ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE  March 26, 2018 3:30 p.m. DRAFT MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair Senator Natasha von Imhof Senator Kevin Meyer Senator Bill Wielechowski Senator Click Bishop MEMBERS ABSENT  Senator Bert Stedman COMMITTEE CALENDAR  CONFIRMATION HEARINGS: Board of Game Teresa Sager-Albaugh, Tok Larry Van Daele, Kodiak - CONFIRMATIONS ADVANCED PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  No previous action to record WITNESS REGISTER TERESA SAGER-ALBAUGH Tok, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Reappointee to the Board of Game. LARRY VAN DAELE Kodiak, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Reappointee to the Board of Game. MARK RICHARDS, Executive Director Resident Hunters of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Supported the reappointments of Ms. Albaugh and Mr. Van Daele to the Board of Game. AL BARRETTE, member Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee Fairbanks, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Said the Fairbanks Advisory Committee voted unanimously to support Ms. Albaugh's appointment to the Board of Game. SAM ROHRER, President Alaska Professional Hunters Association Kodiak, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Supported the reappointments of Ms. Albaugh and Mr. Van Daele to the Board of Game. ACTION NARRATIVE 3:30:12 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 Bishop, Meyer, Coghill, and Chair Giessel. Senator Stedman was excused. ^Confirmation Hearing(s): CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)  Board of Game  3:31:12 PM CHAIR GIESSEL announced confirmation hearings for the Board of Game and invited Ms. Sager-Albaugh to tell the committee her background and why she wants to continue serving on the Board of Game. 3:31:54 PM TERESA SAGER-ALBAUGH, reappointee to the Board of Game, Tok, Alaska, said she appreciated their consideration for this appointment. She is a lifelong Alaskan and grew up in Fairbanks in a hunting and fishing family. She has always felt fortunate to live in a place where people have an incredible opportunity to enjoy wildlife in so many ways. She moved to the Tok Cutoff in 1984 where she and her husband chose a lifestyle of space and simplicity that included a modest log home where she and her husband haul water, run a trap line, hunt and fish, and work throughout the year to fill their freezer with wild food. They also raise a garden in two greenhouses. In recent years, they raise domestic livestock to add to their food supply. In terms of her qualifications for serving on the Board of Game, which she has served on since 2009, she doesn't have the type of degree or professional background they might expect or consider to be a standard prerequisite such as in natural resource or wildlife management. Instead, she brings more of a layman Alaskan background to the board. For a living, in 1996 Ms. Albaugh said she took a position with Summit Consulting, an engineering and construction management firm in Tok, and she has been with them for over 20 years. Prior to that, in the 1980s and early 90s she was a legislative aide for 12 years. With regard to volunteer positions, she previously served on the Board of Directors of the Alaska Outdoor Council and its sister organization, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund; she is also a life-member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). 3:34:07 PM MS. ALBAUGH said she tries to bring to the table an average Alaskan's perspective from living in both urban and rural parts of the state, and having a hunting, fishing, and trapping background. As a board member, she makes an effort to keep her contributions to its deliberations and her votes grounded in the Constitution and the statutes to the best of her ability. She offered to take questions. 3:34:38 PM SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI joined the committee. 3:34:45 PM SENATOR MEYER thanked her for serving on the board and asked about her conviction record that was mentioned in her resume'. Was she referring to a speeding ticket? MS. ALBAUGH answered yes. CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further questions for Ms. Albaugh, invited Mr. Van Daele to tell the committee why he would like to be reappointed to the Board of Game. 3:35:38 PM LARRY VAN DAELE, reappointee to the Board of Game, Kodiak, Alaska, said in August of 1956, he was born in Okinawa, Japan, while his father was flying for the CIA dropping off spies in North Viet Nam in the dead of night. For the next 18 years he and his mom lived a vagabond lifestyle as his father continued his career as a fighter pilot in the Air Force. This lifestyle exposed the family to a wide variety of cultures and people and instilled a survival skill of finding ways to understand and be open to new people and situations. His family also took the opportunities to explore the hunting, fishing, and myriad of other outdoor activities in each of their new areas. He was immensely jealous of his Dad's Alaska stories whenever he returned with his missile base filled with crab legs and salmon. MR. VAN DAELE said he attended college at the University of Idaho where he met his wife and earned a bachelor and a master's degree in wildlife management. Immediately after graduation, they packed up and headed north to Alaska. He started with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) as a wildlife technician in 1981 working on the first Susitna hydro project and continued to work for the department for the next 34 years. During that time, he was an assistant area biologist and later an area biologist in Kodiak, an area biologist in Dillingham, a regional biologist, assistant management coordinator, and finally the regional supervisor in Anchorage. He was able to work with his colleagues throughout the state on a wide variety of species with most of his focus on brown bears, caribou, moose, deer, goats, and elk. He also managed the Round Island State Game Sanctuary and served as the state's representative on the Eskimo Walrus Commission for several years. In 2007, Mr. Van Daele earned his PhD with a dissertation on the population status and management of bears in the Kodiak Archipelago. His work with brown bears extended to other countries when he was chosen to lead the Northern Forum Brown Bear Work Group and served as co-chair of the IUC in the North Asian Brown Bear Expert Team. These roles gave him a chance to go to the Russian Far East, Hokkaido Japan, Sweden, and Canada to work with colleagues and share ideas about bear research and management. He also