State Government

There’s less than a week for Alaskans to weigh in on the new Catch Sharing Plan for halibut. The deadline is next Wednesday, September 21st.

A final rule could be issued this fall on the proposal that allocates halibut between commercial longliners and charter operators. The Secretary of Commerce could approve it by December. That could put the plan in place for next year.

Rachel Baker, a fisheries management specialist for NOAA Fisheries, briefed members of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on the players involved in halibut management and how the new Catch Sharing Plan would work on limiting growth in the charter sector.

Baker says the proposed Catch Sharing Plan was designed for its predictability and includes an initial allocation and a set of daily bag limits for the charter sector. There’s also a potential transfer of Individual Fishing Quota from commercial longliners to charter operators in the form of Guided Angler Fish, or GAF.

Here’s the first part of Baker’s presentation before the Chamber on Thursday:

Part two:

Part three:

More on information on the Catch Sharing Plan can be found at NOAA’s website. Scroll down to the section on Public Comment Periods

Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov

The state of Alaska will not appeal the Juneau Access case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Instead, Gov. Sean Parnell says it’s time to get on with an Environmental Impact Statement that considers improved ferry service in Lynn Canal.

Two federal courts have sided with conservation groups that the state should have reviewed a “no-build” option to a highway out of Juneau. Chances the Supreme Court would take the case are probably less than one percent, according to the Department of Law. And if they did, it could be another two years before there’d be a decision.

Transportation Commissioner Marc Luiken says it’s too risky.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good mandate from the Ninth Circuit (Court) as to what they would expect us to do so that’s what we’re going to do,” Luiken says.

He says it will take about two years to complete an EIS. It means studying marine highway routes, schedules, and ships as well as reviewing and updating all the project alternatives. The state’s preferred alternative extends Glacier Highway about 50 miles to the Katzehin River, where vehicles would have to board a ferry for the last leg of the trip to Haines or Skagway.

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and other Lynn Canal environmental groups sued in 2006, saying the state and Federal Highway Administration should have taken into account better ferry service that did not require building new ferries, terminals, or roads. Luiken says the department will start the supplemental EIS process immediately.

“They had suggested we keep the old ferries and when we replace them use those to provide adequate additional shuttle ferry service in the Lynn Canal as well as pull ferry service from other SE communities, potentially, when the need arises,” Luiken says. “So that’s the direction we’re going to go with this supplemental EIS.”

SEACC Executive Director Lindsey Ketchel says she’s not surprised at the Parnell administration’s decision to conduct the EIS, but she’s disappointed the governor just doesn’t drop the highway completely.

“You know we think the governor has not been able to factor into his transportation vision a prudent and balanced approach,” Ketchel says. “We’re seeing just huge amounts of money going to studying the road to Umiak, tons of money going to studying the road to Nome and then you add the Juneau Access road. You know at some point in time you have to say there isn’t going to be this amount of federal dollars available to build this amount of extension of transportation in the state of Alaska.”

The supplemental Environmental Impact Statement could cost between $1 million and $2.5 million, according to the Request for Proposals, which went out yesterday (Wednesday).

Petersburg’s plan to form a borough is drawing opposition from several surrounding communities. While Juneau, Kake and Kupreanof say they don’t oppose a Petersburg borough, they are concerned about its boundaries.

Petersburg is on Mitkof Island, where the Wrangell Narrows meet Frederick Sound. Its proposed borough would be about 4-thousand 347 square miles – both land and water.

The new Petersburg boundaries would stretch into an area previously identified for annexation to the city and borough of Juneau: All the territory from the southern boundary of the CBJ and east to the Canadian border. It includes the Tracy Arm / Ford’s Terror Wilderness, Endicott Arm, as well as Holkam, Windham and Hobart bays.

Thirty-thousand acres at Hobart Bay are owned by Goldbelt, Juneau’s Native Corporation.

Mayor Bruce Botelho says Juneau has never filed to annex the area, in deference to Goldbelt, which previously opposed putting its Hobart Bay land in a borough.

In 2007, Juneau made the decision to wthhold trying to move in that direction “unless there was some triggering action,” Botelho says. “One of those that was contemplated was the possibility that another community would start the annexation or incorporation of those lands.”

Goldbelt Corporation says it is currently neutral with regard to which borough – if any — should encompass Hobart Bay. In a letter to both Botelho and Petersburg Mayor Al Dwyer, Goldbelt Operations Vice President Derek Duncan says the Goldbelt Board of Directors will decide its borough preference over the next couple of months.

