A new year, and a new website.  As you may have noticed, our brand new website has launched.  In a fresh new look, and ready for mobile!  Try it on iPad or your phone. The content should adapt right away. Enjoy!

The content management system is WordPress 3.5.  The latest version and a great template make it easier to work with than ever. We are looking for an volunteer with a little WordPress experience to help us post items from time to time, and keep the site current.  Contact us through the form on our website if you are able and available to lend a hand.

Maria Talasz – MonacoGraphics  for the Friends of McNeil River

McNeil River Bears – Presentation

Wednesday April 17, 2013 from 7-9 p.m.

at Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK

World famous brown bears of McNeil River as seen by Tom Griffin, Manager of ADF&G run State Game Sanctuary. Photo presentation & bear talk of the habituated bears seen through the lens of Tom and his staff members.

Price: Free – Donations accepted
Phone: (907) 244-4041 for info
books and hats available for sale at that time

We are coordinating the video taping of the 2013 meeting and will post it on our website soon after the meeting.

Watch the presentation from 2012 on video.

Get your hat at this event!

(08/26/07)

The three-week trophy hunting season begins on October 1st

The McNeil bears that visit Katmai National Preserve are under threat.

The three-week trophy hunting season begins on October 1st, and there is no limit on the number of bears that may be harvested.

Please speak up in support of the bears, by writing a letter to:

Marcia Blaszak
Alaska Regional Director
National Park Service
240 West 5th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501
You could also email the National Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/SER/sendmail.htm?o=%408*3OEJ%2BEIJ%5E%3DKQR%5DQCZEJTF%2F2XY(OX.1%3FQ%26%5EE%25%231B%3AD%20%0A&r=/katm/contacts.htm , but the impact will not be as great as writing a letter!

For more information go to:

http://forums.ngm.com/forums/1/154052/ShowThread.aspx#154052

You can help make a difference!

(03/04/07)

Joy Mapaye KTUU-TV March 4, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Board of Game says it is simply swamped with letters, e-mails and testimony opposing a proposed hunt near the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. This is day three of public testimony and board members say they still have a long way to go before they’re done. So far the board says it has received approximately 28,000 e-mails, numerous letters and phone calls.

In 2005 the Board of Game voted to allow brown bear hunting in the Kamishak special use area, not far from the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. If approved, the first hunt is scheduled for this fall.

“I really think the evidence is overwhelming that bears that have become tolerant to people lose much of their natural wariness and it doesn’t matter if it’s in McNeil or areas outside of McNeil,” said Bill Sherwonit, nature writer.

“I think the misperception is that the fate of these bears is in jeopardy by what happens to them once they leave those areas. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. It’s been misportrayed,” said Joe Lutsch, president, Professional Hunters Association.

“I would say we’re certainly taking a beating on this one. But on the other side of the coin, it’s always really good to see the public come out and voice their opinion. This is a very public process, probably the best one in the world when it comes to managing wildlife,” said Ted Spraker, vice chairman, Alaska Board of Game.

One hundred fifty people are scheduled to testify. Spraker estimates one-third of those are opposed to opening the area to hunters.

Spraker says the earliest the board would make it’s decision would be Wednesday. He says there are other issues the board must tackle first in Kodiak and Cordova. In addition to this issue, the board also hopes to hear more from those interested in tier two subsistence permits for caribou in unit 13 near Glennallen.

Demotion offer accepted
(03/03/07)
By ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 3, 2007
Last Modified: March 3, 2007 at 04:02 AM

Ron Somerville, stung by criticism after implying that Natives missing from an October meeting were off drinking beer, announced Friday he’ll step aside as Board of Game chairman.

He did not resign from the board.

Gov. Sarah Palin twice asked Somerville to quit the board but he refused, said Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton. Palin has said his remarks created a cloud of controversy that detracted from the board’s business.

After Somerville wouldn’t resign, Palin then asked him to give up the chairmanship, Stapleton said.

“She feels it clears much of the cloud the board is working under, so she’s satisfied,” Stapleton said.

