Legislature(2009 - 2010)BUTROVICH 205
02/03/2010 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB195 | |
| SB104 | |
| HB20 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 220 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 104 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 195 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 20 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 104-STAN PRICE STATE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
3:48:36 PM
CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced SB 104 to be up for
consideration.
3:48:54 PM
SENATOR DENNIS EGAN said he is presenting SB 104 for Senator
Elton who was its sponsor. He said the purpose of SB 104 is to
set in statute the game management regime that exists today and
has existed in the Stan Price Wildlife Sanctuary for the past 25
years. In 1984 the Board of Game established the upper Seymour
Canal Closed Area as a buffer zone to further protect the human
habituated areas at Pack Creek. Since 1984, the board has seven
times declined to open the area to bear hunting - each time
after exhaustive public debate and overwhelming opposition.
After the last event in 2006, the board put a 10-year moratorium
on hearing another petition to open the area to bear hunting. He
said this bill would put in statute that which is a settled
matter of sound scientific game management. It also supports the
tourism businesses that have grown to serve the many visitors
that come to Southeast Alaska precisely to experience the unique
bear-viewing opportunities of the Refuge.
SENATOR EGAN explained that the blank committee substitute (CS)
further clarifies that all other hunting and fishing is to be
allowed within the Refuge.
3:50:38 PM
SENATOR WAGONER moved to adopt the CS to SB 104. There were no
objections and CSSB 104(RES) 26-LS0545\S was before the
committee.
3:51:51 PM
K.J.METCALF, President, Friends of Admiralty Island, said they
had been in existence since 1987 and were very supportive if SB
104. He said that while Stan Price was alive, he did a wonderful
job of nurturing the female bears that came down to his place;
so they have become female population. They are not afraid of
humans and bring their young down to nurse allowing a wonderful
viewing opportunity. They really want to protect that population
of female bears. Adopting this legislation puts the 25-year
closure by the Board of Game into statute. He said the existing
Stan Price Sanctuary is just the small area, other state lands
would be added to it that are currently managed by the
Department of Natural Resources (DNR). So they would all be
under management by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
(ADF&G).
3:53:14 PM
SENATOR HUGGINS joined the committee.
MR. METCALF also said the management of the fish and game in
this area is a model and this bill would codify that in statute
also. "It just seems like a really good thing to do."
3:54:07 PM
WAYNE REGELIN, President, Territorial Sportsmen, supported SB
104. He said the Territorial Sportsmen is a sportsmen
organization that was established in 1950 to promote hunting,
fishing and trapping, and has about 1800 members. They recognize
the importance of protecting the bears at Pack Creek. "They are
a unique resource that are enjoyed by a lot of people."
He explained that the area is closed to hunting on the
tidelands. Opening it to bear hunting came up every three years
and got everybody all excited and there is just no reason to put
the public through that every year. He suggested a little
revision to the sponsor who inserted language saying that the
area that is closed is only closed to hunting bears, but other
uses of hunting and fishing are allowed.
3:55:42 PM
SARAH DUNLAP, representing herself, Juneau, Alaska, supported SB
104. She summarized her testimony saying that for the past 19
years she and her husband have made their living guiding people
into bear viewing opportunities in Pack Creek, Windfall Harbor
and Swan Cove. Through that they have gained an understanding of
how valuable this area is to the tourism economy as well as
being a very special place. They are supporting this bill
because they think it is important to expand that tiny sanctuary
area into the areas that have been long-closed to bear viewing.
Their experience has shown them how vulnerable bears would be to
hunting if it were to ever be opened to hunting again and how it
would affect the viewing there. There is the controlled
experience at Pack Creek, with the rangers; but Windfall Harbor
has more of a wilderness experience. When permits at Pack Creek
are not available, Windfall is usually available. They take an
average of 90 clients into Windfall Harbor and Pack Creek every
year (since 2000) and that's in addition to the 180 clients they
take into Pack Creek each year. Pack Creek, itself, sees about
1200 visitors every season.
MS. DUNLAP said it is well understood that wildlife watching is
big business in Alaska and is an important aspect of Juneau's
tourism economy, but it isn't that well-known how much of this
business is done by small, locally-owned operators. That is
particularly true of this Pack Creek, Windfall, Swan complex,
she said. These tours are not sold on the cruise ships. She said
that Pack Creek is a destination spot that brings independent
travelers into the Juneau community. That business flows through
B&Bs, restaurants and retail establishments. So, all-in-all it's
the local people who are benefiting from the bear viewing
activity that goes on there. Not only does the income they make
flow back through the economy, but a very significant amount of
that money goes back to underwriting the cost of managing Pack
Creek.
