Legislature(2017 - 2018)BARNES 124
04/14/2017 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB177 | |
| Presentation: Ak Gasline Development Corporation Status Update | |
| HB211 | |
| HB201 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | HB 201 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 217 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 218 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 177 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 211 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 211-NONRESIDENT HUNTING REQUIREMENTS: CARIBOU
2:24:23 PM
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON announced that the next order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 211, "An Act requiring a nonresident to
be accompanied by a guide or resident spouse or relative when
hunting certain caribou; and providing for an effective date."
2:25:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE read from the Alaska State Constitution,
Article 8, section 2 as follows:
The legislature shall provide for the utilization,
development, and conservation of all natural resources
belonging to the state, including land and waters, for
the maximum benefit of its people.
RESPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE said maximizing benefits for Alaskans
should not be limited to oil [resources]. He pointed out the
wealth from out-of-state hunters with a guide is not disruptive
to migration patterns. Furthermore, a transporter bringing in a
hunter from out-of-state, or not, suffers no repercussions if a
violation is committed by a client, but if a hunter is
accompanied by a big game guide, the guide has a vested interest
in ensuring Alaska laws are obeyed.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON asked for clarification on why the Porcupine
Caribou Herd, [with a herd size of] 200,000, is included in the
provisions of the bill.
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE explained the legislation applies to the
caribou that cross over from Canada.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON recalled previous testimony [during the
hearing of HB 211 on 4/13/17] from Mr. Barrette that mandatory
guiding should not be used as a tool to limit nonresident
opportunity.
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE agreed, and explained why the bill
requires mandatory guiding as follows:
It goes back to sustainable yield, exactly what the
Board of Game [Alaska Department of Fish & Game
(ADFG)] was created for. You have big game guides out
there [and] it behooves them to, to have
sustainability built into whatever they may be
hunting, so, unlike [Mr. Barrette], where he's saying
I'm using it to exclude people, I'm using it so their
children, the clients' children, and their children,
and so forth, will be able to hunt from these
magnificent herds that are traveling across America,
the last ones that we have out here. [The bill] is a
safeguard for sustaining these herds, rather than what
we have now, with transporters being able to take
someone in, and being disruptive to herd migrations -
the herd patterns. This, it just makes sense.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON directed attention to the bill on [page 1,
lines 10-14, which read:
*Sec. 2. AS 16.05.407(b) is amended to read:
(d) A nonresident who violates (a) or (g) of this
section, or who fails to furnish an affidavit under
(b) of this section, is guilty of a misdemeanor and
upon conviction is punishable by imprisonment for not
more than one year, or by a fine of not more than
$5,000, or by both.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON asked whether the foregoing section would be
consistent with the efforts of the Division of Wildlife
Troopers, Department of Public Safety (DPS), in proposed HB 129
and in Senate Bill 91 [passed in the first session of the 30th
Alaska State Legislature], which are to move provisions into AS
12.55 "in sort of a generic [class] A misdemeanor sort of way."
2:29:29 PM
BERNARD CHASTAIN, Major, Deputy Director, Headquarters, Division
of Alaska Wildlife Troopers, DPS, clarified the question is
related to the penalties associated with AS 16.05.407
subsections (b) and (d). He informed the committee [companion
bills SB 60 and HB 129] propose to align penalties within Alaska
Statues Title 16, and standardizes the penalties within as class
A misdemeanors. Currently, AS 16.05.407 is not included in the
provisions of proposed HB 129 or SB 60; however, amendments are
forthcoming which would align AS 16.05.407 penalties to a class
A misdemeanor, and thereby change the penalties proposed in HB
211.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON said, "... but you're O.K. with this sort of
continuing with the status quo, in terms of its language,
pending any further reform of, through HB 129."
MAJOR CHASTAIN clarified the change in the language [in HB 211
on page 1, lines 10-14] simply adds "or (g)" and does not change
the penalties. Other [proposed] bills would change the
penalties.
