Demise of Coastal Management Program has been a long time coming

I am astounded at the lack of research in reporting the facts about the demise of the Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP). I guess it is easier to simply blame the other guy. It took years to make a mess of this program which is now a mere shadow of what it used to be and is supposed to be.

The Alaska Senate is fighting for meaningful local voice for very good reasons:

• First, when ACMP was moved to DNR, expecting that common sense would prevail was a big mistake! What reasonable person would object to giving local stakeholders a seat at the table? The state, that’s who.

• Secondly, the ACMP coastal community grants are scraps when you look at the total millions in federal receipts given to the state each year. The state pays for several positions with the money it takes for administration. I doubt many, if any, of the positions funded by ACMP are in the local community. The grants aren’t big enough to support positions. Like I said, communities get the scraps. Coastal community grants add up to less than $1 million dollars. This is a multimillion dollar program. Why is this money distribution and public audit trail not included in the coverage of this issue?

• Finally, having no meaningful input at the local level is bad enough -- but it doesn’t stop there. Local community administrators are given the bureaucratic runaround, often talked down to like they are children, and in some cases treated with utter disrespect at the hands of DNR. Over the years, complaining hasn’t helped. Federal audit findings haven’t helped. Why are these things not included in the reports on this issue?

The demise of ACMP has been a long time coming. The state could have and should have paid attention to these poor management practices long ago. It did not. Now it has come to this.

I guess it is easier to blame the Senate, or better yet, just wave your arms around and shriek "The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!"

Tara Jollie is the former Director of the Alaska Department of Commerce Division of Community and Regional Affairs. After working 20 years for state government, she is now retired and blogs on rural affairs under the nickname "Leaddog" at leaddogalaska.net, where this commentary first appeared.

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, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.