One-third of the committee that represents the people of Anchorage at the boards that regulate hunting and fishing in Alaska resigned this week, saying their advice is consistently ignored.
Six of the Anchorage Fish and Game Advisory Committee's 17 members resigned Tuesday at an annual meeting. Two members serve as alternates.
The resigning members say the boards regularly disregard advisory recommendations, as evidenced by the game board's decision last month to ban the use of aircraft to find Dall sheep over committee objections.
Several also expressed frustration about the board authorizing Anchorage-area cow moose hunts without support from the committee or complete moose survey information from Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists.
"The Anchorage Advisory Committee represents the largest population of outdoor enthusiasts, yet our recommendations have no merit with the department," Michael Klehr, who resigned effective June 30, wrote in his letter. "The most important reason for my resignation is to bring attention to this broken process with expectations of the public opinion getting recognized."
The other members resigning are Robert Peck, Steve Flory, Mark Franklin Campbell, Sam Albanese and Robert Caywood. Peck and Albanese added caveats that they could rescind their resignation prior to their effective dates.
Second mass resignation in a year
The committee is one of 84 around the state that help the fish and game boards make and revise fishing and hunting regulations. They were created to give local residents a voice in the process, though the boards don't have to take their advice except in a few situations.
This week's exodus is the second mass resignation in less than a year. A group of committee members resigned last fall over concerns centered on conflicts with the Board of Fisheries.
Committee Chairman Joel Doner said he expects the committee will hold an election in October to replace the departing members. Doner said that, while he's not resigning, he's also frustrated with the process.
He pointed to the aircraft ban that passed against the wishes of the biggest advisory committees in the state, but also pointed to the Fish Board practice last year of generating a proposal only to pass it minutes later with no public process.
"That's just not right. It's wrong," Doner said. "When we sit and go through all this effort to do the work of an (advisory committee) as a volunteer and then we're ignored …"
The committees do have authority that extends beyond an advisory role in at least two areas: emergency hunting or fishing closures if biologically necessary and approving cow moose hunts if state biologists say the populations are healthy enough.
The board's recent action on cow moose hunts near Anchorage infuriated some committee members.
Peck said the Board of Game violated a state statute that requires antlerless hunt approval from the advisory committee with "the majority of the members" living in the unit or subunit involved -- and only after Fish and Game recommends it based on biological evidence.
The Anchorage-area antlerless hunts run from the Knik River to Portage River and include a popular area at the head of Turnagain Arm.
Anchorage is the only committee with the majority of its members in the unit, 14C, Peck wrote in his letter, but the Board of Game relied on an approval from the Susitna advisory committee, which represents residents on the northern edge of the unit.
Other resigning members said Fish and Game failed to provide moose survey data for the areas where the hunts occur. Department of Fish and Game biologists Gino Del Frate and Dave Battle didn't return calls for comment about issues with the Anchorage-area surveys.
More than 3,000 applicants
Ted Spraker, chairman of the Game Board, said the Anchorage committee has long fought antlerless hunts and the use of the Susitna approval was legal.
Spraker said he understands the committee's frustration with Fish and Game doing incomplete moose surveys in the last couple years.
But, he said, Anchorage's is one of three advisory committees around the state with strong opposition -- primarily led by three members -- to antlerless hunts.
"The 14C cow hunt generates 3-4,000 applications a year," Spraker said. "The Anchorage AC votes against it. Other ACs realize that they're representing at least these 3-4,000 individuals that put in for this hunt."
Spraker also called the aircraft ban on sheep hunters a "good first step" to address complaints about competition among hunters. He said reducing aircraft-based spotting could reduce hunting pressure enough to avoid putting a permit system in place in the future and said he got phone calls from 10 supporters of the ban for every opponent.
"Overall, less than 10 percent of sheep hunters have aircraft and will be impacted," Spraker said. "Ninety percent of people or thereabouts are benefited by this and not having airplanes surveying sheep during the season when they're trying to hunt."
Jack Frost -- a sheep hunter, pilot and Anchorage orthopedic surgeon who's spent 15 years bringing proposals to the Board of Game -- said the aircraft ban for sheep hunting shows board members aren't listening and says the issue reflects a larger pattern.
Much of the public testimony opposed the aircraft limit, Frost said, but the board chose to create its own proposal that contradicted the advisory committee opposition.
Frost said many sheep hunters and pilots are concerned that the ban on aerial spotting and hunting will lead to citations for pilots flying low over sheep country en route to camp or just passing over, he said. "There's a basic disconnect between the general public and the Board of Game. To me, that's where the story lies."
Spraker said the board does listen to the public and to advisory committees from around the state. He said some of the tension between the board and the Anchorage committee stems from long-standing personality conflicts.
All three committee members advocating against antlerless hunts are resigning: Caywood, Peck and Steve Flory.
Flory said the hunt risks taking too many cows that stabilize the larger population and the committee wanted more data from Fish and Game before authorizing the hunt.
He served as chairman of the committee before leaving and returned only last October before resigning as of June 15.
"We're a unique state," Flory said by phone. "It was very important to have local input on fish and game issues and through some very aggressive tactics, the Board of Game, Board of Fish have pushed the AC out of the system as greatly as they can."