The following article is found in the November 14, 1997 issue of the Anchorage Daily News Metro Section.

Off-Road Vehicle Use Needs Statewide, Not Piecemeal, Solution

by Senator Loren Leman (R-Anchorage)

I have asked the Board of Game to abandon its plan to take up eliminating or restricting off-road vehicle use in Game Management Unit 13 at its meeting November 14-16 in Anchorage.

Unit 13 is home to the thriving Nelchina caribou herd, as well as moose, black bears, brown bears, goats, sheep, wolves and wolverines. Many of my constituents hunt this area using off-road vehicles.

Addressing off-road vehicle use for hunting or recreation use is a statewide issue. It is not an issue that can be piecemealed in disjointed meetings of the Board of Game. That method will result in concentrating ORVs in certain areas, which will generate complaints about the increase in ORVs migrating from closed or restricted GMUs.

The Department of Fish and Game has already taken measures to tackle any perceived overcrowding of the area by hunters by creating a split Tier I season. According to the Department, the moose population in Unit 13 remains at about the level of 10 years ago.

When the Legislature created the Nelchina Public Use Area in GMU 13 in 1985 its intention was not to keep out hunters on ORVs. In committee testimony, in response to a question about access to the area, then Mayor of the Mat-Su Borough Dorothy Jones said, "The traditional use access has been (there) with the addition of the use of motorized vehicles, the ATVs and the like, (one) can get back there just as they might have in the past. There will be no changes, so if there is that heavy of use (of ATVs) right now that exists, it will continue to exist without any constraints on the access. There are no roads, but there are many trails." I note that the Alaska Environmental Lobby testified in favor of the bill, knowing that ORV use would increase. I'm disappointed that the Alaska Center for the Environment, a member of the AEL, now is faxing its members to attend the November board meeting and testify in favor of "the designation of additional controlled use areas where ORV use would be prohibited or restricted".

The Board and the Department in their consideration of ORV use are forgetting the hunters who for 20 years have packed out moose and caribou, and now their knees are less forgiving. ORVs have been used in this area for a long time. The core calving area for the Nelchina herd was long ago set aside to be protected from motorized vehicles.

Time and again the Knowles Administration shows its true colors - to keep Alaskans from accessing state land. Don't believe for a moment that proposals to restrict ORVs won't happen in the Game Management Unit where you hunt. Remember that Tony Knowles stood with his friends at the Democrat convention and voted to close ANWR to exploration, while promising Alaskans that he'd continue to lobby for its development. In its most recent fray, his Administration updated its Off Road Vehicle and Snowmachine Use in Alaska report to the Board, saying "the most significant problem identified is the impact of increased nonhunting recreational use of ORVs." Yet, the Board of Game calls a meeting to focus restrictions on ORVs being used for hunting purposes.

I urge all Alaskans concerned about access to state lands, and the ability to hunt, to call, write, e-mail or stop by one of the Governor's Open Door sessions and let him know you don't want more of Alaska made off limits to hunting.