I own and run Alaska Alpine Adventures, one of the many Alaskan-owned, family-operated businesses critically contributing to the state’s economy. This summer will mark our 18th year in operation, taking Alaskans and visitors on guided trips around the state from the Brooks Range to Bristol Bay. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than sharing the diverse opportunities of Alaska with residents and visitors alike. We truly live in a unique and special state, teeming with mountain ranges, long free flowing rivers, and healthy, strong and vibrant salmon runs.
As I travel the state with our guests, we often speak of these renewable resources and opportunities, and it is not uncommon for guests to raise questions about the threats large resource development efforts pose to those renewable resources. The Pebble Mine is an excellent example, perhaps the poster child, of this threat to those very opportunities that draw visitors and residents to explore our great state.
Having worked in the outdoor travel industry, I have kept my eye close to the opportunities to protect our heritage and future, especially salmon. As I have watched and engaged the long winding battle to protect Bristol Bay over the past decade, I have long believed that Alaska’s salmon resources need clear, protective measures at the state level.
With that in mind, I was delighted to read that Rep.Louise Stutes, of Kodiak, introduced the Stand for Salmon Bill (HB 199) that addresses concerns of business owners like me. Over the course of the past year, Alaskans representing all walks of salmon reliance, from subsistence to commercial to sport fishing, have worked throughout Alaska, through the Board of Fisheries, to identify critical updates to Alaska’s fish habitat permitting laws — notably Alaska’s Title 16.
This is a law that has not been updated since statehood, and as we look at the impacts of future development, we need to take steps now to modernize the law and create a permitting system that safeguards salmon. In doing so, the Stand for Salmon Bill does several key things:
First, it creates enforceable standards for the Alaska Department of Fish &Game to determine impacts an activity might have on a salmon river based on qualities we know rivers must have to support healthy salmon runs. Right now, the criteria are too vague. This update specifies important habitat characteristics, like water quality, instream flow levels, fish passage, and riparian areas that need to be maintained to protect and support the sustainability of Alaska’s fisheries.
Second, it gives Alaskans a much needed voice in the permitting process, where Title 16 does not currently mandate public input and involvement. While other aspects of the permitting process for large development do involve public scoping, it is critical that the agency managing our fisheries should have outlets to listen to Alaskan voices directly.
Third, the bill updates the state’s Anadromous Waters Catalogue to include any waterways that produce salmon. When a developer wants to build on a waterbody that is listed in the Catalogue, there are special rules to ensure our salmon are safe. However, currently, less that 50 percent of the state’s salmon bearing waters are identified and catalogued. It is often up to us as residents, concerned citizens, nonprofits, or even the agency themself to spend resources to prove waters have fish in them, lest a development project impact those waters. Instead, the Stand for Salmon Bill would ensure that we’re not leaving important salmon waters unprotected by assuming the waters have anadromous fish species, (particularly salmon) as most of our rivers do, and placing the onus on the development company to prove otherwise.
Finally, the bill creates common sense standards for mitigation, or reducing the impacts, that a developer must meet to protect wild salmon before the project can move forward. Developers shouldn’t be able to reroute salmon streams for time periods well beyond the life cycle of salmon, or promise to rehabilitate with hatcheries. Restoration and mitigation practices must ensure that our natural salmon habitat and runs are maintained.
In the end, what I love about the Stand for Salmon bill is that it seeks to protect Alaskan opportunities to do Alaskan things — namely rely on salmon in the many ways we do. The notion of doing Alaskan things while celebrating the majesty and bounty of this incredible place is precisely what draws 2 million-plus people to Alaska each year. Simple changes to existing law will assure that the cultural, ecological, recreational and subsistence opportunities we so enjoy continue to be nourished by salmon.
• Dan Oberlatz owns and operates Alaska Alpine Adventures, an adventure tourism business with a 20 year history of operating in the Bristol Bay region. He lives in Anchorage with his family.
