The Mudflats

Shannyn Moore has come up with some more information on Al Barette, Alaska’s newest appointee to the Board of Game.  It is not to late to strongly oppose this appointment, as he has not yet been confirmed by the Legislature. You’ll find a call to action at the end of the post.  Tell your legislators that not only do you want people who make game management decisions based on science and not the Old Testament, but that you want people who do not stand to benefit financially at the expense of others, from the decisions that they make on the board.  Please help send a strong message that we care who sits on these boards, and that the National Park “resources” that they manage matter to all of us.

****Please also heed the authors warning about the embedded video, which is graphic and disturbing.  If you don’t watch it, I urge you to listen to the audio and look away. 

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Skinning the Truth

by Shannyn Moore

Wolves have been in the news lately. In today’s Anchorage Daily News, there was speculation that a wolf might have killed a young school teacher in Chignik. Last week, the Alaska Board of Game voted 4-3 to eliminate the buffer zone around Denali National Park despite the wolf population plummeting to a 23-year low. Late biologist Gordon Haber fought to his early death to protect those wolves. Governor Sean Parnell appointed Al Barrette to replace Bob Bell on the Alaska Board of Game.

Who is Al Barrette? Mudflats wrote a great post that you can find here. Barrette, who has an obvious and unambiguous conflict of interest, cast the deciding vote to open up the northeast periphery of the Denali National Park to wolf trapping. Barrette owns both the Fairbanks Fur Tannery and Alaskan No. 9 Trap Company. The latter manufactures the Alaska Wolf Trap. Apparently, Mr. Barrette didn’t think he had a conflict of interest-despite casting a public vote to bolster his personal bottom line.

There is much we don’t know about Governor Sean Parnell’s ethically-challenged appointee to the Alaska Board of Game. I think Al Barrette best reveals Al Barrette in this short video shot by Backpacker Magazine a little over a year ago. At that time, Barrette was on the Fairbanks Advisory Council to the Alaska Board of Game.

I’m Just a Girl from Homer, and I grew up trapping animals with my father. That said, this video disturbed me. If you feel like you can’t watch it, at least LISTEN to it. Listen to Al Barrette wax poetic about his philosophy on religion, science and wolves…

WARNING! THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC AND CONTAINS IMAGES MANY COULD SHOULD FIND OBJECTIONABLE!

For those of you who couldn’t watch or listen, I transcribed Mr. Barrette’s comments at the beginning of the film:

Al Barrette on the bible and man’s role in game management:

“…it specifically puts out in the first book of the bible, in Genesis, that we should, uh, subdue nature and control it. We should be the managers of the animals and through the…the sin of Adam and Eve is what brought it on, and, uh, in fact, the first, uh…the first clothes that were made for Adam and Eve were skins of animals…by God.”

VITAMIN DEMOCRACY!

Al Barrette still must be confirmed by the legislature. Find your legislators and tell them to reject Al Barrette for the Alaska Board of Game. Contact your state senator and representative.

Email Governor Sean Parnell or call him at 907.465.3500 tell him to withdraw his conflicted nominee from consideration.

Email the State of Alaska Boards and Commissions at boards@alaska.gov or call them 907.465.3934 and express yourself.

Mayor Dan Sullivan promised to end the unpopular ‘rolling closures’ that shuttered fire stations in Anchorage on alternating days last year. Now that cost-saving measure has been replaced with another one that will trim $150,000 from the Fire Department’s budget. These are tough times, you know. Or so the Mayor says.

Even though the city fund balances are all peachy keen now after their disastrous levels in 2008, the Mayor’s red pen feels the need to keep cutting. This time it is the special rescue teams. Why? Some say it is because overtime has amounted to far more than they’d calculated. Why? Because there aren’t enough personnel to cover the required positions, especially when people call in sick, die, retire or go on leave. Why? Because the Mayor hasn’t authorized the Fire Academy to begin training new recruits. That would cost money and remember, he was elected to not spend our money.

