Legislature(2005 - 2006)BUTROVICH 205
04/08/2005 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB85 | |
| SB96 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 85 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 96 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 85-OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE ON DALTON HIGHWAY
CHAIR THOMAS WAGONER announced that SB 85 was up for
consideration.
3:37:54 PM
JACK REAKOFF, Wiseman resident, said he has been a trapper and
tour guide since the 1970s. He said that moose, caribou and
sheep populations in the area are already heavily harvested by
wolves and bears as well as humans and opening the area to ATV
use would further stress these populations. He said that an
agreement was made that this area would be managed differently
than other areas in Alaska; ATV restrictions were part of that
agreement. Game populations in northern Alaska are low density;
winters are long and more severe. Growing seasons are typically
one to two months shorter than in the rest of Alaska.
3:40:45 PM
SENATOR WAGONER remarked that Mr. Reakoff said something about
an agreement, but his staff has been searching through the
records since hearings were started on this bill and could not
find a copy of any agreement made by the state of Alaska or
anyone else. He asked him to bring him a copy of the agreement
he was talking about.
MR. REAKOFF responded that he didn't have one, but he would look
for one. He thought they were mostly oral agreements.
3:42:04 PM
RAY BANE said he is a longtime resident of the Alaska Pipeline
Corridor. The overwhelming consensus of research on the impacts
of ATV access indicates that it causes significant environmental
damage. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) and
independent environmental scientists concur with these findings.
Impacts include degraded habitat, reduced water quality and
stress on wildlife.
Permafrost lands like those along the pipeline
corridor are particularly prone to severe ATV damage.
Without sufficient ground frost and adequate snow
cover, the fragile vegetation mass is crushed and
abraded and entire hillsides can become destabilized.
He said that ATV trails are quickly eroded because ATV drivers
are forced to use the margins on such trails thus expanding
damage done to them. The Dalton Highway has been a model area
for environmental stewardship.
3:44:52 PM
DR. SYNDONIA BRET HARTE, Associate Science Director, Toolik
Research Station, University of Alaska Fairbanks, said that the
station is located in the Dalton Highway Corridor at Mile 284.5.
It is a well-funded facility for Arctic research studies. She
said that current environmental conditions are important for the
viability of many studies conducted through the station and ATV
use could destabilize the environment around it. She cited
concern for the enforcement of restrictions due to inadequate
law enforcement personnel and funding.
SENATOR RALPH SEEKINS asked if she attended the meeting he had
at the Toolik Research Station.
DR. HARTE replied that she remembers meeting with him
personally.
3:48:12 PM
IAN HARRIOTT, University of Alaska Fairbanks student, opposed SB
85. He said that hunting is possible and popular along the
Dalton Highway and that allowing ATV use there would degrade the
environment and chase off animals.
3:50:49 PM
JIM SACKETT, Fairbanks, supported SB 85 and referenced Senator
Seekins' article in the Daily News Miner that stated his case
very nicely. He wanted his kids to be able to explore areas
along the Dalton Highway.
3:52:03 PM
TERRY REICHARDT, Fairbanks, said that she has hunted for caribou
in the area since 1972 and hunting has change a lot since then.
She thought it was because of the increasing human population
and resulting increased demand for the resource. She could think
of no areas accessible to caribou by road and stated her concern
that lifting the ATV ban would cause the game to move even
farther away from the road thus making ATV use a necessity for
hunting. She suggested opening the corridor to rifle hunting
instead of ATV use.
3:54:14 PM
CHARLES DERRICK, Fairbanks, supported SB 85 and said that
closing the corridor to ATVs for the benefit of hunters is
unfair. He suggested restricting certain areas of the Dalton
corridor to walk-in hunting while opening other areas to ATV
use. He thought Toolik Lake would be a nice recreation area, but
the research at the station should be protected. He thought it
should have been established within the park area where
conflicts like this would not occur. Plenty of parks have been
established within Alaska where ATV use is prohibited and there
is no reason the Dalton Highway corridor should be closed.
SENATOR WAGONER said that there has been a verbal agreement that
the research center at Toolik Lake would be protected. BLM
supports that also and the committee would write sideboards if
the bill passes and Senator Seekins agrees with that.
WAYNE HEIMER, Fairbanks, supported SB 85 saying that it opens
the Dalton Highway corridor to planning and thinking. He worked
with the ADF&G throughout the pipeline planning, building and
monitoring phases. His area of expertise was Dall sheep. He said
that Dr. David Kline, while a distinguished scientific icon at
the University, is out of touch with much of recently published
materials on animal responses to vehicular disturbance. When the
pipeline was built people didn't know how animal populations
would be affected and therefore restrictive measures were
passed. He likened them to the controversy heard over passage of
the Patriot Act. He thought good planning and protections for
the Dalton Corridor would be needed and could be managed for the
maximum benefit of all users.
3:59:18 PM
DAVID STELLER, North Pole, said that this bill in itself does
not change hunting regulations in the area and the Board of Game
would still regulate the area. Hunting regulations still say
that no motorized vehicles can be used to assist hunters in
their excursions. Hunting with firearms within the corridor
would still be prohibited under a separate statute.
