Opinion: Dunleavy should speak up about his motives for eliminating the Wood-Tik-Chik Park Conservancy Council

“There’s one area in particular where we have to avoid injury, and that’s Wood River Lake Country. Indeed, the area around Wood River Lake is the Switzerland of Alaska…If the government were to create a park preserve in Alaska… , Wood River and its lakes certainly deserve such a special setting.”

— Dr. Joseph H. Romig, Report to the Governor of Alaska, 1905

Dr. Joseph Romig, Alaska’s pioneering “dog team doctor,” went to Bristol Bay in 1904 and established a hospital and territorial school on the banks of the Nushagak River. One of his earliest references to the beauty of the place now known as Wood Tiktik is found in his annual report on his activities to the Governor in 1905. Romig recommended turning the area into a park. This recommendation stalled for 73 years until Alaska became a state and Republican Governor Jay Hammond signed a bill in 1978 creating the 1.6 million-acre Wood Tikchik State Park.

For Alaskans unfamiliar with the Wood-Tik-Chik region, it is best referred to as the Finger Lakes region. Thousands of years of advancing and retreating glaciers have carved out a series of 13 long lakes that, seen from space, look like a giant celestial bear tearing its claws across the landscape from east to west. The eastern end of the lake is generally low and covered with shallow gravel spread by glacial runoff, while to the west it becomes a deep lake dominated by mountains, forming valley-like freshwater fjords that rise above the water’s surface. This mosaic of landscapes makes this group of lakes, which flow into Bristol Bay, home to some of the most productive wild salmon on the planet.

Not much has changed in the Wood-Tiktic region since Dr. Romig’s time. In fact, little has changed since 1829, when Russian explorers kayaked through the region and first described the lakes, animals, and people that inhabited this “Switzerland of Alaska.” Indeed, the region’s pristine nature today is due in part to its remote location, but also to the vigilant efforts of local residents. Unlike perhaps other parks of its size in the country, Woodtikchik State Park is not solely managed by a government agency. Rather, the authority to create regulations to oversee the park was given by the Woodtikchik Provincial Park Management Council’s council.

Back in the 1970s, when the idea of ​​a park was being discussed, there was a local support base, but at the same time there was great concern that if only the state managed parks, those lands could be lost in the future. There was also. Traditional subsistence and recreational hunting and fishing. Congress struck a compromise by creating a management committee rather than just an advisory committee. That compromise envisioned a system of shared stewardship and trust between the state and the communities closest to and most dependent on the natural resources protected by the newly created parks. The creation of a management council with the necessary local voting membership was an agreement that alleviated local uncertainty and paved the way for the creation of what is now the jewel of Alaska’s state park system.

So what is so unaligned with the Wood Tikchik Management Council that the Governor feels compelled to abolish it after 46 years through Executive Order 126? Is not it? I do not understand. He offers only the unsubstantiated “finding” that it would be more efficient for parks to be managed solely by the Department of Natural Resources. There is no explanation. There are no facts.

Without that, the order appears to be nothing more than an executive ploy to eliminate a highly successful measure created by Congress. This suggests that the governor may want to abolish the Management Council not because it is inefficient, but because it has been highly effective in achieving the goals for which the park was created. It suggests.

The primary purpose of the park’s creation was, in the words of the statute, “to protect the breeding and support systems of local fish and wildlife.” One measure of the management council’s effectiveness may be the historic migration of sockeye salmon that have returned to park waters over the past decade. This might not have happened without the management plan the council adopted for the park in 2002. Within the park’s boundaries, millions of dollars are funneled to Bristol Bay fishermen, processors, and the nation’s coffers.

Maintaining the “continuing use of areas for subsistence and recreational activities” is also a mandate in enabling legislation. Once again, all signs suggest that the Governing Council is doing its job well. The park continues to provide wildlife and fish to support the survival needs of Alaskans, as well as becoming an international destination for catch-and-release fly fishing and remote wilderness tours. is recognized.

By all objective measures, the Governing Council appears to be doing exactly the job assigned to it by the Legislature, and has continued to do so effectively for 46 years. We shouldn’t waste our limited time and energy on something that isn’t broken, especially when more pressing public issues demand solutions.

If the problem truly is about inefficiency, the Governor in good faith should work with the Woodtickchik State Park Management Council to eliminate the inefficiency through the front door, rather than sneaking in from the back or address the concerns. Legislation should be proposed to address this. There’s a surprise executive order to kill it at the door. The future of the Wood-Tikchik State Park Management Council is a matter that should be publicly debated and fully scrutinized by both houses of Congress, just as its creation was 46 years ago.

Tim Troll and his wife, Leanne, raised their sons camping and fishing at Woodtikchik State Park.

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