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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-09-21 KRSMA Board MinutesK@loiAl Fil~/ER Special Management Area "Working together...for the river" *~* Meeting Agenda*** Thursday, September 21, 2000 fi ~ _,~ J QD V 4~©~ ll ° ©[i-J~D 7:00 p.m. City of Soldotna Assembly Chambers I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Cali B. Approval of 5111/00 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. PUBLIC COMMENT III. NEW BUSINESS A. City of Soldotna Restoration Project Summary -Dick Bower, City of Soldotna B. Kenai River 2000 Field Season Report -Suzanne Fisler, Bill Berkhahn C. 2000-2001 Priorities D. Board Vacancies IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Boat Wake Study Update B. Commercial Operator Committee ReporC V. PUBLIC COMMENT VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting ~ ~ Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2625581 Kenai Peninsula Borough, Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-4441 Q Alaska Division of Parks and Outtloor Recreation, Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Kenai Peninsula Borough. ~ KENAI RIi'ER SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA ADVISORY BOARD Thursday, May 11, 2000 7:00 p.rn. City of Soldotna Assembly Chambers I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call Chairman Wellman called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm Members Present: Jeff King, Ted Wellman, Tim H. Richardson, Peggy Mullen, Jim Golden, Brannon Ames, Ann Whitmore-Painter, Ken Lancaster, Robin West, Bill Shuster, Lance Trasky, Richard Ross, Deric Marcorelle, Chris Degernes Members Absent: Tim Navarre B. Approval of 4/2Q/00 minutes The minutes were approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval The agenda was revised. Chris added as Item A. Federal Subsistence Ruling -Potential Impact on Kenai River and asked Robin West to comment. Bill Shuster then. added as Item D. Cooper Creek Slumping/Soil Erosion II. PUBLIC COMMENT Herman Fandel suggested putting a user fee on private boats on the river: The guides pay a $500 commercial use permit fee and he feels it would be fair for private boat users to pay also. He stated he has two private boats and he would have no trouble paying a user fee. He suggested a $200 fee for the season.. He said the public comes in for a week or two and are on river until 2 or 3 am with no restrictions. They are congesting the river just as much as guides and are less experienced because they don't use it enough. He feels that the public should "foot their end of it". III. NEW BUSINESS 1 Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board A. Subsistence Ruling- Impact on the Kenai River -Robin West The ramifications of the subsistence ruling for fishing the Kenai River are unknown yet as the Kenai Peninsula has recently been classified as rural. He said the rural decision came out almost immediately after the 1990 decision of the federal take over of game management. There was an appeal within a couple of months by the Kenaitze folks. So it has been 10 years coming for any action on that with hearings and other legal maneuvers, and this has been a controversial and complicated process. Robin provided a handout regarding this decision and also the media release announcing the Kenai Peninsula is designated asrural. He does not think it will be reversed even with new census data coming out. There has been a stronger support from the Alaska Native Communities for this designation because they see it as the future for Alaska. Their ability to subsist is taken away as areas urbanize and therefore there has been a lot of support for maintaining those kinds of rights. Nothing will happen this regulatory year. There are no new customary and traditional determinations in place and there are no granted seasons. All of the Kenai. Peninsula has been determined to be rural by this action but t hat dces net mean each community will get anything. Currently there are two proposals for the Cook Inlet Area regarding fish and comments will be accepted until June 16"'. One of them. is very broad. Robin read the following: For all fish and shellfish, to establish a customary and traditional use, a1~d no closed season or limits for Kenai Peninsula for fish and shellfish. He feels sure that will not be granted. Robin said one of the things that could happen is the Federal subsistence board could send that back andjust say revise it, or suggest something that is more focused. Once the CTD is made then there can be specific requests for seasons and bag limits. The Re iopal COUnCrl ynrill rr_iirecent the 5(1 to 6Q thnucand pepple nn the Kenai __g. r- _.._._..