The timing on this should be just about right. Conservative takes over administration. Conservative breaks stuff and under-funds services. Conservative is voted out. Progressive inherits a big fat mess to clean up. Conservative says “See? Government sucks, and it doesn’t work, and it’s a big mess. And no I’m not going to help you clean up my mess because you’re doing it wrong!” Conservative sits in corner pouting and whining and stomping its feet. We’ve seen it play out on the local, statewide and national level over and over.

How many other US cities have to worry about rescuing people from icy waters, snatching tourists and reckless kids from sticky mudflats, find injured hikers, or deal with avalanche victims? Fresno? Not so much. But in Anchorage, where our city slogan is “Big Wild Life” we actually use these services and rely on them to save our lives, and the lives of those who come to visit our state. We rely on them when we’re out in the back country, or when we just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – like on the Seward Highway during an avalanche. The Fire Department special teams who provide these services are trained and equipped – ready to go 24/7. Yes, team personnel receive extra pay. Yet the Mayor had the chance to cut even more than his targeted $150,000, by accepting the union’s offer to reduce some of that extra pay. Why didn’t he accept?

More important, why isn’t the city asking for reimbursement from the Troopers for each wilderness rescue? After all, they are the ones who have to give the OK before the AFD can respond, every time a call comes in. Without reimbursement, we will end up with duplication of effort and slower service. If the Troopers agree to do wilderness rescues in Chugach State Park, the AFD will still need a rescue team to handle calls like bear maulings in Far North Bicentennial Park.

Here are a couple interesting internal memos that sum it up pretty well.

AFD memo Special Operations & Rescue Responses 17 Feb 2010

AFD memo Special Operations Reductions(b) 17 Feb 2010

AFD special team reductions guidelines Feb 2010

I’ll translate for those who don’t want to dive in. This is what we’re telling the people who are trained, ready and able to do the hard work of saving people’s lives summed up in a 10-point plan.

1) We’re not going to pay you extra to be trained to do all this really important stuff, or to participate in the team that does all this really important stuff, BUT…

2) You will be expected to do it anyway if to the Troopers tell you to. So make sure you’re prepared. We’re not training any more people, and only trained people can use all the equipment. Should we reinstate the teams you will be able to re- apply, if you keep up your certification, which we won’t be paying for.

3) The Swift Water team will be off line until breakup.

4) The Dive Team will be a skeleton crew only, but there is no actual watercraft available for use in Cook Inlet.

5) The Wilderness Rescue Team is off line indefinitely.

6) We’re also cutting people from the HazMat, High Angle, and Urban Search and Rescue teams, like the structural engineers that nobody really needs anyway, right?

7) The Duty Officer will make the decision about whether to answer someone’s rescue call. And remember, there is no seaworthy craft available for Cook Inlet rescues so they will have all be done from the shore by using ‘rope throw bags.” So, you may want to make sure you’re working those deltoids and biceps, which will allow further distances when heaving rope.

8.  We will continue to provide ‘non-technical’ operations with the rope throw bags that you can use to rescue people. It’ll be really useful to save those on the ice as long as our implements can reach that far from the shore. We’ll even have some motorized equipment if you have an emergency that is conveniently located on a city trail or park, but NOT in the wilderness. We’ve got that motorized equipment stored right near by, close to the backcountry areas where we most often use it. But we’ve decided to move it all somewhere else farther away.

9) When 9-1-1 calls are received from inconvenient wilderness locations outside the Anchorage Fire Service Area, the dispatcher will first call the Alaska State Troopers to ask if they want us to respond, like we’ve been doing all along. Since they don’t really have the ability to respond, and they’re usually pretty busy, they always say, ‘Yes.’ Then, the request will be forwarded to the Duty Officer to decide whether to respond or not.

10) Thanks for your understanding about all this. We’re just really sure that nothing bad will happen, and we’ll continue to do just fine as long as something bad doesn’t happen, which it probably won’t. And think of all the money we’ve saved, and how people will begin to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to make our city a better place.

I’m imagining a letter coming from Mayor Sullivan. You can imagine it with me. It goes something like this:

Dear Anchorage Resident or Tourist,

Do not take a boat out into Cook Inlet farther than you think someone can throw a rope with a bag on the end of it.

If you insist on having a heart attack while enjoying our beautiful state, please do so only on designated and maintained trails within the Anchorage Fire Service Area.