Somerville’s three-year term on the board ends next March.

“The governor will have the opportunity to evaluate the seat at that time,” Stapleton said.

Somerville, appointed by former Gov. Frank Murkowski, could not immediately be reached Friday.

The board’s members elect the chairman. After Somerville stepped down, board members elected Cliff Judkins of Wasilla to replace him as chairman.

The controversial remarks came after some Natives who had signed up to speak at the board’s Oct. 7 meeting didn’t come to the microphone when Somerville called their name.

“There must have been a run on free beer or something,” he said.

The next person he called came forward.

“Don’t like beer, Donna?” he asked.

Natives from the Copper River region led the call for his removal. They feel he threatens subsistence hunting, and wish he’d been removed, said Ken Johns, president of Ahtna, the region’s Native corporation.

“He’s still in a position to do damage to our area either verbally or by his actions on the game board, so we’re not too happy he’s sticking around,” Johns said.

Somerville announced the decision on the first day of a marathon meeting in Anchorage where the board is considering, among other things, allowing bear hunting near areas such as the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, one of the world’s premier bear-viewing areas.

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/8681998p-8577978c.html (this link may expire)

(02/28/07)

By JIM STRATTON and DEREK STONOROV
Published: February 28, 2007
Last Modified: February 28, 2007 at 03:11 AM
One of the planet’s premier bear viewing destinations is the contiguous area encompassed by McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and Refuge and Katmai National Park and Preserve. Each year more than 10,000 people travel from all over the world to observe and photograph Katmai and McNeil bears.

Congress recognized the value of these bears in the Alaska Land Act, and directed Katmai National Park and Preserve to maintain “high concentrations” of brown bears. But every other year, a few dozen people also come to Katmai Preserve to hunt bears under rules established by the Alaska Board of Game.

These hunting rules are enabling an unsustainable number of Katmai Preserve brown bears to be killed — conflicting with this Park Service mandate. We’re asking that the fall 2007/spring 2008 hunt in Katmai be deferred to allow for a comprehensive bear management plan that will ensure the bear population in Katmai remains high.

Bears tracked by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game show that they regularly move between McNeil and Katmai to follow food sources. The bears have developed a superhighway over the mountains as they pursue the summer chum salmon run at McNeil River and the red salmon run that extends into the fall on Moraine and Funnel creeks in Katmai Preserve. It is on these late fall feeding grounds in Katmai Preserve that the Board of Game has failed to manage for sustainable high concentrations of bears.

Katmai bear viewing guides Ken and Chris Day have spent 75 days a year in the preserve for the past 13 years, and they are observing a decline in bear numbers. In 1994, it was not uncommon to see 35 to 60 adult bears per day. In 2006, a typical daily count was 10 or 11 adult bears. Only two large males were observed all year.

Fish and Game says bear numbers at McNeil River have dropped about 22 percent from the 1990s to now. Not only are total numbers down, but there also seem to be fewer large males. Clearly something is amiss.

The Katmai Preserve hunt is authorized for every other fall/spring. From 1985 to 2002, there were nine fall/spring hunts with an average harvest of about seven bears per year.

Fish and Game biologists stated in 2003 that a “sustainable harvest from the Preserve (Katmai) is seven to nine bears per calendar year.” That is five to six percent of the estimated Katmai bear population.

But from 2003 to 2006, the harvest level increased to 12 percent of the estimated bear population, or about 17 bears per year. This increase from seven to 17 bears killed per year, in our mind, at least partially explains the drop in observable bear numbers at both Katmai and McNeil.

The Board of Game has several proposals about the shrinking bear population to consider at its March 2-12 meetings. These include shortening the season, limiting the number of hunters, or, as some have suggested, shutting down the hunt altogether.

We feel Congress intended for some hunting to continue, otherwise Katmai Preserve would have been made a park. But hunting also has to be compatible with the other purposes of the preserve, including protecting “high concentrations” of brown bears.

