SB 111-KODIAK NARROW CAPE PUBLIC USE AREA  5:26:53 PM CHAIR HUGGINS announced SB 111 to be up for consideration. SENATOR STEVENS, sponsor of SB 111, said this establishes a new 46,000-acre public use area on Narrow Cape. It is used for a wide range of activities and is one of the few surfing areas in Alaska. It is subject to grazing leases as well as use by the Kodiak Launch Complex. It recognizes the special and multiple use activities within this area and increases the protection to insure that the public can continue to use this area and acknowledges the very valid rights for the rocket launch and the grazing. DOUG LETCH, staff to Senator Stevens, said there are currently five public use areas recognized in the state. Narrow Cape is the only place in Kodiak that you can drive to for all these different activities and it's a very popular recreation spot. SB 111 allows the department to have the management plan that they have already. Resolutions in support of SB 111 from Kodiak Island Borough and from the City of Kodiak are in their packets. He noted a proposed CS that comports with the House version. 5:31:29 PM SENATOR MCGUIRE moved to adopt CSSB 111(RES), version K. There were no objections and it was so ordered. MR. LETCH said the CS adds grazing to the top uses listed on page 1, line 12, at the request of the buffalo ranchers in the Narrow Cape area. On page 2, line 3, "shall" is deleted and "may" is inserted. This eliminates any need for a fiscal plan since the management plan has already been accomplished. The legal description was changed on page 3, line 30, to delete a section of the ocean because they just wanted to focus on the land. 5:33:58 PM CHAIR HUGGINS asked if the Knik Public Use area would be managed as a park is in this bill. MR. LETCH replied that this bill has no reference to park language. SB 111 doesn't change anything that's in place; it just guarantees things will continue. Another provision says if the state decides to dispose of the land, that it would require legislative approval. On page 2, line 26, section (e) language says "The commissioner may not manage the Kodiak Narrow Cape Public Use Area as a unit of the state park system." 5:35:21 PM MAYOR JEROME SELBY, Kodiak Island Borough, said there is no other public recreation area on the Kodiak road system that is available. Other land on the road system is privately owned. He emphasized they are not trying to lock the land up forever, but they want to raise the bar so that it can't be disposed or used in some other manner without the community knowing about it. The impetus for this bill came from the attempt to transfer this land to the University of Alaska in a bill they had never heard of and no one said anything to them about a number of years ago. He said there is unanimous support for SB 111 from all the users including the rocket launch folks, the grazing folks, the public recreation folks, the hunters and the fishers. No one is being excluded. CHAIR HUGGINS said CSSB 111(RES) would be held. There being no further business to come before the committee, he adjourned the meeting at 5:37:40 PM.