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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-11-16 KRSMA Board Packet~~peciallNa, gem~entArea "Working togethec..Por the fiver" LQDM~~OG°~~7 ~ OGQG°3D ***Tentative Meeting Agenda*** Thursday, November 16; 2000 7:00 p.m. City of Soldotna -Council Chambers I. II. III. IV. V. ~. CALL T'O ORDER A. Roll Call B. Approval of l0/19/00 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval PUBLIC COMMENT NEW BUSINESS A. Welcome new Board Members B. Summary of EPA Research Grant Awards for the Kenai River, Suzanne Fisler C. Ground Water Monitoring Study, Mike Lilly and Bavid Nyman OLD BUSINESS A. Recreation Impact Study Committee Report, Chris Degernes B. Commercial Operator Committee Report, Jeff King PUBLIC COMMENT ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting PLEASE NOTE: Tentative Agenda Only; Please contact Ted Wellman or Chris Degernes with additions or changes by 4 pm on Nov. 15. Afternoon committee meeting schedule: 3:00 - 4:00 pm: Commercial Operators Committee Meeting, Kenai River Center, Contact Jeff King for more information. 4:00 - 5:00 pm: Recreation Impact Study Committee Meeting, KRC, contact Chris Degernes for more information. 5:00 - 6:45 pm: An orientation session and dinner with the new Board members will be held at Mykel's Restaurant in Soldotna. All board members are welcome to attend and participate. ~ ~ Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-5581 Kenai Peninsula Borough, Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-4441 p Alaska Division of Parks and Outtloor Recreation, Department of Natural Resources, In cooperation with the Kenai Peninsula Borough. KENAI RIVER SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA ADVISORY BOARD Thursday, October 19, 2000 7:00 p.m. City of Soldotna's City Council Chambers I. CAI L TO ORDER A. Roll Call Members present: Jeffrey King, Ted Wellman, Jim H. Richardson, Ann Whitmore-Painter, Paul Shadura, Bill Schuster, Lance Trasky, Chris Degernes, Tim Navarre, Deric Maeorelle, Dick Bower for Ken Lancaster, Peggy Mullen Members absent: Jim Golden, Richard Ross, Robin West Members resigned: Brannon Ames, Peggy Mullen (she will stay on the Board until replaced.) B. Approval of 9/21/00 minutes The minutes were approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. PUBLIC COMMENT IIL NEW BUSINESS A. Recognition of Kenai Riverbend Resort and River & Sea Marine - Boat Wake Study Assistance The Kenai River Advisory Board recognized John Cho and Peter Thompson for their assistance and contribution in the Boat Wake Study program. John Cho was present to accept the plaque and letter thanking him for donating boats and motors for the study. B. Sportfishing License Trends -Jim A. Richardson, Doug Vincent- I.ang Jim A. Richardson introduced a concern to the board regarding a decline in the number of residents purchasing fishing licenses. He went over the declining resident angler numbers and the rising non-resident anglers. Jim then showed a graph with resident and non-resident angler numbers broken down into regions over time, which showed a decrease in anglers in southcentral and southeast Alaska. He compared these numbers to the general population in the southcentral area, which has been rising. Jim stated that ADF&G's Doug Viheent-Lang & Bob Walker recently developed a report regarding rates of participation in recreational fisheries. This report shows that the older age group of resident anglers is going up while the younger age group numbers are declining. Fish & Game will try to find out Che cause for this decline in resident sport fishing numbers through surveys and interviews. Jim said the Kenai River Advisory Board may wish to support youth and family fishing by encouraging pertain activities such as kids only fishing areas, free family fishing license for a ~ day, or some free parking for vehicles with children. He says this will extend resident fishing opportunities for the younger generation. Doug Vincent-Lang also discussed the report Fish & Game provided regarding the decline in number of resident licenses in spite of population rise. He went over the graphs provided Chat showed the decrease in percent of population buying licenses during the period 1993-1999. Fish & Game has an operational plan to conduct survey research over this seven-year period to find out why residents are not buying fishing licenses consistently. Paul asked how the study compares to national trends? Doug said nationwide License sales have stabilized and seen some growth; this is also due to the Dingle Johnson funds that are increasing and minor license sales across the nation. Peggy asked if dipnetting has become more popular than traditional sport fishing, and thus are not purchasing sport fishing licenses. Doug said that those people also need a sportfishing license and have been incorporated in this report. He also said that subsistence is a differenC issue and people do not need a sport fishing license to partioipate. Bill