A little of this, and a little of that

This week’s column will tell you a little about a variety of topics, so look through the entire column if what you initially see doesn’t affect you.

First, if you tried accessing the Rabbit Slough road in the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge this past week, you found the area closed. The road will remain closed when the contractor is actively working, except on Saturdays and Sundays during the weekend-only sport fishery, through the end of July.

Quoting from the Fish and Game news release, “The road is used by thousands of visitors annually and has fallen into significant disrepair. To improve access to this important site, refuge managers will raise and resurface the road. Work is expected to be complete by the end of July and the road should be in good condition for the opening of waterfowl hunting, which starts on Sept. 1.” If you would like more information about the project, you can call the refuge manager at 746-6300.

Second, the Nelchina caribou hunt is back in the “what’s happening now?” stage again. Here’s a thumbnail sketch of the situation. For years, the demand to hunt Nelchina caribou has outstripped the herd’s capacity to supply the animals. As a result, the hunt has been a Tier II drawing hunt, with preference given to those with a long history of using the animals taken from that area.

The Board of Game (BOG) has tried several different approaches using different questionnaires and hunting requirements attempting to accommodate not only the sport hunters interested in hunting Nelchina caribou, but also subsistence users from the Glennallen area. Nothing has really worked very well. In 2009, the BOG devised a plan that would allow a specified number of caribou to be harvested in a community harvest program by subsistence users. The remaining number of permits would then be available through a Tier I drawing, with specific provisions attached to the drawing of that permit. This change essentially opened up the chance of drawing a Nelchina caribou permit to anyone who applied. Under the old system, anyone with less than about 40 years of history of use of the resource didn’t have a prayer of getting a permit.

As expected, this change was challenged in court. On July 12, a court decision was issued that declared the recent BOG actions null and void. Of course, this year’s permits were in the mail as this all was happening. As I write this, there has not yet been a decision whether the state would appeal the judge’s ruling. The last I heard, Fish and Game was scrambling to try and figure out how to deal with this mess. Folks who were issued permits for this season are being asked to hold onto the permits pending a decision about how things will be handled. Hopefully, some sort of decision about how this fall’s hunt will happen will be forthcoming in the not-too-distant future.

Third, I recently received a couple of e-mails from a good friend who is a fellow hunter education instructor, but perhaps more importantly is also deeply involved with training and running search and rescue dogs here in the Valley. She commented on the article that appeared in this paper earlier this summer about SAR training around the water.

“We would be out of a job if everyone wore their PFDs (while boating),” she said. Some of the training took place on the Little Susitna River and she noticed most people were NOT wearing their PFDs.

About a month later, the paper reported on a drowning that happened occurred on the same lake where the SAR training had taken place. My friend commented on the irony of this situation because, had the man been wearing a PFD, he most likely would have survived the situation. Her point is well taken.

This is the boating season. If you are doing anything on the water, wear your PFD and make sure your kids and your friends do likewise. Unexpected things happen even to the best prepared, so take the proper precautions and wear that PFD. The life you save may be your own!

And finally, my wife and I were invited to attend this year’s Kenai Classic on July 8-10 sponsored by the Kenai River Sportsfishing Association (KRSA). We were able to attend the Thursday evening dinner hosted by Bob Penney. This dinner was a who’s who of Alaska politics with the entire Alaska congressional delegation, three mayors and 16 Alaska state representatives and senators present, along with other dignitaries. The Friday fund-raising banquet saw the governor and lieutenant governor join the aforementioned group of politicians, along with easily a couple hundred other folks.

The fishing classic was held Friday and Saturday. My wife and I only fished on Friday. I was in a boat with Rep. Mark Neuman and his wife, Adele. My wife was in another boat with Sen. Charlie Huggins’ wife and Rep. Craig Johnson’s wife. While none of us caught a fish, or even got a bite, we all had a great time out on the river on a sunny, beautiful day.

I want to thank the folks from KRSA for having us down and to Ricky Gease, executive director, for his hospitality to my wife and myself. It was a great experience!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by e-mailing sports@frontiersman.com.