The Conservation Fund has formed an impressive coalition of local groups,
landowners, guides and lodges and major foundations united around a simple
idea: purchase land or conservation agreements from willing local landowners
to affect landscape-scale conservation of intact habitats used by abundant
wild salmon, trout, bear, caribou, moose and migratory waterfowl. In health
terms, this is classic preventive medicine.
The Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Initiative is a widely supported Alaskan
conservation project with the biggest upside for hunters and anglers. The
stakes for sportsmen and wildlife cannot be overstated in Southwest Alaska,
a 40 million-acre region that includes the Alaska Peninsula and the
salmon-rich Bristol Bay drainages.
The alternative is to allow a steep local economic downturn to force the
sale of private coastal and riverine properties up and down the most
productive drainages of Southwest Alaska. Most of the properties at risk of
subdivision, sale and development are inholdings within renowned state
parks, national wildlife refuges and national parks. These conservation
units include the Togiak, Becharof, Alaska Peninsula and Izembek national
wildlife refuges, Wood Tikchik State Park and Lake Clark, Katmai and
Aniakchak national parks and preserves.
Ten Percent Solution
Together the state and federal lands set aside for conservation total 26
million acres. Throughout Southwest Alaska lie 4,500,000 acres of private
Native land transferred to the local people in 1971 pursuant to the Alaska
Native Claims Settlement Act or through the 1906 Native Allotment Act. Much
of this land is within or adjacent to these large public areas. For a
variety of reasons related to historic settlement and land use these Native
lands disproportionately include much of the best hunting and fishing and
highest value habitats in the region.
The project partners in the Southwest Alaska Conservation Coalition estimate
a critical ten percent of the Native holdings, or 450,000 acres, throughout
Southwest Alaska should be kept open to public access for hunting and
fishing and secure vital fish and wildlife habitat. They plan to achieve
that goal over the next decade. Although that may seem like a large number,
the footprint of the conservation purchases is small by Alaska standards;
slightly over 1% for Southwest Alaska. Better yet, the benefit of conserving
the inholdings for wildlife and public access is magnified by the
surrounding large public lands that will remain available for hunting and
fishing as they have in the past.
Salmon Economic Crisis & Land Ownership
The urgency of the project is driven by the collapse of commercial wild
salmon prices which has been ongoing since 1988 and is impoverishing the
local Native population of the region. The livelihoods of these commercial
fishermen have been hit by a market crash in wild salmon that ranges from
50% to over 90% depending on the species of fish. The ex-vessel price paid
to fishermen for sockeye has fallen 77%, pink salmon 92%, coho 78%, chum 81%
and chinook 54%. The value of commercial fishing boats, nets, limited-entry
fishing permits and other assets have plummeted accordingly. Since Native
Alaskans own over 95% of the private land in Southwest Alaska the
correlation between growing poverty and property owners is almost one to
one. Something has to give and the disposition of land assets – from local
sellers who have owned the land for generations to outside interests - is
underway amid some legendary hunting and fishing destinations.
Looming Loss of Access
Conservation Force supporters who have visited Southwest Alaska know the
grandeur of the region. Many of us have hunted brown bear, moose and caribou
or have fished for salmon, steelhead, rainbow trout and grayling on streams
and rivers unmatched for their abundance. Some of the best big game guides
and the finest lodges operate in these areas.
What few visitors know is that these undeveloped landscapes stretching as
far as the eye can see are being steadily impacted by private cabin and
lodge construction within prime wildlife areas. The pace will only increase.
A natural but negative side effect of this land ownership transformation is
rising trespass enforcement by the remaining original land owners as they
become less tolerant of the increasing visitation and as new non-local
owners restrict the public from key access points for floatplanes, boats and
rafts necessary to operate in remote wilderness areas offering the best
hunting and fishing opportunities.
“The parallels for the piecemeal settlement of a wild region over time are
well known in the Lower 48 states but still rare in Alaska,” says Glenn
Elison, state director for The Conservation Fund. “But modern travel and the
growth in the numbers of upscale sportsmen who are using Southwest Alaska is
putting the remote areas within the reach of more and more people. The
region can handle that pressure but not if everyone starts wanting their own
private retreat and they all end up along rivers and lake shores.”
Salmon are the Cornerstone
Conserving wild salmon habitat has been chosen as the Southwest Alaska
project’s cornerstone objective in rallying support for the purchase of
these critical properties. Salmon are the keystone of the region’s ecology,
economy and culture. An estimated seventy-five million salmon return
annually to spawn in Southwest Alaska rivers like the Nushagak, Kvichak,
Naknek, Alagnak and Wood River to name a few. The fish greatly enrich the
region’s land and water with nutrients that become the mainstay in the diets
of many mammals and birds.
Brown and black bears, wolves, foxes, wolverines and other furbearers are
direct predators and consumers of salmon. Bear population density and size
clearly depend upon salmon abundance. Raptors such as bald eagles, owls,
hawks, as well as countless gulls, terns and other birds join in the annual
feast on salmon carcasses.
Caribou and moose are less obviously connected to salmon, yet their
migratory corridors and home ranges overlap thousands of miles of Southwest
Alaska’s salmon rivers, streams, and nameless tributaries. As discussed
above, the Native lands in the region overlap many of the key access points
and best fishing and hunting areas but a larger threat to the resource is
the certainty that development harms productivity of salmon and other
habitat.
The destruction of once prodigious Atlantic and Pacific salmon runs from
California to British Columbia is a well-known story. Salmon spawning and
rearing habitats are highly vulnerable to human caused changes in water
quality.
By targeting the most salmon sensitive habitats that are the most frequently
used by visiting anglers, the project can conserve salmon viability and
public access through the purchase of land or easements.
