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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-12 KRSMA Board PacketA! R~9/ER Special Management Area "Working together...lar the river" Q ~' b~SSOO G3~~ ~ uQCn ~ -~~~ 0 *** Meeting Agenda*** ~~~~ 0 P ~~~~'"~° Thursday, May 12, 2005 ft ~~ °~ / 5:30 p.m. ~" ~--~r~ ~' ~...,~ Kenai River Center ~~ ~, ~, I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call B. Approval of 4/14/05 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval IL PUBLIC COMMIINT III. NEW BUSINESS A. Kenai River Operations- Jack IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Watershed Initiative- Brenda Trefon, Kenaitze Indian Tribe B. Kenai River Working Group Letter from Commissioner- Jack Sinclair C. Corr Property update- Jack Sinclair D. Kenai River Center iJpdate, Suzanne Filler E. Goal Review: I. Additional lands in the upper Kenai River -lands around Trail Lake 2. Corr Property acquisition 3. Guide Standards program/ Academy adoption 4. Updated Carrying Capacity 5. Boat Wake Study continuation -update on study 6. More public restrooms on the Kenai River ~. User fee Por everyone using the Kenai River V. PUBLIC COMMENT VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments B. DatelAgenda of Next Meeting -t Kenai Area Office, Box 12x7, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2625581 ~ '~ ~~ Kenai Wninsula Borough, Box 550, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2624~w1 0 Alaska Divismn o! ParK^, and OWtloor Reasatioo, Departrt±ent of Natural 0.esourcas, in cooperation with me Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Thursday, April 14, ?005 5:30 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call Members Present: Joe Connors, Paul A. Shadura, Ken Lancaster, Richard Hahn, Jeff King, Rick Wood, Keith Kornelius, Robin West, Tom Vania, Jack Sinclair, Tim Stevens. Members Absent: Ted Wellman, Ted Forsi, Dave Westerman, Floyd Heimbuch, Pete Sprague, Bill Shuster. B. Approval of 3/10/05 minutes Approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval The agenda was approved with the following changes: DOT Update/Soldotna Bridge-Chuck Swernor under New Business was moved to A; Soldotna Chamber of Commerce one Day Fishing Derby with Paul Gray was canceled. IL PUBLIC COMMENT I. NEW BUSINESS A. DOT Update-Soldotna Bridge-Chuck Swernor Chuck Swernor with DOT is the project engineer on the construction of the temporary and new bridge in Soldotna. Basically DOT is building 2 bridges and Gearing 2 bridges down. Their major focus is the May ls` deadline for driving pile in the river to get the temporary badge built. They are right on schedule. Wilder, the contractor was working 7 days a week 24 hours a day, but is currently working 12 hour days. For updates on the bridge and the construction in progress there is a web site kenairiverbridge.corn. A web cam will be set up in two weeks. The camera will be on a 30-foot pole by the Soldotna visitor center. You will be able to control the camera for approximately 30 seconds to view the construction of the bridge. The temporary bridge is slated to be ready for vehicle traffic on May 26. river and conducted some new surveys of various types in the middle river. This will give a snapshot in time of what is occurring on the river for future planning. The survey was conducted on the upper and middle Kenai River, which are 2 different surveys because these are 2 very different areas. The upper Kenai River isnon-motorized use only and limited points of entry with one direction of travel. The middle Kenai River is motorized with a number of entry points and many directions of travel. The aim for the middle river survey was to get a snapshot to characterize the use. The Upper River survey consisted of two methods. Interviews, the methods mirrored a survey that was conducted in 199 and 1999 to build on some trends over the past 10 years. The interviews were conducted at Jim's landing on June I7 through September 30, 2004. They randomly picked one weekday and 1 weekend day for a total of 31 days. The Cime was from noon to 7 p.m. One person from each boat that were launching, landing or drifting was surveyed. The parameters were modeled from early surveys which consisted of time and place of launch, guided cr unguided, angling or scenic, residence, fish species targeted, Kenai Canyon use and Guide number. The results concluded 6,500 visitors, 1,700 boats. 66% were anglers; 34% were scenic; 51% guided and 49~Io unguided. The second part of the study was video counts. The aim was to get the toCai estimate of boaC use on the upper river. Two cameras were setup at the Russian River ferry sight; each one was pointed across the river and set on motion detection, Co record boats as they came down Che river. They were recorded on a digiiai video recorder with a rernovabie hard drive, so the data may be reviewed at a later time. The cameras were setup June 8 through September 30 and operated continuously. The camera revealed 6,963 boats and 21,941 visitors. For each boat they recorded was the type of boat, time, number in party, angling or scenic, guided or non guided, guide number if applicable and the quality of the video. The results concluded 25,000 visitors, 7,000 boats. 