One need only look to the bear hunt on Kodiak Island for an example of a well-managed and successful hunting program. It sets a harvest level of about 6 percent. The Kodiak harvest is managed by a comprehensive bear management plan that maintains diversity in age and sex class, while also allowing the overall bear population to increase slightly.

The upcoming hunt should be deferred to allow the National Park Service and Fish and Game to determine their population goals, conduct any additional research, and develop the kind of bear management plan that is successful on Kodiak. Once the bear population again meets the congressional mandate for “high concentrations,” we would not oppose the reinstatement of a limited hunt that ensures a sustainable harvest.

Jim Stratton is Alaska regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association. Derek Stonorov has worked 10 seasons at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and is currently a bear viewing guide in Katmai National Park and Preserve.

(02/28/07)

The best answer is to call off expanded hunt near McNeil River

Anchorage Daily News – Editorial
Published: February 28, 2007
Last Modified: February 28, 2007 at 03:11 AM
McNeil River bears are worldwide icons, lifetime memories for those fortunate enough to watch the big brownies fish in their natural habitat.

Can we spare a few more for hunters, and should we?

The answer to that question depends on the answers to two other questions.

The first is this: Would a hunt of brown bears grown tolerant of people at McNeil River Falls be a fair-chase hunt? Larry Aumiller, former head of the McNeil River sanctuary who has spent much of his professional life bringing bears and people together, says no. Rod Arno, a hunting guide and president of the Alaska Outdoor Council, says yes, arguing that brown bears regain their wariness when they leave the bear-viewing grounds.

Bruce Bartley, information officer for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, points out that McNeil bears spend only about six or seven weeks at the sanctuary’s salmon-rich waters in the summer. When the salmon dwindle, the bears head for the berries of higher ground. When they’re not at the sanctuary, they go wherever bears go, and presumably cross ground that’s open to hunting — in the Katmai preserve to the west, for one example. Yet many of the same bears come back year after year, becoming familiar enough to earn nicknames. If they had become unwary of humans, more of them would be trophies by now.

So would such a hunt be fair chase? Matt Robus, Fish and Game’s director of wildlife conservation, says the huge variability in bear behavior means there’s “not a cut-and-dried answer.” As Mr. Bartley says, it’s a matter of opinion. But as he also points out, to protect all McNeil River bears, you’d have to close the entire surrounding area to hunting, including areas that are open now, because the bears range that far. That’s unlikely to happen.

The state Board of Game is up against a tough principle: You don’t shoot Smokey, and McNeil bears have an even more exalted status than the old symbol of forest stewardship because they’re real. Any notion that the state is about to enlarge the area where they can be hunted just doesn’t sit well, especially with those who have watched them.

Those opposed to the opening include the Alaska Professional Hunters Association. The association’s reasoning is practical — the chance to take a few more bears isn’t worth the controversy, and Alaska offers other hunting grounds.

There’s also the question of fewer bears visiting McNeil River Falls in recent years while brown bear harvests have been up in the area. Rather than expand the hunt, it makes sense to wait and learn the reason for the smaller numbers.

The Board of Game will reconsider its decision to open state land south and east of the sanctuary at meetings beginning Friday in Anchorage. As it stands now, those lands will be open to a hunt beginning Oct. 1; rules allow only five permits every two years.

That’s hardly a call to open season. But the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, feeling the heat of strong public opposition to the opening, has advised the Board of Game to reverse its decision. Staffers believe the expanded hunt satisfies requirements for both fair chase and sustainability, but would be a slap in the face to a public convinced the McNeil bears need more protection, not less. And that slap could be detrimental to Alaska hunters in the future.

The board should heed the advice. Better to err, if error this is, on the side of conservation.

BOTTOM LINE: Maintain the status quo for bear hunting and protection near the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/8675203p-8569573c.html (this link may expire)

(02/17/07)

ANCHORAGE – The Land’s End Resort in Homer is just a short flight from some of the best bear-viewing in the world. Homer would like to keep it that way.

THE SEATTLE TIMES
Saturday, February 17, 2007 – Page updated at 12:30 AM

Alaska town wants haven for bears that bring cash
By MARY PEMBERTON

The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE – The Land’s End Resort in Homer is just a short flight from some of the best bear-viewing in the world. Homer would like to keep it that way.