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO said he is struggling with the idea of
the bill because the state has established a regulatory agency
via the Board of Game (BOG), ADFG, to deal with proposals
[related to wildlife]. He questioned whether BOG has the
ability to enact the restriction directed by the bill, and
thereby keep the restriction "somewhat flexible"; the
legislature enacts statutes, which are not very flexible. He
asked whether the bill removes authority from a state agency
structured to provide [wildlife] management.
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE responded the bill addresses user
conflict. The problem is: There are many conflicts between
those who pay transporters and those who use the resource for
subsistence, which seem to be "never-ending." In GMU 23, [the
sizes of] caribou herds have dropped. He read as follows [from
a document not identified]:
Leading up to game management unit 23's closure, all
[caribou] harvesting declined ... except nonguided
nonresident.
REPRESENTATIVER WESTLAKE concluded from the foregoing that the
subsistence harvest declined, the resident harvest declined, the
guided nonresident harvest declined, and the only increase was
to the nonresident unguided harvest; therefore, the only ones to
lose were the local folks.
2:34:03 PM
FORREST WOLFE, staff to Representative Dean Westlake, Alaska
State Legislature, in response to Representative Talerico, said
enactment of a guide requirement has to be in statute as BOG
does not have the authority to do so.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON recalled the executive director of Resident
Hunters of Alaska, testifying in opposition to the bill, also
stated [the restriction] had to done legislatively.
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH said, "... it sounds to me like the
unguided nonresident hunters are better hunters, is that right?"
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE agreed, and explained, "You can be the
best hunter out there if you go over there [and] disrupt that
pattern that they're trying to go through when they're, when
they're migrating either north to south in this instance, or
else south to north ...." Speaking as a Native hunter, he said
Native hunters never bother the front herds. He related his
experience of watching caribou come over a mountain to a river
followed by a second group following the same track.
Representative Westlake stressed the importance of letting the
pilot herds travel the migratory path without disruption, and
said, "So, sometimes at the end of the day, we get less game,
but the caribou stay on that route ...."
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH asked whether a hunt can be structured
around a time that does not disrupt the migration pattern.
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE suggested a summer hunt would probably
work.
MR. WOLFE, in response to Representative Birch's previous
question, said guides are regulated as to the number of clients
they can take per season to the hunting grounds, and
transporters are not. He advised nonguided nonresidents may not
be better hunters, but there may be more of them.
2:37:16 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH inquired as to the economic impact to the
region of a guided hunt as opposed to a nonguided hunt.
2:37:56 PM
THOR STACEY, Lobbyist, Alaska Professional Hunters Association,
disclosed he has a guide concession located in the northeastern
portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), thus he
may have a personal financial interest in some aspects of the
bill. In response to Representative Parish, he said the Alaska
Professional Hunters Association (APHA) commissioned an economic
report in 2013, and a second report with a partner in 2017, to
review the economic impacts associated with visiting nonresident
hunters who are accompanied by hunting guides. Mr. Stacey was
unaware of a study that documents the transporter industry's
direct economic benefit, or per animal most recent economic
study that the average guided hunt in Alaska is worth
approximately $16,500, calculated from a total of $87.5 million
of total economic output, from approximately 3,300 nonresident
hunters accompanied by guides. Mr. Stacey assumed there is more
value-added benefit for a guided hunting trip, but he did not
have documentation on the value of a transported nonresident
guided hunt. Furthermore, in response to a question posed
[4/13/17], approximately 90 percent of active registered guides
in Alaska are Alaska residents.
2:40:32 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH questioned how the number of active guides
in the region compares with the number of transporters.
