[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
Mitchell, Hood and Chaik-Whitewater Bays Areas Meriting Special Attention Pla@/ F HT 393 .A42 Public Review Draft A54 July 1990 1990 Angoon Coastal Management District The preparation of this report was financed in part by funds from the Alaska Coastal Management Program which is funded by the State of Alaska and the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, administered by the Department of Community and Regional Affairs, Municipal and Regional Assistance Division. Coverphoto: Kanalku Bay in the Mitchell Bay AMSA. Peter Metcalfe, Juneau. ACKNOV4EDGEADENTS Roxanne Turner, Project Consultant Barbara Sheinberg, Project Manager CITY OF ANGOON CITY COUNCIL PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION Daniel Johnson, Jr., Mayor George Johnson, Jr., Chairman Wally Frank, Sr. Lydia George Edward Gamble, Sr. Frank Lane Y-e Johnson, Jr. Matilda Gamble Georg Vivian James Cynthia Jim George Nelson, Jr. Harriet Silva Rodney Hunter Norman Nelson, Sr. COASTAL COORDINATOR Pauline Johnson We appreciate the assistance and support of Dan Johnson Jr., George Johnson Jr., and Pauline Johnson. The City Council and Planning Commission members worked hard to strengthen the policies and recommmendations, and their wit enlivened our meetings. Several of the elders deserve special thanks for their on-going work on the traditional Tlingit place names for Figures 6, 7, and 8. The include Lydia George, Matthew Fred Sr., George Jim Sr., Charlie Joseph Sr., and Paul James 9r. Beth Jack assisted with translation and orthography. Matthew Kookesh reviewed the draft AMSA plan and suggested revisions that we have incorporated. Thanks go to Mike Macy who wrote the Angoon Coastal Management Program plan and the AMSA Nomination Report. We apologize for any latitude in lifting Mike's well-crafted phrases. He writes well. Mike also helped us with research questions. Other plans that were helpful to us in writing the AMSA Public Review Draft include the Hydaburg and Eyak Lake AMSA plans, and the Sitka, Hoonah, Bering Straits CRSA, and Cenaliulriit CRSA coastal district plans. Many state and federal agency staff provided information and assistance, and it would be difficult to name everyone who contributed to the report. Here are a few: Mary Bixby, DGC U.S. goast Guard Peter McKay, DCRA Andy Peekovich, DNR Ken Mitchell, USFS Mike Kaill, ADFG Matt Kookesh, ADFG John Palmes, ADFG Rob Bosworth, ADFG Jerry Madden, ADFG Steve Klingler, DNR Glenn Seaman, ADFG Marty Case, ADFG Ken Imamura, ADFG Drue Grant, DNR Others who contributed to the report include Rodger Painter, Alaska Mariculture Association; Frank Sharp, Kootznoowoo Corporation; Marlene Zuboff, Angoon Community Association; and Albert Kookesh, Kootznoowoo Corporation. We thank Dick Sill of Mont Meg Engineering and Lyle Krueger at Triad North for expertly pre )aring the base maps ang overlays. The Mac Station typeset the AMSA Public Review Draft, ang Alaska Litho printed it. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Figures ....................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 2 The Alaska Coastal Management Program ........................................................... 3 Areas Meriting Special Attention ..................................................................... 3 Angoon AMSA Planning Objectives ..................................................................... 4 The AMSA Nominations ................................................................................. 4 The Purpose and Goals of AMSA Planning ...................................................... 5 AMSA Locations and Legal Descriptions .............................................................. 5 Mitchell Bay .................................................................................................. 5 Hood Bay ...................................... I................................................................. 5 Chaik-Whitewater Bay .................................................................................... 7 LAND OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT JURISDICTION .................................. 11 Traditional Social Organization ........................................................................ 12 Traditional Land Use and Ownership ................................................................ 13 Mitchell Bay ................................................................................................ 15 Hood Bay ..................................................................................................... 17 Chaik Bay .................................................................................................... 19 Whitewater Bay ............................................................................................ 20 Contemporary Land Ownership ......................................................................... 21 Transition ................................................................................................... 21 Mitchell Bay ................................................................................................ 22 Hood Bay ..................................................................................................... 23 Chaik-Whitewater Bays ................................................................................ 23 RESOURCE INVENTORY and ANALYSIS ............................................................ V Mitchell Bay AMSA .......................................................................................... 28 Resource Inventory ...................................................................................... 28 General Setting ........................................................................................ 28 Fish and Wildlife ...................................................................................... 28 Fisheries ................................................................................................. 30 Fisheries Enhancement & Mariculture ....................................................... 30 Recreation ............................................................................................... 31 Minerals ................................................................................................. 31 Timber .................................................................................................... 31 Energy .................................................................................................... 