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Saving Paradise
The
Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership
is purchasing wilderness for posterity.
You can help.
I TOOK MY FIRST trip to Bristol Bay in 1975. Several friends and I paddled kayaks down the Wood River system of lakes, a spectacular area that is now part of Wood-Tikchik State Park. The final section of the trip was the Agulowak River, a 4-mile-long fish factory that flows from Lake Nerka to Lake Aleknagik. Like all of the country we passed through, the river was pristine, without any sign of human presence. We knew, of course, that the local Yu’pik had used it for millennia, but there was little trace of their seasonal migrations. We camped and fished wherever we wished, without worrying about conflicts with other users.
by Will Rice
First published in
Fly Fisherman Magazine
December, 2007
Many of Alaska’s
most important riparian areas are owned by individuals and
village or tribal corporations.
Speculators, developers,
recreational users, and lodge owners are offering these
traditional landowners
cash
for the best riverside properties,
and no-trespassing signs are becoming common sights along wilderness rivers.
Today the Agulowak is a world-renowned trout stream, but it is no longer wilderness. In spite of the surrounding park, both banks of the river are in private hands. The local native village corporation holds most of the land, but lodges, cabins, and other private property mark the upper and lower ends. There is a memorandum of understanding between the native corporation and the state which allows recreational use of their land, but it is an annual arrangement that does not provide any permanent protection. The unlimited access we enjoyed 30 years ago has been replaced by access limited by the tolerance of the landowners.
This story is repeating itself throughout the Bristol Bay area. There has always been a sense that Alaska belongs to us all. Its widespread systems of conservation lands, its remoteness, and its relatively small population have given Alaska an aura of unlimited public access, in glaring contrast to most of the Lower 48.That is changing rapidly in southwest Alaska, that magic area from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to the far reaches of Kuskokwim Bay.
Southwest Alaska is one of the world’s great natural treasures. Its ecosystems rival those of the Serengeti and Amazonia. Unlike its tropical counterparts, though, these are ecosystems driven by fish—the massive runs of Pacific salmon that return each year to reproduce and feed the bears, gulls, trout, and char that depend on them. For thousands of years, salmon have provided a regional, cultural and economic foundation. In an average year, more than 70 million fish return to the Bristol Bay region, and in some years the numbers exceed 100 million. The result is the finest coldwater fishery in the world.
Southwest Alaska encompasses some 39.8 million acres, roughly the size of Washington State, with thousands of miles of rivers and streams. Its ecological and recreational importance has not gone unrecognized. The area’s six national wildlife refuges, three national parks, and the largest state park in the U.S. encompass 23.5 million acres. The amount of land under protection is impressive, but the numbers are misleading.Much of this land is mountaintops and tundra, while many of the critical riparian areas—the areas with the best angling—are private inholdings.
Private Property
IN 1971, ALASKAN aboriginals were given the right to select lands to be held by village and regional corporations.Since all the villages in southwest Alaska are on major salmon streams, the selections included much of the best habitat and fishing areas.
In addition, the Alaska Native Allotment Act of 1906 allowed individual natives to select up to 160 acres that had been traditionally used by their families for subsistence, including fishing and hunting sites. The Act was little used until the early ’70s, when Congress set a final deadline for filing allotment applications.
At the time, I helped native families file those applications. Although I am a firm advocate for public access, I also recognized the rights of people who had used the land for generations. The idea of private property and trespass was a concept completely foreign to the original inhabitants of these lands. Because native culture was subsistence-based, the sites that were traditionally occupied have the best access to fish and wildlife— the same properties that our culture values today.
Even in the vast expanse of Alaska, these inholdings are significant. More than 2,000 private land tracts, mostly allotments, are located primarily in riparian areas, and 11 percent of Bristol Bay lands are privately held. Because of their strategic locations, these lands have an impact on the long-term sustainability of fish, wildlife, and habitat that far exceeds their acreage. Of the land in private hands, 10 to 20 percent is critical for habitat or access.
In the 30 years since land titles were established, things have
changed. Permit systems and no-trespassing signs are appearing,
and the effect is snowballing. The village and regional
corporations
need to make money from their lands in order to pay for basic
services. The original private property owners have aged, and
many have no children interested in maintaining a traditional
lifestyle. In spite
of a cultural preference toward preserving the land in its
original condition, there is a strong financial incentive to
sell the best pieces to eager buyers, including speculators and
developers, recreational
users, and lodge owners. A number of landowners are caught
between the need for cash and their desire to protect the land
and way of life.