If you do enjoy the back country, make sure to avoid all bears, moose, bodies of water, inclement weather, avalanches, giardia, dehydration, disorientation, general illness, firearms, poison berries, tripping, sharp implements like wood saws and Swiss Army knives, hypothermia, conking yourself on the head, and other activities of a similar nature. If you do encounter an emergency situation, just let someone know and they will contact the troopers and they will tell someone to contact the fire department’s DO and they will decide whether to respond to you.

If this takes too long, we hope your last thoughts as you lie there looking at the sky, or the snow, are gratitude for living in a free society where we all take personal responsibility for our actions, and don’t rely on the government to bail us out if we do something dumb like getting mauled by a bear or buried by an avalanche. And think how much money we’ve saved! And if you do manage to survive somehow, Mayor Sullivan would appreciate your vote next time.

Don’t forget to enjoy Anchorage’s Big Wild Life!

Warmest Wishes for your continued health and happiness,
The City of Anchorage, brought to you by Mayor Dan Sullivan

Maybe it’s time for safety minded Alaskans to start enjoying the Big Wild Life from the couch.

I arrived at the School District Building not knowing quite what to expect.  Armed with Blackberry, camera and a plate of banana brownies I headed into the unknown.  Last year at the election meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, there were 65 people in attendance.  I hoped there would be more this year.  This group is designed to represent the diverse interests of the Anchorage area when it comes to Alaska’s fish and wildlife.  Many people hunt – some for sport, some for food, and some for subsistence use.  Some are Alaska Native people, some are not.  Some enjoy shooting wildlife only with a camera.  Others make a living from wildlife tours, fishing charters, or hunting guide services.  Some just like wildlife viewing on their own.  The relationship between Alaskan humans and animals is complicated, to put it mildly.  But we hope that this citizen group can represent this diversity and make reasonable recommendations to the board that reflect the many wishes and opinions of Anchorage area residents.

I pushed through the double doors and walked right into a wall of people packing the entryway.  A long line snaked its way around the corner to the room where the meeting would happen.  I was 35 minutes early.

As I walked along the line scanning the crowd for people I knew, I spotted many.  And for every one of them, there were many more people around them wearing camouflage jackets, baseball caps with gun logos, and people in t-shirts with the names of various conservative political groups.  There were definitely more than 65 people.

At the door, ballots were being handed out, and people were taking their seats.  I took a place in line and eventually made it to the front to collect my ballot.  It was pink and it had empty lines where you could write in the name of the candidates you were voting for.  I was directed to write my information on a piece of paper on a clipboard.  Name, address, phone number, email.  The people before me on the sheet had left some of the information out, not providing emails or phone numbers.  I wondered if this would somehow invalidate their votes.  I filled out my information and took a ballot.  There was no number on it.  And it said to fill out the form with up to 8 names and 1 student.

And then I sat and waited and waited and waited.  The line was even longer than it had been before, and they said they were waiting for everyone to get into the room before they began the meeting.  I knew there was no way the room would hold nearly that many people, and someone told me that there was a PA system they could use to broadcast the statements by the candidates into the hallway.  I was a bit skeptical this would be a workable plan.  I felt sure that the meeting would be cancelled and rescheduled in a larger venue.  I knew it was going to be contentious, and there was no way they expected this many people to show up.

I took another stroll down the line.  A conservative group was handing out papers with a list of the people NOT to vote for.  Someone asked me if I’d like to sign a petition to put a measure on the ballot which would require parental notification for any girl under the age of 18 to have an abortion.