32 Cultural Resources ................................................................................... 33 Resource Analysis ........................................................................................ 33 Introduction ............................................................................................ 33 Traditional and Customary Natural Resource Use ....................................... 33 Fisheries Enhancement & Mariculture ....................................................... 34 Recreation ............................................................................................... 34 Minerals ................................................................................................. 35 Timber .................................................................................................... 35 Cultural Resources ................................................................................... 36 Hood Bay AMSA .............................................................................................. 38 Resource Inventory ...................................................................................... 38 General Setting ........................................................................................ 38 Fish and Wildlife ...................................................................................... 38 Fisheries ................................................................................................. 39 Fisheries Enhancement & Mariculture ....................................................... 40 Recreation ............................................................................................... 40 Timber .................................................................................................... 40 Minerals ................................................................................................. 41 Cultural Resources ................................................................................... 41 Resource Analysis ........................................................................................ 42 Introduction ............................................................................................ 42 Traditional and Customary Natural Resource Use ....................................... 42 Fisheries Enhancement & Mariculture ....................................................... 42 Recreation ............................................................................................... 43 Timber .................................................................................................... 43 Cultural Resources ................................................................................... 44 Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA ........................................................................... 46 Resource Inventory ...................................................................................... 46 General Setting ........................................................................................ 46 Fish and Wildlife ...................................................................................... 46 Fisheries ................................................................................................. 47 Fisheries Enhancement & Mariculture ....................................................... 48 Recreation ............................................................................................... 48 Timber .................................................................................................... 48 Minerals ................................................................................................. 49 Cultural Resources ................................................................................... 49 Resource Analysis ........................................................................................ 50 Introduction ............................................................................................. w Traditional and Customary Natural Resource Use ....................................... 50 Fisheries ................................................................................................. 51 Fisheries Enhancement & Mariculture ....................................................... 51 Recreation ............................................................................................... 51 Timber .................................................................................................... 52 Cultural Resources ................................................................................... 52 MANAGEMENT OF THE AREAS MERITING SPECIAL ATTENTION ..................... 54 Introduction .................................................................................................... 55 Proper and Improper Uses ................................................................................ 56 Subject Uses .................................................................................................... 56 Goals, Objectives and Policies Traditional and Customary Natural Resource Use ........................................... 57 Recreation ................................................................................................... 57 Fisheries Enhancement and Mariculture ....................................................... 58 Timber ........................................................................................................ 59 AMSA Development ..................................................................................... 60 Firewood ..................................................................................................... 62 Cultural Resources ...................................................................................... 63 Air, Land and Water Quality ......................................................................... 63 Habitat ....................................................................................................... 64 Mining ........................................................................................................ 66 Implementation ............................................................................................... 66 Authority ........................................................................................................ 67 Appendix A RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO THE ...................................... 