Fish and Game advisory committee sets election

WASILLA — The Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee will hold elections for four open seats early next month. Scheduled for 7 p.m. May 4 at the Wasilla High School theater, the elections will coincide with a regular committee meeting before the group adjourns for the summer.

The election will fill open seats created by the resignations of Dan Montgomery, Israel Payton, Jeff Tuttle and alternate Joe Cizek. One more alternate seat will be up for election as well. Both Montgomery’s and Payton’s terms were scheduled to expire in 2018, while Tuttle’s and Cizek’s terms expire in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

According to state boards support coordinator Sherry Wright, those interested in running for an open seat should attend the May 4 meeting.

“They must be representative of fish and game user groups in the area served by the committee and a resident that has maintained a residence in the area served by the committee,” Wright wrote in an email. “Nominations are taken from the floor, with those candidates providing a short campaign speech of their outdoors experience and why they would like to serve.”

Wright said those who would like to vote must sign in at the meeting to receive a ballot. In order to vote, a person must be present at the meeting, at least 18 years old and a resident of the area served by the committee, Wright wrote.

“Once they have given their statements, there is an opportunity for a few questions from the committee and the audience,” Wright said of the candidates, “then the ballots are cast, counted and announced. The new members will take their place at the table and officer elections will be held with the new committee members seated.”

Montgomery, a hunting guide, was the vice chair of game on the committee. Payton was nominated in February by Gov. Bill Walker to fill a position on the Board of Fisheries. He earned legislative confirmation earlier this month along with former wildlife trooper Al Cain and Kenai Watershed Forum director Robert Ruffner. The men filled the seats vacated by Tom Kluberton, Robert Mumford and Fritz Johnson.

A busy season

The advisory committee recently wrapped up an active season of debate and resolutions on both state board of game and fisheries issues.

On April 6, the Valley committee voted to send an emergency petition to both the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Board of Fisheries, asking that the first four and a half fishing periods of the Northern District commercial king salmon fishing season be closed this summer, or until fish and game emergency restrictions placed on Susitna and Little Susitna river drainages put in place in February are lifted.

The sportfishing restrictions follow similar guidelines that have been put in place for recent fishing seasons. Fish and game management biologists reported Northern Cook Inlet king salmon runs have been well below average since 2007, a trend that is expected to continue in 2016.

Fish and Game commissioner Sam Cotten denied the petition request in a formal reply to the committee.

The committee also tackled several proposals that went before the Board of Game at its March meeting in Fairbanks. One measure that drew Valley committee opposition was a rule prohibiting hunters from using airplanes to search for sheep in the state.

Labeled proposition 207, the measure was brought forward by the game board last March in what it called a response to complaints of overcrowding among guides, transporters as well as resident and nonresident sheep hunters. It was based in part on a board-sanctioned survey by the University of Alaska Fairbanks which revealed that aerial spotters disturbed ground-based hunters by a disproportionate amount.

Widely opposed by hunters who use aircraft to spot sheep as well as the 2,400-member Alaska Airman’s Association, the measure will remain on the books despite a concerted effort to repeal it at the March Fairbanks meeting. The board voted 4-3 to reject a proposal to rescind the rule.

Another regulation of interest to the Valley — proposition 90 — would have forced sheep and goat farmers to obtain a permit from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Authored by the Alaska Wild Sheep Foundation, the proposal was written to protect wild sheep from diseases that can be carried by domestic animals.

The game board didn’t vote on the proposal, but signaled that it plans to return to the issue prior to its next meeting in two years.

The measure would likely have faced legal challenges, because the game board has authority only over Alaska’s wild and feral animals — not domestic animals, according to a Department of Fish and Game staff analysis. Alaska Farm Bureau President Bryce Wrigley asked the board to reject the proposal rather than delay it.

Contact reporter Steven Merritt at 352-2269 or steven.merritt@frontiersman.com