SB 85: Joyriding Over Local Livelihoods

NEWS: (5/10/06) SB85 had a hearing in House Transportation Committee on Tuesday, 5/2/06. The bill failed to move from committee on a 3-2 vote, with Representatives Elkins, Salmon and Kapsner voting no and Representatives Gatto and Neuman voting yes. Neither Rep. Thomas nor Rep. Kohring were present for the vote. The bill officially died at the end of the 24th Legislative Session.

(2/10/06) SB 85 was adopted by the Senate and moved to the House where it was referred to the House Transportation Committee.

SB 85 would repeal restrictions on off-road vehicle (ORV) use within the five mile corridor surrounding the Dalton Highway north of the Yukon river, thereby opening delicate tundra ecosystems to joyriders and ATV hunters. Law enforcement in the area is already strained, with the entire corridor and surrounding lands patroled by a single Trooper. Allowing unrestricted ORV access could potentially result in increased vandalism, human-caused fires, and hunting pressure. Fish and Game also only has one individual to patrol the vast 78,000 square mile area (an area roughly the size of Minnesota) that includes the Dalton Highway. Fish and Game also openly acknowledges that the bill will have financial implications for the division's current management practices.

SB 85 would also be ecologically devastating. As Wiseman residents and tundra biologists have testified, a single ORV track can wreak havoc on tundra and permanently alter vegetation and drainage patterns. The Toolik Lake Field Research Station, a world-class arctic research facility that draws in hundreds of scientists and over $8.6 million in research funds each year, could be adversely affected. Researchers have testified that opening the area to off-road vehicles will jeopardize funding and compromise experiments, some of which have been running for almost 30 years.

Additionally, SB 85 breaks a long-standing promise with area residents, who were told access would stay restricted to protect their subsistence resources and livelihood. As Sen. Hollis French noted when he objected to SB 85's passage out of the Senate Transportation Committee, SB 85 even fails to define what an ORV is, opening up the doorway for Humvees and any other type of vehicle to drive across the delicate tundra.

ATV Problems Elsewhere in Alaska:
Potter Creek - Lower Kenai (PDF) - Yakutat Forelands

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What You Can Do:
Contact your senator and representative to tell them
to safeguard Alaska's special places and oppose SB 85. You can also
contact the members of the House Transportation Committee to voice
your opposition to SB85--

Representative Elkins (Co-Chair)
Representative Gatto (Co-Chair)
Representative Kohring
Representative Neuman
Representative Thomas
Representative Kapsner
Representative Salmon

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