asked if the report was compared to the percentage of the population that is part of the baby boom, which is a large part of the population. Doug said they did look at that aspect but did not do any analysis on it and that it may explain part of the decline but not all of it. Jim H. said that on the graph in 1986 it flattened off for residents, does that correlate with the mass exodus of the population that left state? Also he asked if the free license for the over 60 people accounts for part of the decline. Doug said thatmight be part of it but that is not accounting for the decline we are seeing overall. Doug also said that Che Fish & Game Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 19, 2000 Page 2 of 6 fund is being threatened by this decline since the resident license sales are maintaining it. Ted stated that the graphs show. an overall decline across the state with it being worse in southcentral and southeast. He asked if there was any sense why this is worse in these areas verses the rest of the state. Doug. replied that they didn'C have an explanation for that trend. Paul asked how this compares to sport hunting and said maybe we need to brace for continued change and strive for quality and not quantity. Doug said this survey should help answer these questions. Ann asked if the cost of fishing licenses is part of the problem. Doug said cost is not part of the problem. Ted said there has been a tremendous increase of pressure on the resource even though resident numbers are down and non-resident numbers up and assumes the study will show why the participation rate is declining. Doug said that Fish & Game may ask the board to take an active stand to discourage illegal stocking of fish in the Kenai River drainage. There is a large cost associated with poisoning these fish in lakes and we may never be able to get rid of them. Doug also said That if anyone hears of other places where Chis stocking has taken place to let Fish & Game know. He said this is increasing and is a real threat on the peninsula to the indigenous fish in our area. Lance said that people order these fish through Fed Ex and Fed Ex does not check these shipments. Doug says that there is legislation to make penalties stiffer for illegal stocking. Other board members also suggested a reward system for reporting illegal stocking and T.V. ads for Prying to get this information to the public. C. Recreation Impact Study Dascussion -Doug Vincent-Lang, Chris Degernes Chris said this study might help to answer why resident anglers are decreasing their participation in the fishery. Doug said he would survey the opinions on the Kenai River fishery from people who have fished or have not fished the river. This will be an opinion-based survey -what are people's perception of the use patterns and the carrying capacity of the liver. Doug says that Fish & Game can probably do this survey for $30,000 of the $60,000 remaining in the CIP rant. Chris said that it would be interesting to see how people use the river now compared to the 1992 study_and whether the impacts that they experienced then are similar now and if not, how they have changed. She said that we'd also like to look at whether river users desire certain management Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board MeeYiug Minutes October 19, 2000 Page 3 off 6 changes, such as zoning the river for fishing methods, or other options designed to reduce conflicts between river users, and improve the quality of the recreational experience, eta Lance said that if Fish & Game asks the right questions this survey could really answer a lot of current questions. Doug suggested creating the survey in the summer and sending it out in the fall. Ted asked if there was a way to meld this survey with supplemental studies to compliment each other. Tim asked if anyone has thought of asking other questions on the fishing license or other ways to do a survey instead of another mail out survey. Doug said that Fish & Game does not want to make more work for the vendors who sell the licenses. Ted asked if Fish & Game would like input from the board on designs for the survey and Doug answered yes. Tim suggested that if people fill out survey on the Internet when purchasing their license that they could get a discount for answering the questions. Chris suggested recreating the committee and bring this back to the board in the next couple of months. Ted asked that volunteers get in touch with Chris. D. City of Soldotna's Kenai Riverbank Project Update, Dick Bower Dick said the City of Soldotna received a one million dollar grant from the federal government to do restoration on city property. The City is developing an environmental assessment to outline the scope of work cuiisistent with Uie grant's piiiYuscs. The City piails to get tiie EA completed this winter and start work in the spring or. the projects. The funds will be used to conduct restoration and habitat protection down stream from Centennial Park boat launch and tie Centennial to