(insert harp music here…everything goes a little blurry….) I saw a friend of mine burst in the door out of breath.  “Weren’t you way ahead of me before?”  I asked.  “Yes, I was,” he said.  “Did you notice that the ballots weren’t numbered?”  Yes, I had noticed that.  “Did anyone ask you for ID?”  Nope.  Nobody asked me for ID.  Then he went on to explain that seeing the number of hunters that had been called out by various groups to stack the board with that particular interest above the others, he’d been frustrated.  He thought at first that he’d run home real quick and grab the three visiting out-of-state guests, and bring them over to stand in line with him again, knowing they’d be given ballots.  But then, he said, he’d had “a wonderful awful idea,” quoting the Grinch in the Dr. Seuss book.  There was a Kinko’s just down the road.  He grabbed a ballot, took it over there, fiddled with the lightness setting so he could copy from the colored pink paper on to other pink paper without leaving toner traces, and he’d made a stack of 25 ballots that he planned to bring in to the room, fill out, and slip in the box during the meeting.  It was pretty casual.  People were filtering up and putting their ballots in the box in a slow trickle.  He had some friends inside and they were each going to slip 3 or 4 ballots in at the same time.  ”Are you serious?” I asked.  “As a heart attack,” he said.  Frankly I was a little shocked at this.  Election fraud at the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Department of Fish & Game?!  This could only happen in Alaska.  He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and did one of those “Muahahahahaha!” evil laughs and rubbed his hands together like a fly.  “It might just be enough, you never know,” he said raising his eyebrows.  “It’s probably about 5% of the total number.  They’ll probably never figure it out.  Do you want to fill out a few?”  I, being the virtuous type, flatly refused.  But what was I going to do now?

Before I figure out how I am going to narc on my friend with the nebulous personal ethics,   let me just tell you that the entire indented paragraph above is completely untrue.  A work of pure fiction.  There was no friend, no election fraud, no tampering with ballots.  Were you outraged?  Upset?  Gobsmacked, perhaps?  If you are a conservative reading this blog, were you ready to (metaphorically) strangle my friend?  If you were a conservation voter, were you appalled that this could happen, even if you may have liked the candidates that were going to have their votes padded?  So, what was the point of making your blood pressure rise?  IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED.  Quite easily, I’m afraid.  Technically, I can’t say that it didn’t, and neither can anyone else.  This is a problem.  And that’s the point.

So take a big cleansing breath and let’s get back to the real story.  In the meeting room, I noticed that the line of people waiting to get in was gone.  And yet there were still a couple empty chairs.  How could this be?  There were more than 500 people trying to get into a room that sat about 300 by my estimate.  I asked around, and learned that people were being allowed to vote and leave before the nominations had even been made, and before the candidates spoke.

I found out that the young man next to me had just turned 18.  This was technically his first vote for anything, he told me.  “How’d you like the rigorous screening process you had to go through?” I joked.  He smiled.  Nobody had checked his ID to make sure he was 18.

Nominations were made. Candidates spoke.  Some gave great speeches.  Some didn’t.  But sadly, it didn’t really matter.  Everyone knew who they were voting for.  One candidate referred to “our democracy” and someone shouted out, “IT’S A REPUBLIC!” This was followed by an ill-timed series of “Yeah’s” from the crowd.  Another candidate started off by announcing that yes, he was a convicted felon, but that it was a long time ago, and it wasn’t fair that his past be used against him.  It was a long night.

After the speeches, I went to fill out my ballot and realized that I ran out of lines and hadn’t written in a name I wanted to vote for.  How could I have miscalculated?  I recounted quickly and realized that even though the ballot said to fill out the names of 8 candidates, there were only 7 lines.  They also said to vote for one student.  I never saw a student.

Finally, the voting was over and the ballots were counted.  Those running the show were doing their best, but were obviously not prepared for the turnout they’d gotten.  They asked for volunteers to read the names off the ballots while they wrote little tick marks next to the person’s name on sheets of notebook paper.  Then, someone next to me recognized the woman reading the names to the “ticker” as the wife of one of the candidates who was running for a seat! This fact was pointed out to the counters, who appeared to be horrified, and told her that she couldn’t be involved in the process.  She looked embarrassed and slunk away, and a new volunteer was found.  They never did go back and redo the ones she’d done.

~Candidate’s wife getting up from the ballot reading.

I had that feeling I get at meetings when I knew it was time to go.  I passed out the rest of the banana brownies that Spouse had concocted for the occasion.  Everyone needed one.  People were taking brownies and thanking me like I’d just given them a hug, or pain medication.

In the end, not one seat was won by a conservation candidate, even though several of them were also hunters.  They weren’t on the list.  That guy who was a lifelong Alaskan, and former marine, raising his young family here who had just taken his daughter caribou hunting?  Sorry… he wasn’t on the “coservative patriots” list.  That darn greenie.  He did come sort of close to getting as many votes as the felon they endorsed, though.  Maybe some day he’ll measure up.