~-- - - Peninsulawith varied interests. Robin said he thought something folks could do would be to petition the Federal Subsistence Board due to the unique differences here on the Kenai Peninsula. Bill Shuster asked if there would be separation for Prince William Sound and the Kenai Peninsula. Robin said he was not sure, but he said if he was asking for it he would recommend the separation of the two areas. Some of the common. myths about all of this are that Federal public lands that are affected are KNWR and Chugach National Forest but the ruling does not affect Kenai Fjords National Park because the law exempted that park from subsistence use and that was passed in 1980. It is not a "native" issue. There will not be given a preference to native folks over non-native in this system. It is a community-based issue, not individually based, nor economic or racial. Jim Golden asked what happens to new residents in rural areas that do not have CTD of the resource? Robin said it is community based. You become a resident of the State by the same requirements to get a fishing license, which is I year. 2 Kenai River Special Management May I I, 2000 Area Advisory Board Chris asked how the Regional councils make customary and traditional determination (CTD). Robin said the board has a staff committee that does all that work .The highest hurdle is the rural determination. It will not be difficult to have a CTD determination in any of the Kenai Peninsula communities. Jeff asked if anyone could make proposals. Robin said it is a very open process and they will get all kinds of proposals good and bad. Jeff said that could be a weakness because a lot of time the background information is not true, or there may be politics behind it the various requests. Paul Shadura said the deadlines for these last proposals are over and it takes a good year before these things actually play out. He said two proposals were submitted this year that would affect next summer, and then another proposal time will be open in the spring of 2001. Takes a long time for these proposals to go through. Robin finalized by saying that dual management of fish and game is not in the best interest of the resources. B. Kenai River User Fees Chris said some of the questions brought up last month generated a request that she provide a briefing for the board. She gave some background on the Kenai River user fees. It was based upon Management Plan revision meetings held in 1996-47 in Anchorage and Soldotna on river recreation on how we might fund changes we wanted. Examples are increased law enforcement; improved education of river users; improved access for river users; improved restoration projects. One of the components of that plan was financial. Chris referred board members to the KRCMP on page 86 and 87, and provided a copy of that part of the plan. Revenues derived from a user fee need. to be allocated for the purposes the Kenai River was established for, which is protection of the fish and wildlife resources and habitat and providing for recreation opportunities and managing the commercial activities on the river. Secondly the money should be raised from all users of the river, not just guides, but private boat users, bank anglers or scenic floaters. Chris said that was a common theme in the public meetings. The amount of the fee should be based on the level of resource use or impacts created by the various user groups. Chris said it would be a challenge to figure out that level. Third, monies should be allocated for protection and preservation of the Kenai River's fish and wildlife resources and habitat. Chris said it was very clear the majority of folks felt everybody has to pay some part of the cost to manage the river and if a fee is paid, it should stay on the river. Chris said there are still concerns about dedicated funds. Alternatives suggested would be to work with the Kenai Peninsula Borough and the cities and other 3 Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board entities to direct monies to other locations for use on the river. Do we want to implement this recommendation of the KRCMP and identify the task that needs to be done to achieve that? Chris said she is bringing this up now so the board can think about it over the summer. She suggested lobbying folks who will be running for office this next fall and get their support. DPOR does not have the authority to impose the fee of this nature on users. Chris said another question came up last month was about fees people are already paying on the river, i.e. boat launch and day use fees. What would be the likelihood they would be paying twice for river use? And how much are they paying? Chris provided the board with a sheet outlining the fees collected on the Kenai River from 1999. Chris said the fees have been in place since the late 80s. She posed the questions about do we want to continue with this discussion and take the sups necessary to identify who would be subject to the fee, how we would implement the fee, and what process would be used to return fees to the river. Chris said there are a lot of users who do not use the state park facilities to access the river who are having an impact by their bank angling or boat wakes. Chris then fielded a Few questions and comments. Chairrrian Ted `~Jeliman asked the board to keep their user fee thoughts at hand and discuss this issue more after the summer season. C. Seward Highway MP 8-18 Project Bill Shuster reminded the board that at the last minute he brought up the subject of the DOT highway reconstruction project along the Seward Highway at Mile 8-18. This segment of the highway parallels the Snow River, which is a major tributary of the Kenai River just above Kenai Lake. The staging area for this project is in a gravel nit OII nnygfe lend and the amount Cf maTer;a) That thev have In that ora vel niY is Y., r ~ ~... r~. _.. significant; everything from gravel material to culverts to heavy equipment. This is an area that