SENATE RESOURCES COMMITTEE February 10, 1993 3:45 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Mike Miller, Chairman Senator Steve Frank Senator Drue Pearce MEMBERS ABSENT Senator Loren Leman, Vice Chairman Senator Al Adams Senator Dave Donley Senator Fred Zharoff COMMITTEE CALENDAR SENATE BILL NO. 77 "An Act relating to the powers of the Board of Game and to intensive game management to achieve higher sustained yield for human harvest." PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION SB 77 - No previous action to record. WITNESS REGISTER Senator Bert Sharp Capitol Building Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 77. Carl Rosier, Commissioner Department of Fish and Game P.O. Box 25526 Juneau, Alaska 99802-5526 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77. Meryl Wolford P.O. Box 813 Homer, Alaska 99603 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77. Nancy Hillstrand P.O. Box 674 Homer, Alaska 99603 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. James Frey, Sr. P.O. Box 930 Slana, Alaska 99586 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77. Al Keech P.O. Box 362 Tok, Alaska 99780 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77. Henry Springer P.O. Box 232144 Anchorage, Alaska 99523 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77. Wayne Hall P.O. Box 190455 Anchorage, Alaska 99523 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Nicole Evans P.O. Box 202022 Anchorage, Alaska 99520 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Gordon Haber P.O. Box 64 Denali Park, Alaska 99755 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Jill Wittenbrader P.O. Box 101418 Anchorage, Alaska 99510 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77. Steve Wells P.O. Box 202219 Anchorage, Alaska 99520 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Lynn Levengood 931 Vide Way Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported draft substitute for SB 77. Tom Scarborough 1676 Taroka Dr. Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported draft substitute for SB 77. Bill Hagar 431 Gaffney Rd. Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported draft substitute for SB 77. Greg Machachek P.O. Box 82023 North Pole, Alaska 99705 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported draft substitute for SB 77. Jim Tomsich P.O. Box 82023 Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported draft substitute for SB 77. Oliver (Bud) Burris 2801 Talkeetna Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported concept of SB 77. Ralph Seekins 1625 Old Steese Hwy Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported draft substitute for SB 77. Robert Fox P.O. Box 82249 Fairbanks, Alaska 99708 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 77 and draft substitute. David Van Den Berg 218 Driveway Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Lyne Zellwiger P.O. Box 211623 Auke Bay, Alaska 99821 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Bill Burk 6590 Glacier Hwy, #67 Juneau, Alaska 99801 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Irene Morris P.O. Box 22837 Juneau, Alaska 99837 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. Alicia Porter Alaska Environmental Lobby 1834 Stanford Anchorage, Alaska 99508 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 77. ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 93 - 8, SIDE A Number 001 SENATOR MILLER called the Resources Committee meeting to order at 3:45 p.m. and announced SB 77 INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT OF GAME RESOURCES to be up for consideration. SENATOR SHARP, sponsor, said SB 77 gives clear legislative direction to the Board of Game regarding priority management goals particularly in the management of large species of game. He said there has never been a legislative mandate specifically defining intensive management or sustained yield. He said that Alaska's current game management policies manage people, not game resources. Every reduction in hunting seasons without corresponding reductions in predators has been, in fact, a reallocation of the resource from people to predators. This type of passive management has created the current situation where the Alaskan people harvest 4% - 5% of the game while predators harvest 70% - 80%. Surveys of game populations have revealed that during the first 30 days after calving season up to 90% of the new born are gone. SENATOR SHARP said that adequate game stock is the common sense answer to solving current personal use, subsistence, and sport hunting needs. Number 197 COMMISSIONER CARL ROSIER, Department of Fish and Game, said he supports the concept of applying intensive management where appropriate to meet their constitutional and statutory mandates to develop and maintain the resources of Alaska on a sustained yield basis. Intensive management is successful in increasing habitat quality, allowing game populations to increase to the benefit of Alaskans. Conceptually they support SB 77, now they have a