The town on Kachemak Bay, known for its thriving arts community and bustling halibut charter business, is getting some help from Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, who introduced a bill into the Legislature that would derail a plan by the Alaska Board of Game to open up state lands next to the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary to hunting. The sanctuary is home to the largest congregation of brown bears in the world.

The state lands, just south and southeast of the sanctuary, have been closed to brown-bear hunting for more than 20 years. Seaton’s bill would change the sanctuary’s boundaries to include the 95,000 acres of state land used by the famed McNeil River bears.

Seaton said the bill is in response to constituents in his district asking him to prevent the game board from allowing the McNeil River bears to be hunted, especially when numbers gathering at the McNeil Falls to fish for salmon have declined in recent years.

The game board’s 2005 decision takes effect July 1, clearing the way for an October hunt. The board is expected to reconsider the issue at a meeting in March in Anchorage.

Seaton said his bill is a move to protect bear viewing.

“Out of Homer, my area, there are a lot of people that have developed an economic base in providing bear-viewing opportunities for people all across the nation,” Seaton said. “It doesn’t make much sense to be hunting those … when they are on the decline.”

Big spenders

Seaton points to a 2005 study by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, that says Homer visitors who viewed bears spent $2,828 per person per trip to Alaska. That compares with about $1,400 spent by the average summer visitor.

Seaton has not heard much opposition to his bill, yet. He expects to hear more as the bill moves through the Legislature, and he thinks he knows where the opposition will come from. “There are some people that just don’t want to restrict any hunting anywhere in the state,” Seaton said.

However, Seaton said his bill would place no restrictions on current uses.

“It is an area that has not been used for hunting bears for years and years. Nothing in the bill would restrict sport fishing or commercial fishing or the current uses over there,” Seaton said.

Game Board Chairman Ron Somerville said he has no problem with the Legislature considering changing the boundaries of the sanctuary, which was created 40 years ago.

“That is certainly the prerogative of the Legislature. They are the ones that set it aside. They can modify it as they see fit,” he said.

When Land’s End operator Jon Faulkner arrived in Homer in 1988, bear-viewing was in its infancy, he said, with just one high-end wilderness lodge in the area offering tours.

No longer. The 104-room hotel 112 air miles from the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary books a quarter-million dollars in bear-viewing trips a year.

“It is huge,” Faulkner said, of the bear-viewing business. “Today, when we talk to clients about coming to Kachemak Bay to recreate, bear viewing is as much a viable option as parasailing in Mexico.”

Faulkner, a hunter who supports hunters’ rights, said when it comes to the McNeil River bears, he supports Seaton’s bill.

“Just like there are certain places you don’t drill for oil, there are certain places you don’t hunt bears,” he said.

The city of Homer also supports the bill. Bear viewing has become an important part of the local economy, said city manager Walt Wrede. It’s not just the money spent on bear-viewing tours, Wrede said. It’s also the money spent to stay in hotels and bed and breakfasts and to eat in restaurants.

“There is a ripple effect from bear viewing,” he said.

150,000 visitors

Homer, with a year-round population of about 5,400, gets about 150,000 visitors a year, said Linda Broadhead, manager of the town’s visitor center.

In February 2005, the Homer City Council passed a resolution asking the game board to keep the state lands next to the sanctuary closed. The resolution said bear viewing contributed “greatly to Homer’s economy.”

It also said that more than 4,200 visitors between January and September of 2004 asked about trips to view bears when stopping in at the Homer Visitor Information Center.

The game board decided the next month to open the state lands next to the sanctuary to brown-bear hunting. The request was made by hunters in Naknek, a fishing community of about 570 people about 100 miles away.

Seaton said the board took the action despite opposition from hundreds of Alaskans. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game also spoke out against opening the state lands to brown-bear hunting.

“It is known worldwide and around the country,” Seaton said of the McNeil River bear-viewing experience.