MR. STACEY said hunting guides contract the services of
transporters, and a nonresident accompanied by a hunting guide
may also contract the services of a transporter, such as an air
taxi. He pointed out the central portion of the affected area
to the west is federal land, and except for Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) land,
there is a fixed number of hunting guide concessions permitted
on land managed by the National Park Service, DOI, and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, DOI. In addition, from the Kavik
River east - the area of the Central Arctic and Porcupine herds
- the land is similarly restricted. Because there is not a
restrictive program affecting transporters, there is an
unlimited number of transporters operating within any of these
lands. One area not reported in studies of reductions in
harvest and opportunity is the "transporter component." He
related the demand for hunting a caribou is good - worldwide -
and the demand for transported access to hunting areas is high;
thus an "uptick" in harvest represents a larger uptick in total
hunter effort, because not every hunter gets a caribou: an
uptick in harvest and a declining herd represents more hunters
in the field.
2:43:19 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH inquired as to what sanctions APHA has in
place for guides who may disrupt a migrating caribou herd.
MR. STACEY said APHA is a nongovernmental entity with a code of
conduct and ethical guidelines to which members adhere. He said
he was unaware of any governmental or nongovernmental sanctions
against a guide who disrupts the migration of a caribou herd.
However, the perception of disruptions, founded or unfounded,
may have resulted in the closure of GMU 23 to all nonlocal
hunters. In further response to Representative Parish, he
opined the bill is not designed to cap [the number of visits
and] the decline of the herd, in fact, caribou herds could
experience many environmental and human causes for a serious
decline; the state BOG process is confined by the state
constitutional mandate for sustained harvest, with a subsistence
priority, and on federal land, state and federal subsistence
absolute amounts are set. However, APHA does not see the bill
as necessary for the conservation of the herd, but instead,
human-on-human conflict is the "discussion on the table."
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH referred to information from the Division
of Wildlife Conservation, ADFG, reporting that last year 82
percent of nonresident hunters were unguided, and 350
nonresident hunters per year hunt unguided. For the Teshekpuk
and Western Arctic herds, approximately 2,326, or 77 percent of
nonresidents, are unguided. He asked what percentage [of the
unguided nonresident hunters] could be "absorbed into guided
hunts."
MR. STACEY advised not all could be absorbed through guided
hunts because that would be beyond the capacity of hunting
guides. Furthermore, the number of guided hunts is also limited
by economics because guided hunts cost more. He assured the
committee that the current number of permitted hunting guides
could not accompany the same number of nonresident unguided
hunts that now occur.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH questioned whether guides could double
their capacity next year.
2:48:17 PM
MR. STACEY expressed doubt that the guiding industry could
double its capacity within a year.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH posited that if guides were able to double
their capacity, there would be a 50 percent decline in the
number of nonresidents hunting, unless they had [qualified]
relatives in the area.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON clarified nonresidents could hunt if they
have relatives in the state with a second degree of kindred.
MR. STACEY remarked:
Currently, zero nonresidents hunters could actually
hunt in the unit 23 portion of the area discussed, so
any opening would represent a significant increase of
opportunity that would theoretically, obviously, come
with a caveat .... that Alaska residents, everyone in
this room, that doesn't live within the area, would
once again be allowed to hunt there. ... It's hard to
ascertain the downrange of facts, especially where
federal management and federal boards and other things
are involved, so ... it's a complex problem.
CO-CHAIR JOSEPHSON asked whether guides can combine hunting for
caribou and sheep in the same trip.
MR. STACEY said that is common practice.
2:51:20 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND moved to adopt [Amendment 1, identified
as 30-LS0700\J.2, Bullard, 4/12/17].
2:51:27 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR objected for discussion purposes.
REPRESENTATIVE WESTLAKE explained Amendment 1 would correct an
oversight that omitted the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd from the
caribou herds protected in the bill. As an aside, he noted the
local hunters have already scaled down their subsistence hunting
of this herd.
2:52:33 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR removed her objection. There being no further
objection, Amendment 1 was adopted.
2:53:08 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR moved to report HB 211, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 211(RES) was
reported from the House Resources Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| AGDC House Resources Committee Presentation 4.14.17.pdf |
HRES 4/14/2017 1:00:00 PM |
AGDC |
| HB201 Supporting Document - Legal Memos re MatSu Trapping 2013.pdf |
HRES 4/14/2017 1:00:00 PM |
HB 201 |