While I was driving home, eating my brownie, I didn’t turn on the radio.  My internal dialog was going – creating a list of what I thought went wrong at this meeting.

• No numbered ballots
• No checking of IDs to ensure proper residency
• No checking of IDs to verify age requirement
• No checking of IDs to make sure names matched to avoid multiple voting
• Improper number of spaces on the ballot
• Electioneering happening on line with “who not to vote for” lists
• No ability for residents of places like Homer (5 hours from Anchorage) who are represented by this group to vote absentee
• No candidate statements available on line or in writing
• Votes cast before nominations were even made
• A facility which would have been unable to contain all those who showed up had they cared to stay and listen to the candidates speak
• AND, they would not allow me to bring brownies into the meeting room, despite the fact that others brought coffee in there!  An outrage if you ask me.

Almost one hundred out of the 560 who were present, came from the Mat-Su Valley.  That’s quite a chunk.  It should be noted that they have their own regional area in which they can run, attend meetings and speak for the Valley constituency which is of a very different makeup, culture and mindset than that of Anchorage.  Why, then, are Valley residents permitted to speak for Anchorage?  And if this huge region, as it is defined currently, is to be represented accurately, then how can we not allow absentee voting by mail for residents of the Kenai Penninsula and points too far to drive to Anchorage?  Representative committee?  Hardly.

But other than that, and the bullet list above, everything was swell.

The final vote, for those interested:

The turnout really was spectacular, despite the disappointing result.  Thank you to those who cared and came, and to those who were willing to serve.  Until next time, we have a committee that completely represents the diversity of the Anchorage community (as long as they’re white, male gun enthusiasts and hunters between the ages of 35 and 60).

Show Up for Wildlife TONIGHT!

You’ve got just enough time to grab dinner and head out for the Anchorage Fish & Game Advisory meeting tonight at 6:30.  It will be at the Rabbit Creek Rifle Range in the building on the north side of the lot.  There will be many issues discussed involving the wolves of Denali Park.  Denali provides one of the few last remaining rare places on earth that 450,000 visitors a year have an opportunity to see wolves in the wild. The economic importance of each of these animals for viewing purposes is worth millions of dollars compared to the $250.00 from a pelt, that is received by benefits a single individual.

Public testimony is being taken, so show up and speak up for these incredible animals.  More details HERE.

ATTENTION D.C. MUDFLATTERS!

Are you interested in attending the Fairfax, Virginia book signing for Going Rogue this Saturday?  Wait, before you answer that you’d rather have a red hot poker shoved in your ear… there will be other Mudflatters there.  Join the gathering and get details be dropping an email to virginiavoter4(at)gmail.com better known to Mudflatters as “FW.”  FW would like some witty sign slogan ideas, so even if you can’t be there, feel free to make suggestions in the comments!

Governor’s Office Requests Extension….Again.

If I’m correct, and if you’ve been counting on your fingers the number of times that the Governor’s office has requested an extension for turning over records requested by members of the public during the brief but eventful Palin administration, you’ll have to move to counting on your toes soon.  The Alaska Public Records Act requires that documents are turned over within 10 days.  At least for one citizen (Andree McLeod) it has been not 10 days, not 20 days, not two months, or six, but more than ONE YEAR since her requests were filed.

Here is the link to the .pdf of the extension request  —> perezletter

A Good Day for Belugas!

This just in from Cook Inletkeeper!

“The federal National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) today took an important step toward protecting critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the Cook Inlet beluga whale in Alaska by proposing to designate more than 3,000 square miles of the imperiled whale’s habitat for protection. The overdue proposal comes after a 2007 petition by various local and national groups to NMFS to list the beluga under the ESA, and on the heels of a formal notice of intent to sue by the Center for Biological Diversity.

Once habitat is designated, federal agencies are prohibited from taking any actions that may “adversely modify” it. Species for which critical habitat has been designated have been found to be more than twice as likely to be recovering, and less than half as likely to be declining, as those without it.”