Somerville has said the sanctuary was created to protect the bears at the McNeil Falls, not wherever they wander.

Chris Day and her husband Ken run Emerald Air Services out of Homer. Day said last season they took more than 1,000 people to the Katmai National Preserve near the sanctuary to view bears. They have a single-engine Otter that can carry 10 passengers. They could easily triple the size of the business, she said.

“The bear-viewing client of 2007 understands what they want,” Day said. “They want to observe and sit all day long and view bears.”

In 2005, Day said 47 businesses in Homer signed a petition to try and keep the state lands closed. Those businesses ranged from air-taxi companies to wilderness lodges to a bookstore.

Their pleas have fallen on “deaf ears” at the game board, she said.

“Our game is supposed to be managed for all Alaskans. The Board of Game simply is not doing that. They not only … are not sympathetic, they are actually adversarial toward any viewing of wildlife.”

Dave Bachrach’s company, AK Adventures, conducted 80 guided trips last summer to Katmai National Park south of the sanctuary to view bears. It takes about an hour by plane to get to the park, where Bachrach lands on the beach and small groups of clients hike in to get a look at the bears. While no hunting is allowed in Katmai National Park, the McNeil River bears use the park.

If those bears are hunted in what was once protected space, the bear-viewing experience will suffer, he said.

“Basically, we are not going to have a quality experience because all we are going to see is the behind of a bear when it sees either approaching aircraft or people,” Bachrach said.

Copyright – The Seattle Times Company

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2003576631_bears17e.html

(02/13/07)
HB 127 Would Close Kamishak Special Use Area to Bear Hunting

Rep. Paul Seaton R-35

Alaska House Majority

Contact: Will Vandergriff, 465-5446, House Majority Press Secretary

http://www.housemajority.org/item.php?id=item20070213-39

(Juneau) – Representative Paul Seaton (R-Homer) has introduced legislation to safeguard bear viewing in the McNeil River Bear Sanctuary, an important component of Alaska’s tourism economy. HB 127 includes portions of the Kamishak Special Use Area (SUA) in the McNeil River Bear Sanctuary. In 2005, the Board of Game opened portions of the SUA to a brown bear hunt in 2007.

Without Game Board action or this legislation, a hunt will be allowed in the SUA this summer. The area that would be open to hunting lies in the heart of bear watching country. “This action was taken despite the opposition of hundreds of Alaskans, numerous Alaskan tourism industry groups, and against the recommendations of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game,” Seaton said. ” Bear viewing is a strong and growing part of the tourism industry in Southcentral Alaska, and in the rest of the state as well. Without Game Board action or this legislation, a hunt will be allowed in the SUA this summer. The area that would be open to hunting lies in the heart of bear watching country.”

Bear viewing statistics from 2004 indicate that approximately 11,523 people participated in bear viewing in the McNeil/Katmai area. The economic value to Southcentral alone is estimated at $32,587,044. According to an Institute of Social and Economic Research study conducted in 2005, bear viewers spent $2828 per person on average in Alaska.

“I have heard from numerous constituents who support this legislation to increase protection for brown bear in this small part of House District 35,” Seaton said. “HB 127 will have minimal impacts on current use patterns in the area. Commercial recreation such as guided fishing is already regulated in the area and the lodges are already are permitted for the sanctuary. This action would not affect commercial fishing in the area.

“According to ADF&G, bear numbers in the McNeil River are have been on the decline, due in part to declining chum salmon runs and liberalized bear hunting seasons in the Game Management Unit, 9B, which borders to the north and west of the sanctuary.

HB 127 has been referred to the House Resources Committee for its consideration.

(02/14/07)

Apply now, the deadline draws near.

The McNeil bear viewing season runs from mid-June through late August. Applications must be postmarked by March 1.
You may also apply for “standby” slots in April. Lottery fees are $20 per person, and lottery winners will pay an additional $250 user fee. Successful applicants will spend 4 days camping at McNeil River. There is a campground area where visitors sleep (bring your own tent, food and gear) and a cook shed for food preparation and storage. Click here to apply for a permit. http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/