HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES March 6, 1995 5:04 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Alan Austerman, Chairman Representative Carl Moses, Vice Chair Representative Gary Davis Representative Scott Ogan Representative Kim Elton MEMBERS ABSENT None COMMITTEE CALENDAR Kenai River Habitat Problem Presentation HFSH - 03/06/95 SB 68: "An Act relating to the donation to a food bank of hatchery salmon, to the donation of food by meat processors, seafood processors, manufacturers, packers, processors, bottlers, and similar entities, and to who qualifies as a food bank." SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD HFSH - 03/06/95 * HCR 12: Relating to management of the salmon fisheries of the upper Cook Inlet area. SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD WITNESS REGISTER ELLEN FRITTS, ACTING DIRECTOR Division of Habitat and Restoration Alaska Department of Fish & Game P.O. Box 25526 Juneau, AK 99801 Phone: 465-4105 POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced presentation GARY LIEPITZ, HABITAT BIOLOGIST Division of Habitat Alaska Department of Fish and Game 333 Raspberry Road Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 267-2284 POSITION STATEMENT: Provided presentation PREVIOUS ACTION  BILL: SB 68 SHORT TITLE: FOOD BANKS;MEAT & SEAFOOD PROCESSORS SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) LEMAN,Ellis,Kelly,Pearce JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 02/06/95 182 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S) 02/06/95 182 (S) HES 02/09/95 225 (S) COSPONSOR(S): ELLIS 02/15/95 (S) HES AT 09:00 AM BUTROVICH ROOM 205 02/15/95 (S) MINUTE(HES) 02/16/95 315 (S) HES RPT CS 3DP 2NR NEW TITLE 02/16/95 315 (S) ZERO FN (DEC) 02/20/95 (S) RLS AT 11:25 AM FAHRENKAMP ROOM 203 02/20/95 (S) MINUTE(RLS) 02/21/95 349 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 2/21/95 02/21/95 354 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME 02/21/95 354 (S) HES CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT 02/21/95 354 (S) COSPONSOR(S): KELLY, PEARCE 02/21/95 355 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UNAN CONSENT 02/21/95 355 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 68(HES) 02/21/95 355 (S) PASSED Y18 N- E1 A1 02/21/95 355 (S) Leman NOTICE OF RECONSIDERATION 02/22/95 370 (S) RECON TAKEN UP - IN THIRD READING 02/22/95 370 (S) RETURN TO SECOND FOR AM 1 UNAN CONSENT 02/22/95 371 (S) AM NO 1 ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT 02/22/95 371 (S) AUTOMATICALLY IN THIRD READING 02/22/95 372 (S) PASSED ON RECONSIDERATION Y19 A1 02/22/95 374 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H) 02/27/95 479 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S) 02/27/95 480 (H) FISHERIES & HES 03/06/95 (H) FSH AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 124  BILL: HCR 12 SHORT TITLE: UPPER COOK INLET SALMON FISHERIES MGN'T SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) MASEK,Mulder JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 02/22/95 447 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S) 02/22/95 447 (H) FSH, RESOURCES 03/06/95 (H) FSH AT 05:00 PM CAPITOL 124 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 95-15, SIDE A Number 000 CHAIRMAN ALAN AUSTERMAN called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m. He noted for the record that Representatives Ogan, Davis, Elton and Moses were present. A quorum was present. He stated the bills scheduled would not be heard due to a 6:00 p.m. majority caucus. Number 027 ELLEN FRITTS, ACTING DIRECTOR, Division of Habitat and Restoration, Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), introduced Gary Liepitz, the biologist heading the Kenai River project. Number 034 GARY LIEPITZ, HABITAT BIOLOGIST, Division of Habitat, ADF&G, began with a slide show entitled, Assessment of the Cumulative Impacts of Development and Human Uses on Fish Habitat in the Kenai River. He began, "A few years ago, ADF&G requested and received permission to develop an analysis of the Kenai River's fishery habitat values as it relates to the local coastal district programs, the Kenai Peninsula Borough's district program. As such, the department requested through the Office of Coastal Management, funding to be able to go into the Kenai River and assess those habitat values that occur along the river." He then described the geography of the Kenai River and said, "By far the most important of the resource values is the fishery, both commercial and recreational fishery opportunities, (that) the infamous Kenai River provides. In 1994, the Kenai River was responsible for about $38 million worth of commercial fish harvest in Upper Cook Inlet, primarily coho (and) sockeye, with some incidental king catch. It's got about a $40 million recreational fishery that occurs on the Kenai River itself, predominantly for coho, sockeye and king salmon. The Kenai River does host 27 different species of fish and one of the most highly sought after is the prized salmon." MR. LIEPITZ indicated that the Kenai River mainstem provides spawning, rearing and over wintering habitat and said, "Studies by our fisheries biologists and those of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have shown that some of the most important habitat occurring on the Kenai River, is that