State set to snag input

PALMER — It’s no secret fishermen and hunters always have a lot to say. Next week, they’ll have someone to say it to.

State Reps. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, and Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak/Mat-Su, will hold a special hearing of the House Finance Committee’s Fish and Game Budget Committee in Palmer at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 27 in the Mat-Su Borough Building to allow local residents to speak out on a wide range of fish and game issues.

At Stoltze’s request, Thomas agreed to hold the special meeting as a way to give Mat-Su Valley residents a chance to have their say on issues affecting the area.

“Rep. Stoltze has talked to me many times before regarding the concerns of their salmon runs, and I felt it was important to hear these concerns directly from the residents,” Thomas says in a press release announcing the meeting.

Among the biggest issues on the agenda is salmon management, which in recent years has become a hot topic of discussion in the Valley as salmon returns to Mat-Su streams have diminished. This past summer, several closures and restrictions were enacted for both sockeye and coho salmon in Mat-Su streams as biologists struggled to meet escapement goals.

Stoltze said he wanted another member of the committee to hear the concerns about fisheries management Valley residents have been brining to him for several years.

“Any time I can bring in somebody else that is a well-placed decision maker, that’s a good thing,” Stoltze said.

Salmon fisheries are a hot topic now because of poor returns as well as the fact that the statewide Board of Fish and Game is scheduled to meet regarding Upper Cook Inlet issues early next year. Stoltze said he believes Valley residents have been overlooked in management decisions in favor of more powerful commercial and sport interests further south in Cook Inlet.

“We’re sort of like the people at the end of the Colorado River,” he said, noting that by the time salmon make it past commercial nets in Cook Inlet, there are fewer left for Mat-Su residents to catch.

Holding a meeting in the Valley is a way to give local residents a voice in fisheries issues that for too long have been dominated by groups from the Kenai Peninsula, Stoltze said.

“It’s not going to be solved at this meeting, but it’s a step toward some equity,” he said.

The two-hour meeting is open to the public, and anyone is welcome to voice an opinion on any issues related to the management of fish and game. Stoltze said he’d like to keep the meeting moving quickly in order to get a wide range of information and opinions.

“We’ll try to keep it as crisp as we can,” Stoltze said.

For more information, contact Stoltze’s office at 376-4958.

Mat Valley Committee

elections held

On Wednesday, the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee held its annual election meeting, with nine members chosen to join the 17-member committee.

Chosen to serve were Brian Campbell, Stephen Darilek, Gerrit Dykstra, Max Sager, Ken Federico and Lonnie Stevens of Wasilla; as well as John Otchek, Troy Vincent and Bill Folsom of Palmer. Darilek and Folsom were re-elected to their seats, while the others are new members. Six of the seats were scheduled to be up for election, while two were vacated at the meeting by Bruce Knowles and Steve Runyan, who resigned to serve on the newly created Susitna Valley Advisory Council.

The other members of the Mat Valley committee include Palmer’s Kenny Barber, Andy Couch, Patrick O’Connor and Mark Vingoe; as well as Wasilla residents Tony Russ (vice chair), Denny Hamann (chair), Bennett Durgeloh and Mark Chryson (secretary).

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 2 at the MTA building in Palmer to discuss proposals for the upcoming Upper Cook Inlet meeting of the Alaska Board of Fisheries.