the Visitor Center fishwallc with stairway accesses, walkways and trails. Future funding could help provide for new rest rooms in the, campg<~ol;nd, handicap accessible parking area for access to the fishwalk. Dick said that $25,000 from the current funding would be donated to the Kenai River Center for bank restoration and protection. Chris asked if the city has all the easements secured to connect Centennial to the Fishwalk. Dick said they have all the easements except for crossing the Russell property, but he is hoping they'll have that one by next summer. He said Centennial Park is the focus of Chis project and money. Dick said the city couidreceive one million dollars a year for the next five years, for bank restoration work. He said he is not sure how the money will be transferred, whether through the City of Soldotna or to NRCS for use Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 19, 2000 Page 4 of 6 across the peninsula. He is hoping to find out more in Che next couple weeks. Jeff asked if the parking lot,at Centennial would stay the same or were there plans to rehabilitate the gravel fishing area adjacent to the launch parking area. Dick said the project will address the area downstream from the boat launch. IV. OLI3 BUSINESS A. ISenai IPiver Water Quality Funding -Michelle Brown, The Nature Conservancy ~ Michelle went over a handout and said the first water quality sampling date was on July 18`h. There was a peak found for hydrocarbons at Swiftwater Park and Soldotna Creek site. The peak signature suggested an organic compound. A grant awarded to the Nature Conservancy funded the cost for analyzing 20 samples, which cost $10,000. Northern Test Labs analyzed the samples and provided a 30rIo discount on the cost to the Nature Conservancy. The second sampling will be in the spring of 2001. Michelle said at this time the program has secured commitments by agencies and others for donations totalling $25,000 to fund the testing. She said MOU's will be drawn up in December to help confirm the commitments received. She was very pleased with the extensive level of support she received for continuing the water quality testing. The objective will be to conduct at Least two samplings annually to document water quality. Bill asked how does the money donated match the budget as far as what is needed Michelle said it was a little over what she needs, which would be $20,000 per year for 2 sampling efforts. She said that more money would just mean another possible sampling date. Deric said that since DEC's Water Quality Division's 319 Fund provided funds for 2 years, he thought aE least $5,000 annually could be counted on if needed. Peggy asked if any of the hydrocarbon tests were done after a storm event. Michelle said the test was not done during a storm, although it was a bit rainy on July 18`". Michelle added that some experts recommended a sampling schedule taking advantage of high water and low water. Chris said that excess funds could be set aside for lean years and used for special storm event testing. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 19, 2000 Page 5 of 6 Bill asked for a summary of this Cesting and any more info on results sent to monitors. Michelle said she would have information sent out. B. Commercial Operator Committee Report, Jeff King Jeff said the committee discussed amending the guide orientation to 3 times each year,'/z day for previous guides and a full day for all new guides. Another recommendation would be that rental boat providers would need to demonstrate that required safety equipment is provided for their boats before they are issued permits. He also suggested tighter stipulations for illegal guiding out of rental boats. Jeff said that they need a better committee process and one more volunteer from the board. He added that they will come to the board with formal recommendations next month. Tim suggested putting the committee meeting time and date on the agenda so interested board members can attend. Bill volunteered to serve on this committee. Suzanne said she is going to try to compile information on citations and warnings, and a list of complaints received on Kenai River activities, and will separate the information into guide and non-guide statistics for the next meeting. V. PUBLIC COMMENT VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Cotmnents Peggy said she would be happy to stay on the Board until she is replaced. Chris introduced Joseph McCullough as the new Lower Kenai River Ranger, replacing Rick Conover, wha recently resigned. Ted said that he hopes that the board vacancies will be filled by the next meeting. Lance said that Dr. Maynard is making good progress on the boat wake study results and is still shooting for a December draft. Tim said he hopes the assembly will tackle board issues this coming year. B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting November 16, 2000, 7 p.m. at Soldotna City Hall. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 19, 2000 Page 6 of 6