SB 223 APPROVE CLOSING SITUK TO MINERAL ENTRY  CHAIRMAN LEMAN called the Senate Resources Committee meeting to order at 3:40 p.m. He brought SB 223 before the committee as the first order of business. GERON BRUCE , Legislative Liaison, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, said the legislation actually originated through a land planning process conducted by the Department of Natural Resources. He noted there was a thorough public review with all the parties involved, and there was no objection to the recommendation in that plan to close the bed of the Situk River and associated lakes and lagoons to new mineral entry. The Department of Natural Resources executed such an order in April 1995. SB 223 is required in order to prevent the order from expiring and to make the closure permanent. Mr. Bruce pointed out the Situk River is the most important river in the Yakutat area and in the state. It is important to a multiplicity of users, including commercial fishing for sockeye and coho and recreational fishing. Mr. Bruce explained it is important to take action on the legislation by April 6, because it is a closure that exceeds 640 acres, and the interim classification expires on the 90th day of the session unless a law is enacted making it permanent. Number 090 CHAIRMAN LEMAN inquired if there are currently any working mining claims in these areas on the Situk. NICO BUS , Acting Director, Division of Support Services, Department of Natural Resources, responded that there are no mining claims in the area right now. Number 100 CHAIRMAN LEMAN stated testimony would be taken via teleconference from witnesses waiting to testify in Yakutat. CRAIG SWANSON , testifying on behalf of the City & Borough of Yakutat Salmon Enhancement Board in support of SB 223, said the board met earlier in the day and passed a motion to oppose mineral entry of any kind on the Situk River. Number 127 JOHN VALE , Chairman of the Yakutat Fish & Game Advisory Committee, said the Situk is the life blood of the economy of Yakutat. He noted that according a study done by the Department of Fish & Game in 1988, the recreational fishery, just on the Situk River, contributed $2.8 million to the Yakutat economy, and since that time, that recreational fishery has expanded by 18 percent. It is also a multi-million dollar commercial fishery, with 170 set net permits in the Yakutat area out of which approximately half of them fish on the Situk River. The Situk represents about 50 percent of the commercial fishing income for their area. The study also relates that 73 percent of the subsistence salmon harvested in the Yakutat area come from the Situk River. He urged the committee's support for SB 223. Number 165 DON BREMNER , President of Yak-Tat Kwaan, Inc., stated the corporation's and shareholders' support for SB 223. He said the facts stated in the bill regarding the significance of approving the interim classification are right on, although he clarified that it should be referred to as the Yakutat area instead of the Yakataga area. Number 200 BART ADAMS , President, Yakutat Chamber of Commerce, testifying in support of SB 223, stated the chamber's board and fisheries committee unanimously oppose any mineral entry being allowed on the Situk River and its drainage due to the potential damage to the river and its valuable resources. RAY SENSMEIER , President, Alaska Native Brotherhood, Yakutat, stated their support for SB 223, as well as the support of the Alaska Native Sisterhood. Number 228 STEVE BORELL , Executive Director, Alaska Miners Association, testifying from Anchorage, voiced the association's support for SB 223 and their recognition of the tremendous steelhead fishery. He noted a lot of their members are also fishermen, both commercial in some areas of the state and recreational. Speaking to an amendment being proposed by the Alaska Miners Association, he said it would leave the river bed and the estuaries and the waters untouched, but it would provide an opportunity for the state to also utilize its mineral deposits if such were to be found. It will provide an opportunity, it would not forever close the door or sterilize any mineral resources that might be there. He noted underground mining occurs throughout the world and it has absolutely no affect on the surface. Number 257 JULES TILESTON , Director, Division of Mining & Water Management, Department of Natural Resources, testifying from Anchorage, confirmed the division did a search of the Situk mining claim records in December. As of that date, there were no mining claims or leases in the state system, so as far as state lands are concerned, there are no outstanding mineral rights. CHAIRMAN LEMAN requested that Mr. Tileston reserve the rest of testimony until later in the meeting so that testimony could be taken from an individual who was waiting to testify from an airplane on another bill. He then set SB 223 aside. CHAIRMAN LEMAN brought SB 223 (APPROVE CLOSING SITUK TO MINERAL ENTRY) back before the committee, and requested that Mr. Tileston continue with his testimony. JULES TILESTON reconfirmed that state mining claim records were checked and there are no mining claims and no mineral leases associated with the area that is within SB 223. Mr. Tileston noted there was a four-year planning process that included numerous public meetings in Cordova, Yakutat, Juneau and Seward, as well as receipt of approximately 270 written comments and the mailing of 13 newsletters mailed to 750 individuals and organizations. He added there was no opposition to the proposal before the committee. JIM RICHARDSON , testifying on his own behalf and several sport fish associates who have fished the Situk River with him for the last 20 years, voiced his support for SB 223. He said it is very appropriate to continue to protect the river, and he urged passage of the legislation. Number 414 CLIFF EAMES , representing the Alaska Center for the Environment in Anchorage, stated their support for SB 223 because they believe it deserves the highest possible level of protection. JEFF PARKER , Vice Chair, State Council of Trout Unlimited, testified from Anchorage in support of SB 223. He spoke of his familiarity with the river and the importance of the area being closed to mineral entry. He said the steelhead trout is just now coming back from a couple of drought years in the early 1990's, with approximately 5,000 steelhead coming back to the river last year. He said it is a very important sport fishery and he strongly supports the bill because of the unique production of this river. CHAIRMAN LEMAN said there was testimony of the Situk's value as a commercial stream and also a sports stream, and he asked if there is any conflict between the two. MR. PARKER answered that there has been concern about out-migrating steelhead being caught in the spring by the set gill fishery that targets incoming sockeye. There is also an issue of whether steelheads should be classified as a customary and traditional subsistence stock, and that question has been before the federal regional subsistence council, but he does not know how that issue was resolved. Number 465 SENATOR TAYLOR asked Mr. Parker if there are any known mineral deposits within this approximately 2,700 acres that anyone is threatening to develop so that there would need to be a closure imposed. MR. PARKER responded no, but he noted that in Southcentral Alaska they have seen mining claims that are basically phony mining claims and are used for recreational cabins or create problems in land status and land use, including assertions of trespass that aren't sustainable as a matter of law but, nevertheless, are asserted. Those kinds of things happen on high quality fisheries. SENATOR TAYLOR questioned if there is an actual threat from mining or mineral properties today. MR. TILESTON responded that to his knowledge there are no threats of potential mining in the area, but as Mr. Parker testified to, sometimes the mining laws are not properly used to the discredit of the legitimate mining industry. That has happened and it tends to happen where there are high recreational values and exceedingly marginal mineral values. SENATOR TAYLOR said his concern is that every time he has seen the mineral laws misused in this state for the purpose of locating a recreational cabin in an area, it's because there was no other way possible to get a recreational cabin in that area because the state or the federal government owned every bit of the land and would not allow anyone to live on it or purchase a piece of it. He added that's with the exception of certain retired banker millionaires that get to own beautiful homes on the Kenai. He also stated for the record that he thinks that if there is a threat to the Situk, there are two areas from which that threat is going to occur. One is commercial fishing activity conducted at the mouth of that stream that may very well impact out-migrant stocks in the spring of the year if not carefully regulated, and the second, which is much more ominous, is if the federal government does, in fact, take over through subsistence law the regulation and management of that stream and it is left wide open for "subsistence harvesting" all the way up the stream with monofilament gillnets. There being no further testimony on SB 223, CHAIRMAN LEMAN stated the bill would be set aside until a quorum was established.