There's millions of acres of public land along the
Dalton Highway corridor that belong to all residents
of the state and, in fact, there's millions that
belong to all residents of the entire country. It
doesn't seem right to have this restriction limiting
the use by the people that actually own it.
SB 85 would only allow hunters to use their ATVs outside of the
corridor and he supported it.
4:01:08 PM
GAR PESSEL, Fairbanks, said he is a retired geologist and has
worked for many years with both industry and government. His
main concern with SB 85 is that ATV access will cause increased
damage to the corridor. He said that ATV's have "thrashed" many
areas in the state and would probably do similar damage to the
Dalton Corridor. He said that industry is prohibited from using
heavy equipment in the Dalton area and ATV users should be
similarly restricted. He has hunted in the Eureka area and is
familiar with the game there. He has watched everywhere the
vehicles can reach and:
The game gets shot out.... It's like a hoard of
locusts in terms of running the game out of the
country - wherever they can reach. They've created a
network of mud holes and muddy trails to the point
where I've even had some of them complain that it's
too much trouble pulling each other out of the mud
holes and they'd like to be followed if they had the
money to do it."
4:04:28 PM
FLORIAN SEVER, Sitka, said that state laws governing ATV use are
similar to the federal laws the govern most of the lands in his
area. Over the last 12 years he used a photo service to document
numerous instances of extensive resource damage that has been
caused by ATVs going off of the existing road systems on Kruzoff
Island.
The federal policy is that the forest is open to ATV
use as long as no resource damage takes place. I have
found by my observations that it is virtually
impossible for ATVs to operate off the road system
without causing resource damage. This resource damage
is often irreparable. Wetlands have a tendency to
channelize; they turn into ponds. They actually alter
the ecosystem of a wetland. It changes the nature of a
bog to a series of ponds where the remaining area is
changed forever. Again, I am against SB 85.
He stated that no matter what kind of limits are put on the ATV
use on paper, there will always be those people who want to push
the edge of the envelope, so to speak, to always try to get out
to places where nobody else has been before with disregard for
regulations. He also pointed out that there wouldn't be any
funds to remediate any of the damage. He referred the committee
to Karen Waters of the Sitka Rangers for photographs and
comments he has provided her.
4:06:18 PM
GARVIN BUCARIA, Mat-Su Valley, said he is a former professional
fisheries biologist and opposed SB 85. He said it has been
demonstrated that ATV use causes irreparable damage to tundra.
He said that the system in place works now and should be
maintained. He remarked that Alaskans cannot afford to damage
what has taken thousands of years to generate and is already
subject to the effects of warming and climate change.
4:08:55 PM
KRISTIN SMITH, Executive Director, Copper River Watershed
Project, Cordova, opposed SB 85. She noted it has no fiscal note
and there is no definition of ORV. It could allow Humvees or
anything like that. However, she is most concerned that ATV use
will conflict with preservation of fish and wildlife habitat and
its destruction of habitat is well documented throughout the
state.
GEOFF CARROL, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G)
biologist for Unit 26A, Barrow, opposed SB 85. It would
negatively affect the state's credibility since it has broken
several promises concerning the preservation of the Dalton
Corridor.
4:12:54 PM
He said that passing SB 85 would greatly disrupt hunting and
would cause significant competition between subsistence hunters
and recreational hunters in the area. The caribou there have
already been disrupted by human activity and passing this bill
would create even a greater disruption. He agreed with previous
testimony that SB 85 would create an increased demand for
enforcement and consequently of enforcement funds, which are not
even mentioned.
4:15:17 PM
JOSHUA BACON, Barrow, said he uses the Dalton Highway corridor
with his father annually to harvest caribou and opposed SB 85.
ATV restrictions keep the experience challenging and create a
high quality hunting experience. The Steese and Richardson
Highways are already open to ATV access. He said that lifting
ATV restriction would cause increased human activity along the
corridor; it would increase road dust and require more road
maintenance. It would disrupt wildlife in the area and increase
demands for enforcement that would require state funding, which
is not provided.
BRIAN PEARSON, Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope
Borough, opposed SB 85 because of negative impacts from ATV use
to the subsistence harvest of caribou and furbearers and the
damage to tundra, wetlands and riparian systems. He was also
concerned about its impacts to the ongoing experiments at Toolik
Lake Research Station and that enforcement would need increased
funding.
He informed the committee that increased access along the Dalton
Highway would result in increased pressure on the Central Arctic
and Teshekpuk caribou herds. He remarked that residents of
Anaktuvuk Pass have diets that are up to 85 percent dependent on
caribou products.
4:21:51 PM
TAQULIK HEPA said works for the North Slope Borough Department
of Wildlife Management and opposed SB 85 because of what its
impacts would be on subsistence users. One of her primary
responsibilities has been to record a project that documents
subsistence-harvested resources and its importance to each of
the eight North Slope communities, especially Anaktuvuk Pass.