62%o were anglers and 32%n were scenic, 45% guided, 40°Io unguided and 15% unknown. Driftboats were most widely used with rafts, than catarafts, kayaks and canoes. The Middle River Survey took two snapshot of the fishery, the peak sockeye fishery which happened the last 2 weeks in July (18-31) and the other of the trout fishery which occurred the first two weeks in October (3 17). For each of these fisheries they selected 4 weekdays and 2 weekend days, and during this time they conducted surveys every 2 hours. In Juty the survey occurred between 6 am until lOpm and for the trout season loam until 6pm. The area surveyed was the Kenai River below Skilak Lake, approximately 10 river miles. They traveled by boat every 2 hours, Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Aprit 14, 2005 Minutes Page 3 of 8 counting boat or shore anglers. On each count they counted shoreline anglers, boat anglers, boat Cype, guided ornon-guided, # of active rods, tents and boat trailers. For July results 117 shore anglers, 69 boat anglers and 30 tents with 75%o being unguided. For Octobers results 11 shore anglers, 51 boat anglers and 2 tents with 78% unguided. The surveys will be repeated,every 3 to 5 years. A finalreported is expected in fall of 2005. Paul asked how much the study cost. Doug Palmer estimated approximately $25,000 forthe study. Robin West passed around Che Kenai National Wildlife Refuge planning update newsletter and a 1997 copy of the upper Kenai River Cooperative plan. The planning process requirements state that every Refuge needs to do a .camprehensive conservation plan and revise it every 15 years by law. The Kenai's last plan was done in 1985. They have been working on the new plan for about a year, and it is a lengthy process. While working on the plan the Refuge conducted public meetings in Soldotna, Homer, Seward, Copper Landing and Anchorage and sent out 3000 solicitations for comments and interest. The range of alternatives was based on what the public told the Refuge, not necessarily what the Refuge management felt was top priority. The number one comment that came out of the public meetings and mail in comments was Kenai River crowding. Some of the comments were very focused on Che Refuge area and some were just the area in general. The Refuge is now in the process of developing a range of alternatives to look at ail the issues that were raisedby the public and then go out in the next 8 months with a draft comprehensive conservation plan. The alternatives of the plan are subject to change in the ,..,xt fe`TJ vJeeks and mOnth° as the nrnrac~ rnnti!1UBS, Tln}~in hriefly t,..,.__.,., reviewed the five major issues and the specific areas of interest and 3 alternative recommended plans. These issues and specific areas of interest are: 1. How will the refuge address large-scale habitaC changes and the use of fire? Areas of interest are Fire and Land Management. 2. How will the Refuge manage facilities for public use while ensuring natural resources protection? Areas of interest are Beaver Creek, Swanson River, Mystery Creek Road, Ski Hi11 Rd, Slcilak Loop Rd., Sterling Highway and Trail Maintenance and Planning. 3. E~Iow will Che Refuge enhance wildlife-oriented recreation opportunities? Areas of interest are Personal Collection of Natural Resource and Wildlife Viewing Opportunities. 4. How will the Refuge manage increasing public use to ensure resource and visitor experience protection? Areas of interestinclude General Public Use of boating and fishing on the Kenai River, Sport Fishing Guides, Scenic Float-Trip Guides and Dispersed Camping. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Apri114, 2005 Minukes Page 4 of 8 5. How will the refuge balance motorized and non-motorized use with the resource and visitor experience protection? Areas of interest are Aircraft Access, Snowmachine Access, Game Cart Use and Canoe Carrier Use. Issue 4"is"the most controversial on how the refuge will manage increasing public use to ensure resources and visitor experience protection. These issues are very tough because it issomething that KRSMA has been dealing with for a long time. Anything that anyone suggested as a potential solution has been place in the plan. Robin now referred to the Upper Kenai River Cooperative Plan of May 1997. Everyone that was involved and signed the plan other than Robin is no longer in their positions. Robin said he inherited theplan and really had nothing to do with its development, which had limited text change process and had few changes. This plan was being developed at Che same time as the Comprehensive Conservation Plan. Suzanne said Deidra St. Lewis of the forestry service headed the process of the Upper Kenai River Cooperative plan. Public meetings were held and there was hope that the state process would mirror Che federal and work on limits of successful change for the lower river. We now have two different scopes Yhat we tried to link together at that time. Robin said a lot of work went into Che process, but what typically happens with limit of acceptable change process is it generates a lot of public interest. Robin stated that the managers of State Parks, Forest Service, Pish and Game and the Refuge need to sit down and take apart 'the plan and see if everyone is satisfied with the revisions. Once the draft is completed there will be public meetings for comments. Comments electronically are still being accepted for the next week or two at htto://alaska.fws.z7ov/nwr/plannine/KenaiPMA.efm. Once thu plan is completed it will be inecrporated into the EIS. The plan will take up to a year Co complete before the final is in place. Joe Connors asked if the survey on the middle river checked to see if the guide boats that were documented on the river were compared to the database of guides that are permitted. Robin said this process was not done on the Middle River but was completed on the upper river. Dick said it is definitely a daunting task just to adopt which alternatives. He also stated that if the alternatives cannot be enforced, by increasing enforcement on the river, then the process is for nothing. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board April 14, 2005 Minutes Page 5 of 8 Paul asked about the recommendations for bank restoration in the plan. Robin said most of the things they deal with every day do not wait until the planning process is completed Co address. They have issued closure, such as Moose Range Meadows and put out and environmental assessment and there is a Skilak Plan and Russian plan and other closures along the river that have been done. C. Boat Wake study update-Robert Ruffner The Kenaitze tribe is the entity working in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers. The EPA grant has been approved and Chey have a signed document for the boat wake study„ water quality monitoring and motor voucher program. The first priority this grant allows Chem to do is to get the Corps lined upso they could do the study this summer. They immediately sent a government to government agreement between the tribe and Corps so they could get this all set. The Corps is set to come up in May to start the study. The first part of the study is to look at low water condition and the second part will be to conduct some in river work in July and AugusC. Dr. Maynard conducted the first study and will be conducting the second study. The first study was conducted 4 years ago. D. Kenai River Operations Jack said the Bing's Landing development project was awarded to D&L Construction. This will enlarge the parking area. Kenai River Sportfishing Associations' board of directors did vote to confirm the $t 8,900 grant for Kenai River enforcement in July 2QQ5. Law enforcement will increase dm~ing peak times. Ken said he spoke with Jack about writing a letter to the commissioner about getting a new facilitator for the Kenai River working group. The Parks division does have a temporary Acting Director Richard LeFebvre who will also be Acting Chair for Che Kenai River Working Group. A recommendation for a letter to the commissioner Co continue support of the working group was proposed by Joe Connors and seconded by Dick Hahn. II. OLD SUSI~'ESS A. Kenai River Center IIpdate, Suzanne Fisler Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board April 14, 2005 Minutes Page 6 of 8 .Bridge activity and pictures are being taken by the different agencies of the KRC. Each agency will take two weeks worth of pictures looking at the banks, the ice, the construction and what is going on so we can have some kind of iecord'ofhowthe bridge was built. This is to heipkeep track of whafwoiked and what did not work so when `we are facing another bridge we have something to refer back to, The center has been doing a lot of sight visits and writing about 15 to 20 permits a week for restoration, vegetation, walkways and floating docks. Suzanne said they are working with the landowners Co upgrade or replace old structures that were put in prior to the centers permitting criteria. The guide permits and commercial use permits from Prince William Sound and Kachemak Bay are rolling in. Thecenter'is issuing ADF&G logbooks and handing out the sportfish stickers. The Cooper Landing Catholic Church received some land from the state to put the church on. In their second application to add a little additional land to the cemetery area back in 1984 the state took a 200 foot area out of both sides of Shackleford creek. The church was not aware that had happened and Yhey thought that this was their property. They built a real nice station of the cross and an area where ashes are buried and they want to put in a grave yard for casket. The center is working with the church to obtain the 90 feet of land they need for their cemetery. B. Kenai River Working Group Joe Conners said the meeting on Monday, April I1 completed phase one which mcluded th8 Short term reCjWremento that may be implemented by 2406. The implementation of the short-term requirements may involve amended or changing existing stipulations that the Department has the authority to do. Attorney General John Baker came back Co the group with a draft of everything that the group had forwarded Co him as recommendation the month before. The draft looks very good with a few changes. The next phase will begin in the fall. In phase two the eroup hopes to move to what may take 2, 5 or even 10 years limiting guides which will require a legislative/constitutional changes. Before this action can take place the group needs to make sure Chere is justification for this action. Joe was very pleased with the product of the group thus far. Jack has the task this fall or late summer in bringing in some of the other people that have done similar studies nation wide in limiting the number of guides and crowd control. Jack is not only looking at the number to restrict, but the method to use Co restrict the number or create different uses of the river. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Apri114, ?005 Minutes Page 7 of S C. Corr Property update Jack Sinclair met with Pete Sprague to get a consensus among the legislative committee that they would pass on Che letter the KRSMA board had written about purchasing Che Corr property. There are certain Assembly board members that are concerned aboutthe Corr property and what the State intends to use Che property for. Grace Merkes is concerned that it will not be open to the public. Jack. The land would be open to the public but would be used with protection of resources as the main responsibility of Parks. There was not a lot of positive respopse from the Assembly, and a resolution would be rewritten and presented at the next. meeting in two weeks. doe askedif there was enough money to purchase the land. Jack said Chris Degernes stated Chat the Governors' Office is ready to go ahead with the rest of the money as long as there is local support. V. PUBLIC COMMENT Robert Ruffner talked about the water sampling that was taking place on May 25-26. Robert thanked DEC, City of Soldotna and Kenai, DNR, Fish and Game, Refuge, Forest Service and Cook Inlet Agriculture for investing in the water quality-sampling program. VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Baard Ca....... nts Jeff King apologized for not having a user fee committee meeting but will schedule a meeting before the next KRSMA board meeting. Toe Connors stated that the group needs to do whatever it takes to obtain the Corr Property. Tom Vania encourages anyone from the group that is interested in building the new hatchery facilities to support the sport fishing license increase. ContacC your legislature. This is House bill 147. Robin stated that the Unocal Recreation club site might be available for sale. This is a great piece of land along the river. B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting May 12, 2005 at 5:30 Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Aprit 14, 2005 Minutes Page 8 of 8