She stressed that her business's Pack Creek permit fees average
about $5,000 each year and that the permit fees bring in $40,000
annually. She mentioned that the fees generated by wildlife
watching are really important sources of revenue for the
agencies that manage public lands and this is very true in the
case of Pack Creek.
MS. DUNLAP stressed this is not an anti-hunting measure. The
only hunting that would not be allowed in these areas is bear
hunting and these lands were closed to bear hunting in 1984 at
the same time other lands on Admiralty Island were open to bear
hunting. So these closures never resulted in any net loss of
hunting opportunities on Admiralty Island and over 90 percent of
the Island remains available to bear hunters. It is appropriate
that wildlife viewers have their own locations on Admiralty,
particularly this very important premier destination for bear
viewers.
MS. DUNLAP said the Board of Game was very wise when it created
this situation 25 years ago, and they have thoroughly reviewed
the decision over the years since. It is one of the most
scientifically supported, agency approved publicly popular land
use allocations in Alaskan history.
4:01:41 PM
BUTCH LAUGHLIN, representing himself, Juneau, Alaska, said his
wife, Ms. Dunlap, covered most of their testimony. He does the
flying and the guiding and sees what is happening on the ground
every day. He sees how many bears use all the areas of the
sanctuary. All this bill does is expand the legislative
protection to the lands that have long been closed to hunting
and it doesn't seek to make a radical change to the area; it's
simply to keep the status quo of the area that is in place now.
Just the designation of the tidelands would be changed. He
supported SB 104.
4:03:05 PM
GREG BROWN, owner, Weather Permitting Alaska, Tee Harbor,
Alaska, said he does custom trips for whale watching and other
non-consumptive uses. He is also on the Advisory Board for the
Board of Game representing Juneau.
MR. BROWN said nonconsumptive users in the U.S. have grown to
number 62 million people and spend over $29 billion, but hunting
in the U.S. has been declining for decades. In Alaska, hunting
brings in $124 million annually. It is considered a stable
industry, which is a little misleading because the state pumps
about $3.8 million into it for intensive management control. On
the other hand, wildlife viewing brings in $581 million - five
times more than consumptive users. He really believes there is
not much more opportunity to grow the consumptive business in
Alaska, but the $581 million is the future of the wildlife of
Alaska.
He said he spent last week at the Board of Game meeting in
Anchorage and "if we spent half as much time working on
developing this economically, we could have an billion-dollar
business here in literally a couple of years." Last year he had
two trips to the Pack Creek and Windfall area, one of them was a
film crew from PBS. They were able to view the same two bears
for both trips and he made $4000 each trip. "These animals have
great value. This is a very, very special place - almost
mystical place to be."
4:06:07 PM
SENATOR WAGONER quipped that those must have been pretty well
mounted bears.
4:06:21 PM
TINA BROWN, representing herself, Juneau, Alaska, said tourists
value the bears, but the people who live here do, too. One of
the main reasons she and her husband chose to retire in Juneau
is because it is close to these brown bears. She and her husband
bought a house and now have a small business, they pay taxes,
and this has helped the community as well.
MS. BROWN stated that a lot of people are here because of the
wildlife and she appreciated having this opportunity to preserve
it. There are many places to hunt, but not many places for
"world-class" brown bear viewing like this.
4:07:50 PM
DAVID SUMMERS, licensed big game transporter and fishing guide,
agreed that a live bear can be worth more than a dead bear and
suggested a couple of small changes to SB 104. The first was in
on page 2, line 20, where it says "other fish and wildlife
populations, and their habitats" which he said is extremely
broad language. If the intent is to preserve the area
specifically for the bears, he said the language should speak
specifically to that.
He asked why the number of commercial permits to bring people
ashore to view bears isn't increased and suggested adding
"commercial" to the list of purposes (page 2, line 22).
4:10:17 PM
CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked Mr. Mylius what he thought about Mr.
Summers' suggestions.
DICK MYLIUS, Director, Division of Mining, Land and Water,
Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said he is primarily on
line to answer questions since this is on state tide and
submerged lands. But the Sanctuary would be managed by the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) and those questions
could be answered by them.
CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked him to run that by the department.
4:11:23 PM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if Mr. Summers wanted to delete the
language: "the department shall allow".
CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI noted that his staff just told him that
Mr. Summers' suggestions would change the statutory purpose that
has been established for over 20-plus years.
SENATOR HUGGINS said he is a consumptive guy and it is valuable
to have what is permitted as well as what is prohibited in
language because interpretations later on can get skewed.
CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI directed people to work on language and
set SB 104 aside.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 104 Bill Packet.pdf |
SRES 2/3/2010 3:30:00 PM |
SB 104 |
| SB 195 - Bill Packet.pdf |
SRES 2/3/2010 3:30:00 PM |
SB 195 |