neutral position pending significant amendments which will help the Board maintain flexibility in the application of intensive management and to focus it on big game populations for which it is most feasible and effective. They feel the name of the big game animals should be included in the bill and suggest the emphasis be on maintaining or restoring high levels of use rather than on attaining high levels of population abundance. Number 154 Their suggestions for amendments in Section 2 (e) reflect their concern that the direction applied in Section 1 (a) 11 be applied to 2 (e) as well. Their greatest concern in this section is the requirement that the Board actually adopt regulations providing for intensive management before the Board can reduce harvest significantly. Number 221 MERYL WOLFORD, Homer charter operator and big game guide outfitter, supported SB 77 because it encourages game management for biological reasons. NANCY HILLSTRAND, Homer, opposed SB 77 because it would stifle the creativity of the Game Board. They should be allowed the flexibility to manage for multiple use and multiple species. It is unwise to mandate to the Board that they "shall" do anything. Number 268 JAMES FREY, SR., Glennallen, strongly supported SB 77 because the constitution requires sustained yield. Number 293 ADAM KEECH, Upper Tanana 40 Mile Fish and Game Advisory Committee, supported SB 77. He supported the objectives and methods used by the Department of Fish and Game including wolf control. The management plan was sound and beneficial to the local residents. The state compromised what was right by acquiescing to the pressures of the tourist industry and outside interest groups. Number 316 HENRY SPRINGER, Anchorage, said other countries that have extensive game resources have objectives including predator control. 97% of the countries have a preference in their management goals for game species that can be utilized or consumed by humans. SB 77 doesn't do anything new. There is extensive testimony in the constitutional convention supporting the sustained yield principal for human use species and excluded predators to be managed on a sustained yield basis. The bill reemphasizes this intent. He said for balance, predators have a right to exist just like any other species. He did not think it unreasonable to have low preference in areas of national interests like the parks and refuges, etc. He doesn't think SB 77 is a predator control bill. He thought Alaska has a good system where there is public access through the Board process. He thought this bill was a good policy tool that clarifies and underlines the intent of the state's founding fathers. He thought it also represented the views of a majority of Alaskans. WAYNE HALL opposed SB 77 as a wolf control bill. It makes a mockery of the public process and Administrative Procedures Act by requiring the Board of Game to adopt regulations it (the legislature) considers advisable. Number 412 NICOLE EVANS, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, opposed SB 77 because it requires the Board to adopt regulations for intensive management and requires the Department to conduct intensive management programs. This bill would remove the public's opportunity for input. A strong majority of Alaskans are opposed to the shooting of wolves. She said a majority of hunters opposed such predator control programs. She thought that hunting should be restricted instead of having predator control. Number 444 GORDON HABER, professional wildlife scientist, has been conducting research on wolves and their prey in interior Alaska for the last 27 years. He opposed SB 77. He thought the original intent of the Board of Game was to give equal consideration to competing interests. This bill would stack the deck in favor of one use and turn the board process into a charade. The bill is based on premises that are biologically untrue. For instance the population of caribou has more than tripled in the last 15 years and it continues to increase at an accelerating rate. The moose population in Senator Sharp's district has nearly doubled in the last 10 years in the presence of a natural wolf abundance. Number 488 JILL WITTENBRADER, Anchorage, opposed SB 77 because it mandates the Board to intensively manage wildlife and she opposes using that method. It also attempts to circumvent the public process. Number 499 STEVE WELLS, Anchorage, opposed SB 77, because it mandates the Board to manage game for the benefit of one group of users. This bill also limits public input into the Board of Game process which is already biased toward intensive consumptive uses of wildlife. It would close the door on consideration of total ecosystem management where all species are considered to be equally important to the environment and to each other. Number 516 LYNN LEVENGOOD, Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee and member of Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association, is the person who originally drafted this legislation. This legislation requires the Department