Coalition Leadership and Funding is Broad-based
The team of partners tackling the inholding acquisition campaign is
operating as the Southwest Alaska Conservation Coalition. The group involves
core regional stakeholders, expanding out to businesses in Alaska,
non-profit organizations, major foundations and Congress.
Joining The Conservation Fund on the board of the coalition are Bristol Bay
Native Corporation, Alaska Professional Hunters Association, General
Communications, Inc., ConocoPhillips Alaska, the Nushagak/Mulchatna-Wood
Tikchik Land Trust and well-known guides.
Major foundations like the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (named after
the co-founder of Intel and his wife) have already contributed or pledged
$4.5 million. In the past two budget cycles the U.S. Congress has allocated
about $6 million in federal coastal wetland grants, and funding from the
National Marine Fisheries Service in the Department of Commerce, the Forest
Legacy Program at the Department of Agriculture and the Land and Water
Conservation Fund through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
These large foundation and congressional funding sources often require other
donors to match their support, especially member-based organizations, who
contribute their funds, thereby validating public support for the
coalition’s goals and objectives.
Among the donor groups have been Royal Caribbean Cruises, Bristol Bay Native
Corporation, Dallas Safari Club, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Vital Ground
Foundation, Donner Foundation, Columbia Sportswear, Orvis, The Huntsman,
Wildlife Forever, Woolrich, Inc., Rapala, Pure Fishing, Alaska Sportsmen’s
Lodge, and Boardwalk Lodge, Charles C. Brandt Construction, and hundreds of
individuals.
Given the growing scarcity for conservation funding in the federal
government, the track record for Southwest Alaska and the matching support
look to give the project a leg up in future congressional budget cycles. The
State of Alaska Parks Division has the approval of Governor Frank Murkowski
for proceeding with targeted conservation purchases that leave a private
land base for local Native and rural residents while capitalizing their
ANCSA corporations. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service are strongly supportive.
What Others Say
Third party endorsements are nice to have in any large conservation project
and the Southwest Alaska Conservation Coalition is attracting opinion leader
support.
Former Alaska Governor Jay Hammond, the famed ‘Bush Rat Governor’ who is
also a former pilot, hunting guide and commercial fisherman from Southwest
Alaska, strongly supports the project stating, “I can think of no other
region where the interplay of a species like salmon has shaped the region’s
culture, commerce and ecology.”
International big game consultant Bert Klineburger (Founding Conservation
Force Board Member) has vast experience in expanding global hunting
opportunity and sportsmens’ access. He opened up several countries,
including Soviet satellite states during the Cold War. Bert likes the local
buy-in apparent in Southwest Alaska conservation, “The Southwest Alaska
project is wisely working with the local landowners and people to achieve
their objectives. In my experience, I’ve always worked to benefit local
people by strengthening the incentives they have for conserving outstanding
habitat. No lasting successes are possible where the interests of hunters
and big game are at odds with local people.”
Dr. Richard Allen of Kerrville, Texas and a past president of both the
Dallas Safari Club and Dallas Ecological Foundation (both Conservation Force
supporting organizations) floated the remote King Salmon River in 2004 as
part of a project evaluation effort for DSC/DEF. “The ecology of the area is
one of the last truly wild areas left in the United States. To see this
habitat lost would be one of the major tragedies of our time. We must
preserve this area intact for future generations and that is one thing that
I truly, truly believe. Southwest Alaska Native leaders would rather sell to
conservation buyers to protect salmon habitat and perpetuate their
subsistence lifestyle,” says Allen. “Conservation purchases are the only way
to keep fish and wildlife at peak levels, compensate landowners, and allow
historic public access for world class hunting and fishing. The good news
is, most of the region is still intact with healthy wildlife populations.”
Allen and his wife Suzie successfully hunted the Alaska Peninsula for
caribou and enjoyed the outstanding fishing of this area in the 1990s. Their
outfitter was Alaska Professional Hunter Association president Joe Klutsch
who now serves as a board member of the Southwest Alaska Conservation
Coalition. APHA recently passed a resolution supporting the coalition’s
goals and objectives as has the influential Alaska Federation of Natives
forming an important alliance between wilderness-based user groups like big
game hunters and the landowners in the region.
Wildlife Forever President and CEO Douglas H. Grann floated the Kwethluk
River in 2002 and became an early advocate of the coalition’s project,
“Anyone who’s experienced the region knows it is unmatched for salmon and
rainbow trout fishing in North America and the world actually,” Grann says.
“The opportunity for our members to help purchase small tracts that conserve
much larger areas provides an enormous degree of leverage when looked at per
dollar spent or per acre conserved for fish and wildlife.”
Getting it Right in a Last Great Place
Readers of The Hunting Report and Conservation Force supporters have wide
personal experience of the world’s foremost hunting and fishing
destinations. All of us have favorite places burned into memory and it would
be a kind of torture to have to choose one of our favorite places over
others. Conservation Force strives to make sure we don’t have to lose any of
the last great places but we are all aware of the political, social and
economic cross currents that put many awesome wildlife regions in jeopardy,
leaving some permanently ruined.
There is only one Alaska Peninsula in the world and only one Bristol Bay.
The subcontinent of rivers that is Southwest Alaska is not equaled anywhere
for wild salmon productivity. Nowhere do wild salmon populations have a
greater likelihood to be conserved in their original bounty. The Initiative
is the best hope for bears and other wildlife in the region. Conservation
Force is accepting earmarked contributions for the Southwest Alaska Salmon
Habitat Initiative or you can direct your donation directly to The
Conservation Fund, Alaska State Office, 6400 Andover Drive, Anchorage, AK
99516, glennelison@alaska.com, 907-868-7974. For more information visit
www.swakcc.org or www.conservationfund.org.
