“Citizens’ Alternative Bristol Bay Area Plan” submitted to Alaska DNR
A “Citizens’ Alternative” has been submitted as part of official public comment regarding revisions to the 2005 Bristol Bay Area Plan that the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has up for public review until April 4, 2013.
Tribal councils of Curyung, Ekwok, Koliganek, Levelock, New Stuyahok and Nondalton, along with the Alaska Independent Fishermen’s Marketing Association and Trout Unlimited drafted the Citizens’ Alternative because they didn’t feel the land management revisions DNR proposed in its recent revisions went far enough to restore protections for fish and wildlife habitat and subsistence and recreational uses in the Bristol Bay region. Those same groups had filed suit against the state in 2009 regarding the loss of habitat land classification in the 2005 Bristol Bay Area Plan. In a settlement of the case, DNR agreed to review the plan and followed up with draft revisions to it in January 2013.
The authors of the Citizens’ Alternative state that their version of the Bristol Bay Area Plan relies on science and better mapping, is consistent with a vision to balance conservation and development in Bristol Bay and improves area-wide management guidelines.