There is no doubt with the passing of this bill, there
will be a dramatic increase in the number of people
who use the Dalton Highway, either for hunting or for
recreational uses and will provide an opportunity for
easy access to areas that are important to the
residents of the North Slope for subsistence purposes.
There is bound to be an increase in conflicts between
subsistence hunters and sport hunters.
She said revoking the ATV ban will affect the migration of
caribou and will thus have a great impact on the food supply of
the residents of Anaktuvuk pass. Further she said:
Under the state system, most of the North Slope's game
management area 26 is managed under the Barrow office
in Barrow and regulations for that area are made up at
the Region 5 Board of Game meeting. However Units 26 B
and C, including the Dalton Highway, is managed out of
Fairbanks and people from Fairbanks will have ready
access to managers for their area and have more
influence on decisions that are made there.
Regulations for 26 B and C made at the Region C Board
of Game meetings, which are...almost always held in
Fairbanks - and that would make it easier for those
people to attend.... It is unfortunate that the
management decisions for 26 B will be heavily
influenced by the people from Fairbanks that will have
more access to wildlife managers.
Currently, there is no state advisory council on the North Slope
she said, although it has asked the state to create one there.
That request was declined.
4:25:12 PM
MARK LUTRELL, Seward, opposed SB 85. He claimed that the bill is
short-sighted and that revoking the ATV ban will cause extensive
ecological damage to the environment and wildlife.
There's poaching; there's trash - all the bad habits
of humans - extensive ecological damage like erosion,
decreased water quality, decreased fishery habitat - a
waste of mud holes. You know the oil industry when
they do run over tundra, they are required to use
Rollagons and that's also very regulated. They
understand that the tundra is sensitive.
SB 85 also has management problems. There's no law
enforcement out there; there's no money for increased
law enforcement. There's no money for increased
biological monitoring; there's no money for plans or
management. SB 85 will lead to unregulated ORV use....
4:28:27 PM
BRITT CONSTANTINE, Alaska Conservation Alliance and Alaska
Conservation Voters, stated that she has personally lived in and
studied the Dalton Highway Corridor area. In 2001 she did an
archeological survey for the natural gas line route and walked
most of the distance between Atigan Pass and the South Fork of
the Koyukuk River. She walked 7 to 10 miles per day and it
wasn't that hard to do.
I don't see why people need to have ATVs to visit this
area. Part of its beauty is that it is remote and that
it is quiet and there is no motorized access. It's
very unique in that way. I just really think the
Arctic is a very special place. It truly is different
than the rest of the state and it needs to be treated
differently by our regulations and by our laws. All
terrain vehicles are so damaging to tundra,
specifically, that they need to be more heavily
regulated in areas where there are tundra period....
She said she didn't see any fiscal note that would cover
regulations that would have to be developed to cover the use of
ATVs.
CHAIR WAGONER interrupted to say that the Arctic is not a
portion of the corridor they are talking about.
MS. CONSTANTINE explained that the gates of the Arctic Park are
easily accessible from the Dalton Highway.
Just because this ban only refers to five miles around
the Highway, that doesn't mean that's all that it
covers, because you get on a snow machine in this kind
of country, you can go literally forever if you had
enough fuel and supplies. It's that flat. The hills
are gentle and rolling....
It only takes one tire track to strip this insulating
moss layer, which exposes dark soil. The dark soil
absorbs additional sunlight that heats up the
permafrost and melts it - creating a shorter depth.
This creates a drainage ditch, in essence, along which
water can drain and funnel. If there is even a slight
incline, as there is in most surfaces, a single tire
track can eventually drain and turn an entire
hillside...into dry shrubby heath. This can be
permanent. So, this bill can be very damaging and I
oppose it.
4:33:35 PM
PETE KELLY, University of Alaska, said someone earlier said that
the University opposed the bill, but he is not aware of any
motion from the Board of Regents, the President or his staff to
support or oppose the bill. The Institute of Artic Biology
enjoys a large degree of autonomy and he said he could not speak
for its departments.
SENATOR SEEKINS said he has talked to the land use planners who
say there is no intent for anybody to rip up the land with an
off-road vehicle. He finds it amazing that many people believe
that the revocation of a blanket permit would allow rampant
misuse and extensive damage to the land. He remarked that the
last paragraph of the letter of intent says that if one year is
not sufficient to address peoples' concerns, then the
legislature would convene in a special session to extend the
time.
4:38:09 PM
He said that it is interesting that Alaska has a state law that
prohibits access to federal lands on 180 miles of road. He
didn't know of anywhere else where that exists. Further, he
stated that the Bureau of Land Management has a good record of
being able to put land use plans into effect and it would not
allow people to run rampant over the lands.
4:39:36 PM
CHAIR WAGONER said that Senator Seekins had agreed to hold
additional public hearings over the summer in the Fairbanks,
Cold Foot and Barrow regarding this bill.
SENATOR SEEKINS said he would take personal offence if anyone
suggests that he is trying to allow unfettered use of ATVs on
public land.
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