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DNR releases draft management plan for Kachemak Bay State Park

Aaron Bolton, KBBI News

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has released a draft management plan for Kachemak Bay State Park near Homer, and some Kenai Peninsula Residents are taking issue with the length of the comment period.

The draft is an update to the 1995 management plan, and it also includes recommended changes for the Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park and the Eveline and Diamond Creek state recreation areas.

Monica Alvarez works for DNR and said the plan is responding to comments from a number of scoping meetings leading up to the draft plan’s release.

“There’s a lot of interest in trails, specifically biking trails,” Alvarez explained. “The plan is trying to be responsive to that, and so there’s a lot of recommendations related to trails and additional facilities like public-use cabins, which are really popular in the park.”

Alvarez encourages stakeholders to look closely at chapter five and six of the draft plan, which includes a number of recommendations on different uses within the park. Commercial uses have been a point of contention, particularly Cook Inlet Aquaculture’s Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery.  

The hatchery association moved forward with a contentious plan to release fish at the head of Tutka Bay this summer.

“So what we say is that the hatchery can only be authorized at its current site,” Alvarez noted, “and that net pens associated with the hatchery can only authorized in the lagoon or in Tutka Bay at a site identified and permitted by the Department of Fish and Game.”

The plan itself is just shy of 200 pages. Homer water taxi operator Mako Haggerty said the current 30-day comment period on the plan is too short to sort through the draft.

Haggerty sits on the Kachemak Bay State Park Citizens Advisory Board and is the president of the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Park group. Haggerty and several others pored over the plan for the first time Thursday.

“I have to say we barely scratched the surface. So we’ve got a lot more work to do under a very limited time,” he said.

Haggerty said he’s interested in a larger trails program within the park and wants to see more maintenance for existing trails. He also said he will keep an eye on any changes to commercial use within the park.

“That would be water taxis, helicopters, commercial fishing, hatcheries, the yurt concession, etc,” Haggerty explained.

Alvarez said DNR may extend the comment deadline, which is Oct. 19, and she says that the department will likely announce its decision Monday.

Comments can be submitted by mail, fax or email to: Kachemak Bay State Planning 550 West 7th Ave., Suite 1050 Anchorage, AK 99501 Fax: (907)269-8915 Email: monica.alvarez@alaska.gov

Aaron Bolton has moved on to a new position in Montana; he is no longer KBBI News Director. KBBI is currently seeking a News Director, and Kathleen Gustafson is filling in for the time being.