wrote a book on the history of bears in the Kodiak Islands and recently co-authored a book on photographing bears. His wife, Hillary, is a trained biologist, but she shifted her career path to be a fulltime mom when her only son, Matt, was born. Matt graduated from Kodiak High School, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and went on to earn a B.S. and M.S degree in zoology. He returned to Kodiak to work for the Koniag Native Corporation for several years as their natural resource manager, until last year when he was chosen to be the deputy city manager of Kodiak. He is also on the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly. His wife, Mary, is an artist, and in July last year they welcomed their first grandchild, Matilda, into the world. MR. VAN DAELE said since retirement in 2015, he has worked part time in his consulting business. In 2016, he spent several months assisting a local Native corporation to establish a bear viewing lodge in Kodiak. Last year he worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as they worked to put together an international live broadcast from several locations in Alaska highlighting it wildlife. He volunteered for the Kodiak Electric Association recently helping them analyze the impacts of expanding the capacity of their hydro-electric project on bears and other wildlife, and he was a co-chair of a local nonprofit group that raised funds and commissioned a life-sized bronze statute of an adult male bear to commemorate the contributions of Native people in the guiding industry in the conservation of bears in Kodiak. 3:40:11 PM Because of his professional role with the ADF&G, and now with the Board of Game, Mr. Van Daele said he has opted to refrain from having memberships or positions in organizations that are directly impacted by his decisions. While he supports the mission of several different groups and follows them on the Internet and talks with their members, he doesn't want to be seen as a supporter of one group over another. However, he has maintained his membership in the Wildlife Society where he is a certified wildlife biologist, the International Bear Association where is on the Brown Bear Expert Team, the Alutiiq Museum Collections Committee, Pioneers of Alaska, and Saint Mary's Catholic Church. He is also the chairman of the Kodiak State Park Citizens Advisory Board, and last year he was appointed by Governor Walker to serve on the Board of Game. He serves as the board's representative on the Big Game Commercial Services Board, as well. MR. VAN DAELE summarized that Alaska has given him many things and he wants to continue offering his talents to the Board of Game as a way of giving back to the people and the wildlife of the state. "Serving on the board is an awesome honor and it's just an incredible responsibility," he said. 3:41:28 PM His primary goals while on the board are: 1. Maintain healthy wildlife populations 2. Provide food security, respect for cultural and traditional practices and enhancing opportunities for all Alaskans 3. Share those opportunities with visitors whenever possible 4. Return all wildlife management to the state 5. Revitalize trust by all groups in the board process To do this, Mr. Van Daele said sincere stewardship is needed that incorporates sustainability, conservation for the future, and respect for everyone's needs and desires. Polarization and belittling people with opposing views is eroding our democracy and our society, in his opinion, and he believes all elected and appointed officials should work to bring people together and to seek common ground with understanding and respect. He promises to do his best to do this as long as he is on the board. 3:42:28 PM CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no comments from the committee, opened public testimony. 3:42:54 PM MARK RICHARDS, Executive Director, Resident Hunters of Alaska (RHA), Fairbanks, Alaska, supported both the appointees to the Board of Game. It's important to point out that they support Ms. Albaugh in spite of the fact that she often doesn't vote their way on issues before the board. They highly respect that she is a staunch advocate of following the rules and obligations of the board to conduct an open and fair public process within the bounds of its authority. 3:44:25 PM MR. RICHARDS said they supported Mr. Van Daele's appointment last year to serve out the term of another board member who had resigned. His reputation as a biologist and serving as ADF&G's region 2 supervisor are well known. He has been a very constructive and informative voice and has attended every board meeting. He now also represents the Board of Game as its liaison to the Big Game Commercial Services Board where is he is also a valuable voice of reason. 3:45:17 PM AL BARRETTE, member, Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee, Fairbanks, Alaska, said the Fairbanks Advisory Committee voted unanimously to support Ms. Albaugh's appointment to the Board of Game. It is delightful to work with board members who interact with their committee, even though she is not from their area. She is available throughout the year to discuss wildlife issues. They appreciate her ability to read the statutes and to keep the board on track with what it is allowed to do. She is approachable at board meetings and relies on new information in making her decisions. 3:45:50 PM SENATOR VON IMHOF joined the committee. 3:46:55 PM SAM ROHRER, President, Alaska Professional Hunters Association (APHA), Kodiak, Alaska, supported both Ms. Albaugh and Mr. Van Daele's reappointment to the Board of Game. They are both valuable members of the board: they come to meetings well prepared without preconceived ideas and opinions, and with a strong concern for conservation. While APHA doesn't always agree with them on all issues, they appreciate the openness in which they approach the process and their willingness to serve. 3:48:11 PM CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further comments, closed public testimony. SENATOR COGHILL commented that both people had been highly recommended, and Interior residents greatly appreciate their service in this time-consuming job. 3:49:18 PM CHAIR GIESSEL 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: Theresa Sager-Albaugh, Tok and Lawrence Van Daele, Kodiak. She reminded members that 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. She directed committee members to sign the committee report. 3:50:15 PM CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further business to come before the committee, adjourned the Senate Resources Standing Committee meeting at 3:50 p.m.