floods every time the Snow River 7okulhlaup (glacial lake outburst floods) occurs. This event breaks loose every 2 to 3 years between late July and November. The amount of water that is released is dependent on how much water is in the lake. A glacier blocks the lake and every 2 to 3 years there is a sufficient amount of water in the lake that will start a hole in the bottom of the glacier. That gets larger and. larger with water going through it and eventually it empties a large part of that lake down the north fork of the Snow River. The amount of water that will come down can also be influenced if there is a rain event at that same time. It is possible to triple or even quadruple depending on how much water is in the lake and whether there is a rain event with it. Bill explained he is concerned because the equipment stored there would become inundated. Fortunately, this is predictable. Weather Service and USGS have markers in lake that by flying over they can determine the volume in the lake and can predict what kind of flood could occur. It is a progressive type of event where they can say within a couple of days it will peak. Bill said their major concern is that he does not believe the contractors and DOT are prepared for that kind of event. This fall is slated to be the year the Jokulhlaup will break loose. Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board Bill recommends the board write a letter to DOT recommending they have an emergency plan in place. He said it would be simple to do but they need to put some thought in that. It would be most appropriate for a letter to come from this board as a body concerned about the potential threat to the river. MOTION: SHUSTER MADE THE MOTION TO SEND A LETTER TO D.O.T. PF,GGY MULLEN SECONDED. VOTE ON MOTION TO SEND LETTER TO D.O.T. MOTION PASSED: UNANLMOUS WITHOUT OBJECTION After some discussion the letter will be written emphatically with a request for reply within 30 days. The letter will be sent to D.O.T. and to the contractor. D. Cooper Creek Slope Failure Bill said during one the interagency field trips of the Sterling Highway reconstruction from Mile 38 to 45 there was discussion ofbeing able to close an area that has been used informally by boaters at Cooper Creek directly upstream of the bridge where there has been sediment coming into that creek. The thought was to close that informal boat launch with some riprap that D.O.T. said they would be willing to provide for this project. Bill said in the Kenai River Comp Plan it discusses the intent to close some of these informal boat launches. Bill said when they looked at the site they found that The sediment problem there is considerably more that what was thought. It is not necessarily due to boat launchers. There is a large hillside to the east of that area which has been failing and causing quite a bit of material to come down the hill ending up in Cooper Creek. The Forest geologist, Dave Blanchet, developed a report on what he believes to be the source for the problem. The cause of this may be a natural event or the result of hydraulic mining that took place in the early 1900s. USFS will have field trip May 17"` with a geologist to come and look at it. Regardless of the reason of the erosion there is a significant contribution of sediment into the creek, which is only 50 feet from the Kenai River. They will look to see if there are some solutions to that. Suzanne said the other thing to look at long term is there is enough silt coming out of there that it is burying the riparian vegetation. Maybe in a discussion about crocking off the launch people would still be able to get in there and carry car top kayaks and canoes. She also said a discussion of replanting some of that area along where we have lost that riverbank and try to re-establish some of that vegetation to slow that down. Chris asked if there should be board action or resolution. Bill said not at this time. This was added to the agenda as an informational issue for now. Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board IV. OLD BUSINESS A. City of Kenai Coastal Trafl Project Update -Rick Ross Rick said he has a very short update and said there have been a couple of public hearings since the presentation Co the board. Agencies have given their comments. They are going after funds to do construction design and environmental engineering of the project. Soldotna has waived all rights to access and the City of Kenai appreciated that. B. Boat Wake Study Update- Lance Trasky and Chris Degernes Lance said they sent out the latest draft of the proposal from the Corps of Engineers to everyone. They also distributed the draft Fish & Game /Corps funding agreement. There were some additional questions on the proposal that Dr. Maynard provided to F&G. He is going to do both maximum wake height and the planning wake heights in both Johnson Lake and the Kenai River. It is down to four hulls, two different motors. The questions that remain are when you start adding up all the different tests done Dr. Maynard added it up to 492. F&G added it up to 750, which mean more time and more money. That will need to be resolved. With the time and money involved Lance said we could not deal with all kinds of boat and motor combination. Lance said Chris would work on operations portion; how many people to work on it, how