The holiday season for most Alaskans is one for giving and forgiving, but unfortunately the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has not received the message. Their decision to deny to the people of King Cove road access to the all-weather Cold Bay airport is outrageous.
Two days before Christmas, Secretary of Interior Sally Jewel delivered her dictate after first clearing it with the Obama White House and their elitist environmental advisors, suggesting that the decision would bring peace to the birds of the refuge. At the same time, Fish and Wildlife is planning to disturb the peace of a long established bovine population, sending a very different message to the cows on Chirikof Island.
This hostile decision is the latest example of the blatant disregard for the humanitarian needs of the residents of King Cove. Interior has chosen to disregard the fundamental right of access to this small group of Alaskans.
The land exchange proposed by the state would provide 56,000 acres of state and Native land to be added to the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge for a road corridor of just 206 acres of refuge land.
It is noteworthy that the Department of Interior chose to ignore that this exchange had the approval not only of the King Cove residents but also of the legislature of the state of Alaska, the local Alaska U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials who worked with the state on this exchange and also the approval of the full U.S. Congress. The outright rejection by Interior clearly points out that Alaskans as well as the Congress are being ignored by the Obama administration.
Not to be outdone, the Fish and Wildlife Service has embarked on a plot to take out "the cows" of Chirikof Island. On Dec. 6, Alaska Dispatch reported that the agency announced its proposal for coping with the estimated 800 unattended cattle roaming on Chirikof Island in the Alaska Maritime National Refuge. The animals are descendants of those brought to remote Chirikof in the late 1800s. The Fish and Wildlife Service has set the date of Jan. 31, 2014 for receiving suggestions. They hosted open houses in Homer and Kodiak. I wonder, in fairness, if Interior Secretary Jewel was there to represent the cows.
In 2003, I led a campaign to save these cows. Suggestions ranged from pardoning the cows, similar to my successor pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey, to enrolling them in a termination health care plan, but those proposals were rejected outright. Two of my staff flew to the island for an overnight stay. Upon landing the cows greeted their new visitors with blood in their eyes. It was clear that the red Scottish bulls had something else in mind for the visitors. After a quick reconnoiter they decided that discretion was the better part of valor and departed the island, deciding that the cows were clearly able to govern themselves without help from the federal government or anyone else. The Fish and Wildlife Service clearly does not want exotic species; these animals have been there for over 130 years -- certainly longer than most Alaskans -- so they ought to be given some seniority.
The agency is also concerned about the consumption of bird eggs being consumed by the cows. You'd think the birds would think twice where some smelly bull was nosing around their nest. Fish and Wildlife is also concerned that there are archaeological remains in the area, I would imagine that after 130 years, most of the remains would be that of the cows.
Can't the Fish and Wildlife Service take care of the people at King Cove with a one-lane gravel road to provide them safe, reliable, and affordable medical access in times of bad seas or bad weather in the area? And for that matter, can't we carve out one small island and leave the cows alone to rule themselves without being milked by big government?
Frank Murkowski was governor of Alaska from 2002 to 2006, one of its U.S. senators from 1980 to 2002, and chairman of the Senate Energy Committee from 1995 to 2001.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.