Petersburg’s new boundary line would abut Juneau’s boundary at Holkum Bay. Dwyer believes the lines are justified, based on past use by Petersburg fishermen.

“You know we expect there’ll be development in those areas we’ve delineated,” Dwyer says.

Is Petersburg’s petition to include those areas in a borough the trigger for Juneau annexation? That’s the question Juneau will answer over the next few weeks, after research, public input and much deliberation.

Juneau Assembly member Peter Freer believes it is. Over the last decade several Southeast communities have expanded their boundaries: Ketchikan through annexation, Wrangell and Skagway have incorporated, and a number of other communities are examining new boundaries.

“It is in our interest to act and define that area that we believe should ultimately be part of our borough,” Freer says.

Meanwhile, both the city of Kake and the organized village of Kake plan to protest the Petersburg borough. The small first class city of about 560 is on the northwest coast of Kupreanof Island. The new borough would encompass a large part of the island, which Kake says are ancestral lands.

John Janik is Kake city administrator.

“They’re taking up what appears to be half of the island if not more,” Janik says. “And the land they’re trying to encompass is historically Native cultural land.”

On the northeast shore of Kupreanof Island, the tiny second class city of Kupreanof – population about 30 –– is also opposed. But Wrangell, which became a borough in 2008, says it doesn’t have any major issues with the proposed Petersburg borough boundaries.

The Local Boundary Commission will consider the concerns of other communities in its decision. October 26 is the deadline for filing competing petitions and opposing briefs with the LBC.

The Juneau Assembly will take up the issue again later this month.

Photos by Brian Zittlau

Governor Sean Parnell and First Lady Sandy Parnell hosted the Annual Governor’s Picnic yesterday, the last of the summer. Picnics were already held in Anchorage, Mat-Su, Fairbanks last month.

The line for hot dogs and salmon was looping around the parking lot for the Sandy Beach shelters before Department Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners even started service at 4:30.

Here are some of the sounds from Thursday’s event at Annual Governor’s Picnic at Sandy Beach in Douglas. They include State Senator Dennis Egan, Governor Parnell and the First Lady, some of the Juneau and Douglas residents waiting in line or attending the event, and Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell who served up the salmon.

In addition to Anchorage, Mat-Su, Fairbanks, and Juneau, Parnell announced that an additional picnic will be held in a community that will rotate each year starting next summer.

Governor Sean Parnell and First Lady Sandy Parnell will be serving up hotdogs Thursday at the Third Annual Governor’s Picnic in Juneau.

Serving hotdogs are the Parnell’s choice, leaving the fresh salmon to the fishermen who cook it, says Chamber of Commerce Director Cathie Roemmich. It’s an impressive list of commercial fishermen and processing companies that give the salmon and prepare it there:

“Icy Strait Seafood, Taku Smokeries, Alaska Glacier Seafood, United Fishermen of Alaska, United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Association and Fishing Vessel Mikiah Bay,” Roemmich says. “And these guys plan ahead. We ask them ahead of time; we’re always afraid they’re not going to be able to do it again and they do. They pull it off every year. It’s a great recipe and I don’t think they’ve ever divulged it.”

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will be giving lessons on making lures. There’s a horseshoe toss, face painting, balloon animals and other activities for kids. Spike the Whale and McGruff the Crime Dog will be on hand for pictures.

Roemmich says the entire governor’s cabinet is expected to be serving food at the picnic, which is coordinated by the Juneau Chamber of Commerce. A number of local and statewide businesses contribute.

Juneau’s is the last of a series of governor’s picnics this summer. The Parnell’s held picnics last month in Anchorage, Fairbanks and the MatSu.

The picnic runs from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sandy Beach Shelters.

The state’s Local Boundary Commission takes public comment Wednesday on the City of Gustavus’ petition to annex another 16-square miles.

Brent Williams, section staff supervisor for the LBC, says they’ve already recommended that annexation be approved. Commissioners could announce a decision as soon as Thursday.

“The LBC does not always follow the staff recommendation,” says Williams. “They will have received this material and read it, and listened to the testimony and public comments. Then, they will make their own mind.”

If LBC approves the annexation petition, then it goes to the Legislature for possible consideration next session.

The new expanded boundaries would include the Falls Creek drainage to the east, tidelands in the south, and submerged lands in Icy Passage up to the mean high tide line of Pleasant Island. The community wants to exert more control over those newly- or soon-to-be developed areas.

Comments will be taken during the public meeting that starts at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Gustavus City Hall.

Gustavus was originally incorporated as a second class city seven years ago with 39-square miles of land, tideland, and submerged land.

2010 City of Gustavus Annexation