTH TRUST LAND EXCHANGE
4:49:44 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of SB 88 that deals with
land exchanges related to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land
Office.
SENATOR STEDMAN, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska,
sponsor of SB 88, said this measure facilitates a land trade
between the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the U.S. Forest
Service in Southeast. The federal government will receive 20,000
acres and will give up 18,000 acres. This land exchange has been
going on for many years and is a win-win situation.
He explained that some lands are adjacent to communities like
Petersburg and Ketchikan that the Mental Health Trust had viewed
for timber harvest for revenue, and both communities wanted to
have the timber harvest not so close to their communities and
their view sheds. So, that facilitates some of these parcels; it
improves the logging productivity available from Alaska land. It
has been worked through many meetings with environmental groups,
communities, Mental Health, and the Forest Service.
WYN MENEFEE, Deputy Director, Trust Land Office, Mental Health
Trust, Anchorage, Alaska, said essentially, the Alaska Mental
Health Trust is the foundational purpose for this exchange. It
is a perpetual trust that helps support comprehensive integrated
mental health services in Alaska. He provided a list of
beneficiaries.
He said the trust gives about $20 million annually to projects,
activities, state agencies, and non-profits statewide. In
Southeast they have done capital grants like the $100,000
capital grant to Petersburg Mental Health Services and the $10
million grant to help fund Medicare. Revenues are needed to
support that and to keep the trust alive. So, the job of the
Trust Land Office is basically as a contractor to the Trust
Authority. They manage the non-cash assets: the land and
resources, in the best interests of the trust. They manage
multiple asset classes and one of those is timber.
This exchange will help diversify their portfolio; it will
increase timber revenues over current land holdings and it will
protect the trust corpus by not devaluing timber assets in
Southeast by letting the timber industry fail, because they
would end up having no one to purchase their timber.
MR. MENEFEE showed them a picture of trust land holdings
currently scattered throughout Southeast Alaska and explained
that the land exchange will take about 18,000 acres of trust
lands which are primarily adjacent to communities in Southeast
Alaska in exchange for 20,000 acres that are more removed on
Prince of Wales Island and Shelter Cove. He explained that the
trust does subdivisions and commercial transaction leases as
well as timber harvest on their lands, but there is a lot of
resistance to having these activities next to communities. It's
basically an equal value land exchange; the idea is to allow
timber extraction in an area that won't conflict with
communities.
The exchange has two phases: because the timber industry is at
real risk of going under for the lack of timber, some timber is
needed immediately to keep it going. So, some parcels will be
exchanged within one year and the remaining will be exchanged
within two years. It just gives the Forest Service more time to
get the appraisals done for the other parcels.
4:56:45 PM
MR. MENEFEE said among the benefits of the exchange are that
fact that it consolidates trust land ownership, which is good
for management; it replaces lands adjacent to the communities
with ones that are more conducive for timber harvest; it will
generate about $40-60 million over the 20 years; it will protect
both timber and tourism industries; it will save real jobs; and
it protects the view sheds and certain old growth stands.
He clarified that the timber industry impacts the economy in
many ways: stevedores, equipment rental, maintenance, purchase,
transportation, timber fellers, and cruisers. Any timber
harvested on trust lands to be received via the exchange would
be done in an environmentally responsible manner, because they
are required to follow the Alaska Forest Practices Act that has
been demonstrated to be effective at protecting salmon streams
and water quality.
Why do it now? Mr. Menefee answered that this exchange is the
result of about 10 years of planning and public input from the
Tongass Futures Roundtable conservation groups which consists of
35 different parties, the Forest Service and communities. The
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) expressed some
concern that one of the parcels, the No Name Bay parcel, could
be exchanged because it is involved in litigation. However, the
Department of Law (DOL) determined that the trust has clear
title to that parcel and the lawsuit in no way prohibits the
State Legislature from enacting the exchange in this
legislation.
5:00:06 PM
Further, he said the timber industry with its lack of timber to
market will go under in two years, and they are trying to give
them timber before they leave, because once it is gone, it
doesn't' just start back up. People move and it's just not easy
to say come on up and cut our timber. So, Alaska would lose a
market.
5:01:54 PM
He explained that the Forest Service has the majority of the
timber supply in Southeast and they have withdrawn and locked up
much of the land. That means there is a dependency on the Mental
Health Trust Land Office, the University, the State Forestry,
and the Forest Service to all work together on the transition to
a sustainable young growth harvest, but timber needs to be
provided in the transition period.
MR. MENEFEE said that Senator Murkowski and Senator Sullivan
introduced SB 131 and Representative Young introduced HR 513 in
Washington, D.C., that basically direct the Forest Service to do
the exchange. They expect things to start moving very soon (this
spring) on the federal side. If it's approved, they would start
right away on working with the Forest Service to get the
appraisals and surveys done within a one-year timeframe. This
issue has a lot of support although most of it is for 2016
federal legislation that is the same piece of legislation. It is
a positive revenue generating exchange and the trust needs those
revenues to provide for its beneficiaries. He added that the
trust supports those programs without going to the general fund.
CHAIR GIESSEL said a number of people were on line to testify.
SENATOR STEDMAN said he would rather have another meeting so
people could have ample time to say their piece than try to run
them short because the committee is out of time.
CHAIR GIESSEL said she would hold SB 88 and bring it back at the
earliest opportunity.
5:05:31 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL adjourned the Senate Resources Committee meeting
at 5:05 p.m.