The Southwest Alaska
Salmon Habitat Partnership is attempting to purchase and preserve
the
most critical fish and wildlife habitats and access areas for
sportsmen (Kvichak River braids
shown above). The group has already managed a conservation
agreement to protect 20,783
acres along the Agulowak River and adjacent lakes Aleknagik and
Nerka.
Many of these parcels are within the parks and refuges that were designed to ensure habitat protection and public access. As economic pressure on the landowners increases, more and more of these inholdings will be sold. Fifty years from now, our children could face many of the same access problems in Bristol Bay that we now face in Montana and Michigan.
The potential
loss of access and critical habitat is of growing concern to the
people most affected, which includes almost everyone with a
stake in the region. A diverse group of individuals and
organizations have formed the Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat
Partnership with the goal of preserving riparian habitat and
protecting historic uses of fish and wildlife. The
Partnership is providing landowners the option of selling their
land, or its development rights, to a conservation-minded buyer
who provides needed cash while
ensuring the protection of the land and its historic uses.
Working Together
THE MOST DIVISIVE and long-running political battles in Alaska have invariably been fought over issues of conservation, private property rights, and fish and wildlife. Given this background, support for the Partnership is astoundingly wide-spread.
The Partnership represents, among others, Bristol Bay Native Corporation (the local native association), Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, and the Alaska Professional Hunters Association. It has local, state, and federal support, as well as backing from local guides and lodge owners. Corporate sponsors include Orvis, Under Armour, Woolrich, Pure Fishing, Columbia Sportswear, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the Dallas Safari Club, and General Communications, Inc. This diverse support, both national and local, is perhaps the best indicator of future success.
The Partnership has identified riparian inholdings that are critical to habitat and access. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has been a major catalyst, providing two grants since 2003 which include $11 million for wild salmon habitat conservation in southwest Alaska.
With the grants from the Moore Foundation and major contributions from other donors, the Partnership is purchasing conservation interests, either in the form of easements or full titles. Allotments are usually purchased outright, based on the owner’s desires and the management authority granted to the adjoining public landowner. Conservation easements make up the majority of the purchases, typically from native corporations that want to maintain the use and control of the property for their shareholders, but are willing to forgo or limit development and provide public access.
A wonderful example of this win-win conservation approach is a conservation agreement with Aleknagik Natives Limited and Bristol Bay Native Corporation for 20,783 acres along the Agulowak River and adjacent lakes Aleknagik and Nerka. With a mix of federal grant money matched by the Moore Foundation and other private funds, a new conservation easement on Aleknagik’s lands will prevent development and subdivision, and provide perpetual public access. The corporation’s subsurface interest is being purchased outright.
Saving paradise is an ambitious undertaking. The Partnership is looking at a ten-year, $100 million project, with 70 percent of the money coming from federal matching funds. To date, 65,000 acres have been purchased at a cost of about $13 million.
The Partnership works only with willing sellers, and selects parcels with surgical care, turning down six or seven offers for every one accepted. This precision has resulted in large areas of prime salmon and migratory bird habitat being conserved and available to the public. It has also resulted in small, critically important parcels being preserved for public use, including two tracts on the Agulowak. Two stretches on a sister river, the Agulukpak, have also been purchased. These four parcels alone mean that our children and grandchildren will be able to camp, fish, and enjoy the two best trout rivers in the Wood-Tikchik area.
Alaska has changed a great deal in the past 30 years, but it remains America’s greatest wilderness. Thanks to groups like the Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership, future generations will be able to experience the same sense of wonder I felt when we first slid our kayaks into the current of the Agulowak. For more information, visit the Partnership’s web site at www.swakcc.org.
Donations are needed to trigger foundation and federal matching grants, and can be leveraged on a 10:1 ratio. If you have more questions, please contact Glenn Elison at (907) 868-7974, or Tim Troll at (907) 842-2832. This is an opportunity to help pass to our children one of the country’s greatest outdoor treasures.
WILL RICE has lived and fished in Alaska for more than 30 years. A retired trial lawyer, he is the author of Fly-Fishing Secrets of Alaska’s Best Guides (Stackpole Books, 2006).