occurs right on the shoreline of that river. Within a six foot reach off the river, a six-foot wide band, along the river shoreline, is where these juvenile fish actually do most of their rearing. In fact, over 80 percent of all the juvenile king salmon that occur in the river, have been found within the six-foot corridor or border along the river. Now, a quick calculation: By looking at 66 miles of river, and again, that's linear miles...if you look at both banks and then the island areas, you actually have 166 miles of shoreline habitat, multiplied by the six-foot corridor where you find these juveniles rearing. You find that there's only 121 acres of habitat available to raise all these fish, in the river, and that's total habitat available. Not all of it is good habitat as we'll see in this presentation." He added, "One of the main things that juvenile fish need is when they are rearing in that system, and again, the kings and the cohoes and the sockeye salmon, rear in the system one to three years before out migrating into the ocean for another two or three years before coming back into the system and this overlay, which a copy is in your packet, shows some of the habitat values that are important to raising juvenile fish." (A copy of this document can be found in Room 434 of the Capitol Building and after the adjournment of the second session of the Nineteenth Legislature in the Legislative Reference Library.) He then described the ideal juvenile fish habitat and showed examples on slides of both good and bad juvenile salmon habitat. MR. LIEPITZ emphasized, "Suitable stream velocity: A very critical component. These juvenile fish can only swim to a certain level. They have to have velocities that don't exceed their swimming abilities. They have a darting speed they can maintain very briefly to go around a structure but for the most part, they're swimming at what we call a sustained swimming speed and for a juveniles, it's generally less than a half a foot per second. And that's what we find along the shorelines, that slower water velocities." MR. LIEPITZ continued, "The ADF&G is authorized under its state statute to issue permits and approvals for activities that do affect the stream and this is one of the reasons it generated this study. People asked, `How many structures and how much habitat impact has occurred on the river,' and while we've been issuing permits since statehood under this authority, Title 16, we really don't have any ongoing accumulative analysis of how many habitat permits have been issued, how many structures are in place. So we requested funding to initiate the Kenai River Accumulative Impact Analysis. This was a three-year program funded by the Office of Coastal Management for us to do an inventory analysis of the structures and uses along the river, determine what we've got in terms of habitat, natural as well as man-made or altered, and then identify the cumulative impact assessment methodology to be used as baseline information to access future permit actions. This information would then be provided to the local coastal district and their coastal management program to update their policy statement." MR. LIEPITZ added, "One of the intents here is to identify projects that occur with minimal or low impact so we wouldn't have to eventually issue a 30-day permit. It could be automatic type of approvals, allowing people to get their permits and authorizations very quickly for minor projects and things that don't adversely affect the stream. And then it was intended to generate some future management means to look at this type of a system, this habitat analysis system, as it might be applied to other river drainages and other systems throughout Alaska." Number 339 MR. LIEPITZ said, "The department pulled together a group of, I'd say roughly 12, experts from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fish and Game, Fish and Wildlife Service, Corps of Engineers, Kenai Peninsula Borough, and pulled together a technical advisory group to decide how we'd approach this accumulative assessment type of technique. We decided to break the river down into five distinct river zones. They are distinct because of their physical nature. River zone one is the lower river reach. It's ten miles long. It's tidally influenced. The tide comes up, the water levels come up and increase. It is (indisc.) mud and silt substraights with little or no spawning habitat and minor rearing habitat. Mostly a migration corridor for in migrating adults and out migrating juveniles. Reach two is a transition reach between the intertidal zone. It's a 7 mile reach from mile 10 up to mile 17 1/2. And it is unique in the sense that it is a very low slow slope, with low mid-channel velocities. Fish were found further upstream in this case in this reach, but the river's really prone to meandering and prone to erosion in this river reach, which is of concern to development actions and uses along the shoreline there. River Reach three is another individual reach which is the longest river reach. It runs from mile 17 1/2 to mile 40, 39 1/2. It's predominantly stable. It goes through a glacial outwash material that is stable in its banks and doesn't have much tendency to meander and it has more of the gravel (indisc.) you see spawning and that type of activity in. River Reach