King Cove proponents of land swap testify in D.C.

SAMANTHA ROSLUND

November 16, 2007 at 10:40AM AKST

Legislation proposing an unprecedented land exchange between the state of Alaska, the King Cove Corp. and the federal government received a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee on Oct. 31 on Capitol Hill.

The hearing focused on H.R. 2801, a bill that would add 61,723 acres of key wildlife habitat to the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula Wildlife Refuges.

In exchange, the state would receive title to a small amount of land for a single-lane gravel road through Alaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge from King Cove to Cold Bay – a community located about 25 miles away.

Two representatives of King Cove traveled to Washington for the hearing.

Aleutians East Borough Mayor Stanley Mack, an Aleut who grew up in King Cove, also testified in favor of building the road and addressed environmentalists' fear that a road would disturb the Pacific Black Brant population.

The Black Brant is a waterfowl that uses the eelgrass lagoons in the refuge to fuel up for its long migration down to Mexico every winter. More than 150,000 of the birds stop in the area.

"There was a study done by the refuge manager in the '90s in regard to the activity in the area," he said, "and that report demonstrates that aircraft and boat activity were the only things that showed a disturbance. There is no mention of vehicle traffic disturbing the bird activity."

Gary Hennigh, city manager of King Cove, pointed out that the planned road would pass by the Izembek Lagoon, an area in which 85-90 percent of the refuge's eelgrass grows, at a distance of 1-1/2 miles and won't have any affect on the birds, waterfowl that never leave the lagoon.

But David Raskin, president of the Friends of Alaska Wildlife Refuges, begs to differ. He believes that road traffic through the Izembek refuge will disturb the birds and lead to more hunters in the area.

"They live in King Cove and want to get into Izembek Wilderness," Raskin said. "They want to be able to drive up there, take cars and four-wheelers, and get into the wilderness to hunt and recreate."

Raskin asserted that the $9 million hovercraft purchased to ferry King Cove residents to the Cold Bay airport was an efficient solution and that the matter should be considered closed.

"The Lenard Harbor pad was built 5.7 miles from the King Cove airport," he said. "The hovercraft has been operating extremely successfully. It's easily accessible and has performed at least 20 successful medevacs without problem. In normal conditions, the trip takes 20 minutes."

He went on to explain that the hovercraft is capable in operating in 10-foot high waves and 55 mile per hour winds.

However, officials with the Aleutians East Borough say it's now clear that the hovercraft is not the solution.

"Our critics talk of impacts to the waterfowl and caribou from the road we desire," Mack said. "They speak of setting a precedent of allowing no road in the Izembek Wilderness.

"Today, there are more than 14 miles of roads traversing the Izembek Wilderness and another 35 miles in the Izembek Refuge, dating back to World War II when thousands of GIs traveled throughout the area. In fact, there are roads used today, roads that lead to the real heart of the Izembek Refuge."

"There are two real commonsense responses," said Hennigh, referring to why the hovercraft is not the best solution, "given what we know today about the operating performance and standards combined with the weather we have out here. The belief is that 75 to 80 percent of the time is the most that the hovercraft can operate.

"That leaves 40 to 50 days a year when you won't get there. Are those the days that there will be an emergency?"

Hennigh said that the world is what it is, with the facts being that Cold Bay airport is distant from King Cove, and hovercraft would require far more operating funds than the generated revenues can pay.

Raskin, however, has run some number of his own and disagrees.

"In 2003, $860,000 was required annually to maintain the hovercraft," Raskin said. "To maintain that road would cost far more. Imagine 33 miles of remote gravel road having to be maintained every day.

"If you factor in 30 passengers a day, for 200 days a year, with two cars, that would generate approximately $1 million a year, which would more than cover the expenses. They would make a profit."

Raskin stated that the winter conditions that would make the hovercraft inoperable would render a rural road impassable. With strong winds, ice and avalanches, he said, a sick or injured person would not last the time it would take to drive it, if they got to Cold Bay at all.

But Mack said that the two environmentalists who testified against the road at the hearing, including Raskin, haven't spent enough time in King Cove to form an educated opinion.

"Both have not spent much time here. Raskin's information is based on other people's experiences here," he said.

Hennigh stated that regardless of what was presented at the hearing, the next step in the House of Representatives is to have the bill go to markup. That means that the members of the House Resource Committee will come back and be asked to take the first round of action on the bill.

That will force people to make a decision, he said, and as long as the majority votes to pass the bill out of committee, things will move forward.

Last week, Hennigh planned to travel to Denver to meet with the National Congress of American Indians to gain its support.

"That's part of the thrust that we have this time that we didn't have 10 years ago," Hennigh said. "We really have become more vocal. The fight is partly about the government making decisions back in a time when they failed to include the residents of the area, who were 75 percent Aleut."

Hennigh is optimistic that the markup will convene within the calendar year.

Samantha Roslund can be reached at (907) 348-2424 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 424.