February 17 th 2005 Re: Senate Bill 85 Isla Myers-Smith As an Alaskan Resident, a biologist investigating disturbance in the boreal forest and tundra, and a recreational user of the Dalton corridor, I wish to voice concerns about repealing the ban on the use of off-road vehicles within five miles of the right-of-way of the James Dalton Highway. I have studied the impact of the Dalton Hwy. on the adjacent tundra in the corridor in question. This study of road disturbance is currently in review for publication in the European journal for applied ecology: Ecography. I am also a recreational user of the Dalton Hwy. corridor and have visited this area for the last three summers. This past summer, my car was vandalized and items stolen from it at the Galbraith Lake Parking Lot, north of Atigun Pass on the Dalton Hwy. Reporting this incident made me realize how limited police jurisdiction is in the Dalton corridor. My professional and personal experiences as a scientist and a recreational user of the Dalton corridor have motivated me to voice the following concerns with Senate Bill 85.
The Dalton Hwy. corridor from the Yukon River to Atigun Pass is currently policed by one state trooper based in Coldfoot. The Dalton Hwy. north of Atigun pass is in the jurisdiction of the Barrow Police. They will not deploy officers. They refer you to the police stationed at Prudhoe. There is no active enforcement of current use of the corridor and there are limited emergency services in this area. Increased use in this area will necessitate increased spending expenditures for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Alaska Department of Transportation, and the Alaska Department of Public Safety in order to address the current limited public services in the Dalton corridor.
This repeal could open the entire Dalton Hwy. corridor to off road vehicles depending on the policies of the effected land management agencies. Tundra ecosystems are extremely sensitive to disturbance. My colleagues and I have documented a 200 meter corridor of significant disturbance to the adjacent tundra from dust from the Dalton Hwy. Other studies have shown that vehicle damage to the tundra can persist for decades (Walker and Walker, 1991). Also, behavioral impacts to wildlife are likely from noise, pollution, and ecosystem disturbance (Forman and Alexander, 1998). Off road access to the sensitive tundra ecosystems should be distinguished from more resilient boreal ecosystems. A reasonable compromise would be to allow off road access in the boreal regions south of Atigun pass where vehicles will cause less disturbance. There are currently no definitions of the term off road vehicles allowing for large trucks, in addition to ATVs and snow machines. A reasonable compromise would be to allow snow machine access in the winter months when the ground is frozen and there is adequate snow cover.
Human caused fire ignitions in this fire prone area will increase. Currently human caused fires are 10 times more frequent within a 5 mile corridor of roads in Interior Alaska (Alaska Fire Database). Increasing vehicle traffic in this corridor will lead to more fire starts and therefore increase cost of fire suppression. The repeal of this law to allow off-road vehicle use on the Dalton Highway will have significant negative impacts on the ecologically sensitive tundra and boreal ecosystems of Northern Alaska. It will reduce public access to the undisturbed landscape and wildlife. And it will significantly increase pressures on state agencies responsible for policing and protecting both the ecosystem and the public users. I encourage the Senate Transportation committee to consider these impacts. Isla Myers-Smith
References: Forman, R. T. and L. E. Alexander. 1998. Roads and their major ecological effects. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics29:207-231. Walker, D. A., and M. D. Walker. 1991. History and pattern of disturbance in Alaskan arctic terrestrial ecosystems: a hierarchical approach to analyzing landscape change. Journal of Applied Ecology28:244-276. |