four is the small ten mile reach below Skilak Lake, half of which is residentially developed. The other half, immediately below Skilak is U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kenai moose range lands, undeveloped federal lands. And then the final reach is the interlake reach between Skilak and Kenai Lakes." He then referred to the visual material showing examples of obstructions to the river and trampled accessways to the river. Number 418 CHAIRMAN AUSTERMAN asked how many lots are "developable" but remain undeveloped. MR. LIEPITZ continued, "About half of the properties now are in an undeveloped status. Half of them are in a developed status. These represent residential lots that have sold that you might own or I might own that I could go ahead and put a house on, or a cabin, or do whatever." Regarding impacted habitat he said, "We have naturally unvegetated and we have trampled, heavily impacted public and private access. It represents 5.3 percent of the top of the bank of the river," and, "structural change to the natural characteristics of the river and the unaffected: For the entire river reach, the entire 166 miles, approximately 7.2 percent of that is in a structurally developed or altered state and another 4 percent is in trampled state. About 12 percent of the river being affected or altered from the natural conditions that were there." MR. LIEPITZ then described the effects of velocity on juvenile salmon, saying, "Ideal juvenile Chinook rearing habitat being velocities of a half a foot per second, two foot water depths, undercut bank, vegetative banks, overhanging vegetation. That constitutes ideal conditions for raising juvenile Chinook salmon. The juvenile Chinooks were the indicators species of this study because they're the species that are there most commonly. The other species usually find tributaries and slower water areas, they're not as strong swimmers as the Chinook." MR. LIEPITZ said, "Ideal rearing conditions were found along 15 miles of the river. That amounts to, out of the 166 miles, that amounts to about 9 percent or so of the overall river. Not a lot of ideal conditions but as we go down, we have other habitat types that are also good and grade less and less value to the fish, for rearing purposes." MR. LIEPITZ then said, "The bottom line is that, in our undeveloped properties, private as well as public, we have about 1.3 million habitat units available for fish production as it stands today, with this analysis. When we looked at the developed areas along the river, we found that there's about 12 miles of developed shoreline habitat on the river," and, "we lost about 40,000 habitat units from the development occurring immediately adjacent to the river and into the river. This has all occurred over the last 30 years." He then showed an example of a private landowner who significantly increased the habitat units of his shoreline property. MR. LIEPITZ described the impact of vertical obstacles in the river banks and indicated that floating docks actually improve the rearing habitat for juvenile Chinooks. He added, "Right now, we've got about 88 access locations of the river. People are requesting to put in their own boat launches. We have the need to reduce the number of access points." He also said the Division of Habitat needs "to educate folks on how to better use the river to avoid the damage to the river that they're causing. (There's) a lot of back trolling now. They're creating standing wakes. Back trolling right along the shoreline. We may have to start recommending people get away from shoreline a little bit." He then described some examples that are positive for shoreline habitat. MR. LIEPITZ concluded, "What we're trying to do then is just generate a little bit more habitat, to continue the rearing and spawning opportunities so that people can come and catch fish in this system." Number 657 MR. LIEPITZ then demonstrated the GIS (geographic information system) on a laptop computer and an overhead projector. TAPE 95-15, SIDE B Number 000 The GIS demonstration continued, targeting on specific properties. Number 071 REPRESENTATIVE SCOTT OGAN asked, "In your executive summary, you stated there is an approximate 2.2 percent loss of habitat? How much of that has been attributed to anglers?" MR. LIEPITZ replied, "The only portion of that would be attributed to anglers is the portion associated with denuding to access the river. Obviously, there may be using the river that wouldn't be angling, people sight seeing, what not. In terms of the modified bank, which we showed 12 percent, about 8 percent of that is related to structural change of the river. Structures on the river, bank stabilization techniques, and about 4 percent of that actually is trampling." REPRESENTATIVE OGAN continued, "So out of the 12 percent total, 4 percent has been trampling from anglers, you'd say?" MR. LIEPITZ said yes and, "Like I said, 12 miles, if you put it all end to end, about 12 miles of the river, of the 166 miles of water frontage, has been modified." Number 112 CHAIRMAN AUSTERMAN asked what the projection is for the Kenai River. MR. LIEPITZ replied, "I'm really encouraged. We've seen a real turnaround because of the interest by the public, the private property owners and the public at large." CHAIRMAN AUSTERMAN adjourned the meeting at 5:58 p.m.