of Fish and Game to actively manage, and quit monitoring, the resources for a return of abundance of wildlife which is the constitutional mandate. SB 77 falls short of that goal now that ADF&G has inserted clauses that allows them to totally ignore the legislation. He now supports his draft substitute in which he first changed the title to reflect the goal of restoring an abundance of wildlife in Alaska which is good for all user groups. Second, he extracted the loopholes inserted by ADF&G at ADF&G discretion. Third he included a definition of sustained yield. He added that 2% of Alaskan wildlife is harvested by humans. TAPE 93-8, SIDE B Number 542 TOM SCARBOROUGH, Fairbanks, supported the draft substitute Mr. Levengood just presented and he supported his testimony. Number 523 BILL HAGAR, Fairbanks, supported SB 77 and the substitute proposed by Mr. Levengood. He felt this supported the constitutional mandate. Number 485 GREG MACHACHEK, Fairbanks, supported SB 77 and the draft substitute. It is about time the State of Alaska actively manages their wildlife and habitat, he said. Number 474 OLIVER BURRIS, President, Tanana Valley Sportsmen's Association, supported the concept of the bill. He hasn't seen intensive management or any active management since statehood. He found fault with the Commissioner's definition of intensive. Commenting on the Department's analysis of the bill, he found fault on page 2 with both their examples. He doesn't think the deer populations have recovered on Admiralty or any other island that has been augmented by the restrictive measures on hunting. Populations recover because of the quality of the habitat, not because of regulation of human activities which are insignificant. Example number two is totally false. Caribou are not cyclic under anybodies definition. The regulation of human take that has protected ptarmigan, grouse, hares, lynx, and other muskrats hasn't changed in 35 years. If the regulations haven't changed, how can they say they are managing the human take to bring these populations back? He said ADF&G doesn't want to be locked into an active management program. Number 422 RALPH SEEKINS, President, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association, said we depend on ADF&G to determine when a wildlife management program is needed, but then nothing is ever done about it. Human harvest is statistically insignificant - at less than 4%. The only answer to subsistence, to more animals for viewing, to predator population, to more consumptive use is for a return of abundance of game in the state of Alaska. Mr. Seekins supported the draft substitute to SB 77. With intensive management, 60% plus of the moose population reserve would still be for predators. Number 358 ROBERT FOX, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association, said that intensive management of predators is a time specific tool that ultimately benefits all species and all user groups. The biological aspects of wolf management in Alaska has been vindicated by many professional groups of biologists. He supported SB 77 with the draft substitute. Number 341 DAVID VAN DER BERG, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, opposed SB 77 because it would circumvent the public process. He urged the legislature not to commit itself to the discredited practice of predator control. Number 311 LYNE ZELLWIGER, Prince William Sound, opposed SB 77 because ADF&G mismanages Alaska's fish and game resources. She said scientific studies have shown that natural predators such as wolves do not control the number of prey animals on which they depend. It is the other way around. Other factors like food supply, weather, and habitat availability directly affect the ungulate population which are the limiting factors to predator population. Number 245 BILL BURK, Juneau, opposed SB 77. He thought mother nature managed game fine on her own. Killing off the predator does not increase the prey. The predator eats only the weak and the sickly. By killing the predator what you have is a whole herd of weak and sickly prey which becomes genetically inferior. Number 215 IRENE MORRIS, Juneau, opposed SB 77. She has studied game management and said that every living thing is linked. This concept is called biocentrism. She said that natural resources should be enjoyed by everyone and management should include public opinion and not be limited to a Board. Number 172 ALICIA PORTER, Alaska Environmental Lobby, opposed SB 77 because it is a back door method of destroying wolves and bears. She said the cost of killing wolves is substantial. It cost the state $634 for the destruction of a single wolf, the market price for a wolf pelt ranges from $200 - $300, so a fiscal loss will be generated by the state. She said there are presently no population statistics on bears other than harvest numbers. She said intensive hunting methods would reduce tourism within the state as we get boycotted. Number 146 SENATOR MILLER thanked everyone for their testimony and adjourned the meeting at 5:07 p.m.