long, generators, and a place for them to stage equipment. As far as USGS they will not be able to conduct any back erosion studies in conjunction with the tests in the river this summer. Lance will keep the board members informed. iim (;nlyderl caird jt is hie ianrlarctynrdipg the hnatg will he provided by an outside crnirr_e motors, and equipment and support staff. He asked would that really cost $250 to $300 for each test. He said it seems like a lot of money for a few yards long. Lance said there will be about 600 tests and that it is quite costly due to federal overhead, which is quite high, and the use of federal PhDs. Chris said it includes the report that will be produced later. Lance mentioned the report would probably discussed telephonically as Dr. Maynard does not fly and the report will not be ready until fall. Chris said the boat wake study will occur at Johnson Lake between July 23rd and 28`h; then it will. move to the Kenai River August 1~` through 3`d Lance said there will be a wakeless boat in the study that somebody wants to test and hopefully there will be time for that. He invited board members to come down and see the operation in progress. Paul Shadura asked if this would be video taped. Gary Leipitz said the original study was video taped and agreed that is a good idea. Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board V. PUBLIC COMMENT Herman Fandel said he talked to Bruce Koffler about three weeks ago and he has a lot of interest in this study. He built an 18-foot boat and has run a number of trial runs with it. He is building a 20-foot boat and will complete his trial runs before the Kenai River Classic. Some of the recommendations told to Herman by Bruce was that we look at flat bottom boats; to keep it at 18 foot and less than 35 horsepower; Co increase on 20 foot boats a maximum of 50 horsepower or whatever it needs to get the boats on step. He recommended a maximum of 20-foot boats be allowed on the river and no jet boats allowed on the river. Herman said he would like to get Bruce Koffler up here to speak to the board. Bruce has a lot of interest in the Kenai River. VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments Paul said that regardless of his personal views on subsistence he feels real concern with this board of not losing anything that we have gained in the last few years in the protection of the Kenai River. This is his number one reason of being here is to protect the river and to continue to have areas for the fish to return to spawn properly. He said the board needs to stay relevant in all the issues. Lance informed. the board a special FERC hlvestigator will be here Wednesday to go up the Cooper Lalce power house to investigate why Chugach Electric chose to ignore their order regarding a plan for the clean up of PCBs in the plant and that they have removed their equipment to Bernice Lake. Lance will go up with them to see what is going on. Robin invited all to go out and at look at the fishing platforms and trails and walkways at Moose Range Meadows. They are 80% done. Several years back KNWR closed those public easements due to extensive bank damage and. social concerns as well as biological concerns. With the flood of 95 there was a loss of some of the easement. Besides the closure another alternative was to provide fishing access with acquiring two parcels. Will have them ready to go next year. The refuge hired a ranger (Bruce Bigelow, formerly a ranger with State Parks) and he will have a residence there. Ken said last weeks' Borough meeting in Seward a tributary was added to the habitat protection ordinance. Also Ken finally received a response to his letter about River Terrace via fax and he w711 send copies to all. He is not pleased with the response. First Commissioner Brown stated that they do know the source. He reminded the board that at the last meeting they said they did not know the source. Secondly Commissioner Brown said the bridge project is not delayed because of the site clean up and that was also a contradiction as they said the work on the bridge would be put off due to the clean up. Jim Richardson said the board took action on a resolution about endorsing Kenai MountainslTurnagain Arm National Heritage Corridor project and he mentioned in this 7 Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board weeks paper it was written it has progressed to Where Senators Stevens and Murkowski introduced a bill into the Senate and he will be going back to testify on that next week. Jeff said the fish are in! He wants to take the opportunity to thank Gary Leipitz for all his hard work and for being a friend of the Kenai River. Bill Shuster told the board Gary Leipitz left a legacy here on the Kenai Peninsula. A lake was named after him; Leipitz Lake at Quartz Creek Trail site. Ann said there was lots of testimony at the Boro Assembly. Most were from Moose Pass and they were very adamant in their support ofthe KRSMA lands. The assembly chose to go into executive session Monday of this week regarding it and they will bring it up at their next meetings. B. Date/Agenda of Next 194eeting The next board meeting will be September 21s` to be held at the City of Soldotna's Council Chambers. Dedication of the Kenai River Center will be September 14`" . Kenai River Special Management May 11, 2000 Area Advisory Board