68 MITCHELL, HOOD, AND CHAIK-WHITEWATER BAY AMSAs Appendix B SALT LAKE COHO USER CONFLICT ................................................ 70 Summary of Use Conflict ........................... 70 Summary of Recommendations by ...................................................... 71 Impacted Agency or Group Appendix C Documentation of Public Involvement ................................................ 73 Appendix D Bibliography .......... ......................................................................... 75 LIST OF FIGURES Page I Location Map ............................................................................................. 6 2 Mitchell Bay AMSA Boundary ..................................................................... 8 3 Hood Bay AMSA Boundary .......................................................................... 9 4 Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA Boundary ..................................................... 10 5 Traditional Use Area of the Angoon Tlingit ................................................. 14 6 Mitchell Bay Traditional Place Names ........................................................ 18 7 Hood Bay Traditional Place Names ............................................................. 18 8 Chaik-Whitewater Bay Traditional Place Names .......................................... 18 9 Mitchell Bay Contemporary Land Ownership .............................................. 24 10 Hood Bay Contemporary Land Ownership ................................................... 25 11 Chaik-Whitewater Bay Contemporary Land ................................................ 26 Ownership 12 Mitchell Bay Existing and Potential .............................. I .............................. 37 Future Land Uses 13 Hood Bay Existing and Potential ................................................................. 45 Future Land Uses 14 Chaik-Whitewater Bay Existing and Potential .............................................. 53 Future Land Uses LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Page I Circa 1905, Tlingit Indian House at the village of Angoon . .............................. 2 Alaska State Library Early Prints. #01-894. Vincent Soboleff, photographer. 2 Carving Totem Poles. Billy Webster, Angoon. 1900 ...................................... 11 Alaska State Library Early Prints. #PCA 01 -3452. J.S. MacKinnon, collector. 3 Three Tlingit Chiefs at Angoon in ceremonial dress ..................................... Z7 circa 1905. Alaska State Library Early Prints. #01-897. Vincent Soboleff, photographer. 4 Five Chilkat Dancers. Angoon, 1902. Alaska State Library ........................... 54 Early Prints. #PCA 1-28. Vincent Soboleff, photographer. INTRODUCTION 14 @ Tlu, INTRODUCTION TIM ALASKA COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM At low tide the people go to the beaches. They dig clams and cockles. They gather mussels, seaweed and urchins. Others hunt geese and waterfowl and gather eggs from tidelands and wetlands. Summer brings berry pickers to the beach fringe. Harbors teem with activity as fishermen and hunters ready their boats and gear to fish or hunt. Long- liners and trollers plumb the depths for halibut and salmon. Others set pots for crab and shrimp. Coastal areas resound with boats and float planes as people labor to extract and transport minerals or timber. Tug boats tow huge bundles of logs to pulp mills. Kayakers quietly skim the scenic waters and hikers scale the coastal mountains. Tourists seek the coastline to fish and camp and relax for a while. Seventy-five percent of Alaskans live within 10 miles of the coast and draw upon the energy of the sea. Coastal resources serve the entire living community, including human society. Society's improper use of even a small part of the complex chain of life endangers the whole system of life. After World War II, the United States experienced an alarming increase in haphazard coastal development with resultant destruction of coastal resources and habitats. The U.S. Congress passed the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 in response to increased pressure and demands on coastal resources, and to reserve coastal areas for water-dependent uses. This law encourages states to balance resource development and preservation and to protect natural coastal ecosystems and cultural values. It authorizes federal funds for the development of state coastal management programs. In 1977 the Alaska State Legislature passed the Alaska Coastal Management Act, providing funds for local governments and rural regions to begin to develop their own coastal management programs. Now, thirty-three coastal communities and regions have or are preparing plans that guide development in their respective coastal areas and take part in decisions on permitting of proposed development projects. The intent of Alaska's program is not to block coastal development, but to ensure that it proceeds in a culturally and environmentally-sound manner that makes the best use of coastal resources. Through the joint participation of development project applicants and affected coastal communities and state agencies, the Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP) serves as a forum for conflict resolution and eases the permitting process for proposed coastal development projects. The ACMP also helps ensure that local and state interests are met in coastal development involving planned federal actions. The Alaska Coastal Management Act, Alaska Statutes 46.40 and 44.19 provide authority for the program. After approval of a local plan by the local government, the Alaska Coastal Policy Council and the Federal Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, these district programs become part of the Alaska coastal management program. Areas Mer7@3*Lmig Special Attention (AMSAs) 0 An Area eriting Special Attention (AMSA) is a coastal area which coastal residents feel has significant value and that deserves special management attention for resource develo ment or protection. P@si@ -3- AMSAs may be within or outside a coastal district's boundaries. The Hood Bay and Mitchell Bay AMSAs are mostly outside the coastal district boundary, although both contain lands that fall within the coastal district. The western end of the Mitchell Bay AMSA including Kootznahoo Inlet and Favorite Bay is within the coastal district boundary. In the Hood Bay AMSA, significant portions of the North Arm and the Bay itself are included within the coastal district boundary (See Figure 2 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan). The Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA is entirely outside the Angoon coastal district boundary. The ACMP calls AMSAs outside district boundaries "extra-territorial." The City of Angoon recommended to the Coastal Policy Council that these three coastal areas be designated extra-territorial AMSAs. Approval of the nominations came in 1989, and Angoon was given permission by the Council to proceed with AMSA planning. Extra- territorial AMSAs may eventually become part of state law, but unlike AMSAs within district boundaries which are managed locally, extra-territorial AMSAs are managed by the state. ANGOON AMSA PLANNING OBJECTIVES A. The Angoon AMSA Nominations Alaska Statute 46.40.210(e) defines AMSAs and clescribes the seven types of land that qualify to be selected as AMSAs. Angoon's AMSAs were selected because they qualify as: 8 land that provides unique, scarce, fragile, or vulnerable natural habitat; 0 land that has cultural value, historical significance, or scenic importance; 0 land that has high natural productivity or provides essential habitat for living resources; and 0 land that has substantial recreational value or presents special recreational opportunity, including scenic value. In addition to the land values described above, a geographic area may be designated as an AMSA if it is: land that is indispensable to the continuation of the indigenous culture, including locations of traditional and customary use for hunting, fishing, food gathering, and foraging; land that has special scientific value or presents special scientific opportunity, including land where ongoing research could be jeopardized by development or conflicting use; and land that has the quality of a potential estuarine or marine sanctuary. High traditional use value is the single most important criterion of Angoon's nominated AMSAs. Although no plans have been made to seek sanctuary designation, the three areas are biologically rich and productive enough to merit sanctuary designation some time in the future. -4- B. The Purpose and Goals of AMSA Planning The people of Angoon are primarily interested in AMSA planning in order to gain greater local control over uses and activities in Mitchell, Hood, and Chaik-Whitewater Bays. They want to ensure that traditional use will be the primary management goal and that subsistence opportunities will be maximized. Their goal is to work for the adoption of management plans that place traditional resource uses above commercial fishing and recreational fishing and hunting. Consistent with the philosophy stated in the Angoon Coastal Management Program, development proposals in the AMSAs should meet two tests. They must: a) benefit the great majority of the community; and b) not threaten natural habitats, resources, processes or activities upon which the community depends. AMSA LOCATIONS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS The City of Angoon is located on the western shore of Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska. It lies 62 air miles south southwest of Juneau, and 42 air miles north northeast of Sitka. In 1985 the population numbered about 630. MitchellBayAMSA The Mitchell Bay AMSA borders the town of Angoon and stretches eleven miles to the northeast and five miles to the southeast. The AMSA includes all waters of Kootznahoo Inlet, Mitchell, Favorite, and Kanalku Bays and Kanalku and Salt Lakes and the surrounding lands for a distance inland of 660 feet from mean high tide. The seaward boundary of the AMSA is sketched by a line running across from the intersection of sections 24 and. 25, T 50 S, R 68 E on the Admiralty mainland to mid- channel, east of the Angoon peninsula. The boundary continues south at mid-channel along the peninsula to meet a perpendicular line extending from- the intersection of sections 31 and 32. Angoon and most of the land on the Angoon Peninsula are excluded from the AMSA. However, the Mitchell Bay AMSA includes lands and waters within the coastal district. The 660' strip of land encircling the shores of Favorite Bay, and uplands adjacent to Stillwater Anchorage are within the Angoon coastal district and the municipal boundaries of the City of Angoon. Figure 2 shows the AMSA boundary. Hood Bay AMSA Hood Bay is the first major indent in the west Admiralty Island shoreline of Chatham Strait south of Angoon. The northernmost tip of the AMSA lies about two miles south of the end of the Killisnoo Harbor road and the state ferry terminal. The bay itself is located seven miles south of Angoon. The AMSA is about 15 miles long and one to three miles wide and includes both the North and South arms of Hood Bay. The Hood Bay AMSA includes all waters of Hood Bay east of the line running north from Distant Point across the bench mark on Sand Island to the marker named Killisnoo Northwest Base. All lands within 660 feet of mean high tide east of this line and within Hood Bay are also included. The Hood Bay AMSA includes lands and waters within the -5- ALASKA U v J EAU ONA 1\0 MAP LOCATION T K 04 AN N SIT KAK WRAN \EtU I A NOWH LOCATION MAP MAP LOCA@TIONl Figure 1 coastal district. The Angoon coastal district and municipal boundaries of the City of Angoon intersect the entrance to the Bay west of Cabin Point and extend well into the North Arm of Hood Bay at about mid-channel. Figure 3 shows the AMSA boundary. Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA Chaik and Whitewater Bays. notch the western shore of Admiralty Island. Whitewater lies 20 miles south of Angoon. Woody Point, a small projection of land, separates the two bays that are relatively open and exposed to Chatham Strait. Chaik Bay stretches about five miles eastward into the mountainous terrain of South Admiralty. Whitewater Bay extends nearly four miles inland. Both bays are shoaled and have foul bottoms that make large vessel maneuvering or anchoring unsuitable. The Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA includes all waters east of the line running north from Point Caution through Woody Point and on to. the survey marker named "Bow" just north of Village Point. The landward boundary extends 660 feet inland from the mean high tide line on all waters. The Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA is entirely extra- territorial, or outside the Angoon coastal district boundary. Figure 4 shows the AMSA boundary. -7- 4' 3 32 3 31 00 L salt Lc le-zi a@, 6 j 13, 3 0 a,; rn e; r -48 12 SO(,,-- th 2 i r -nr e C, ---------- Pt A CA., - f p er A; oat;or, 17 pf -Al 09N -CITY AN' 0 assa@ Ocar I, Jin 00 0 23 2' Cfe- 01 & f 00 27- U 2 \@O 2 -2Z) . ........ . . . . . . . Kanalku Ba 41 4%. -Aj KOOrZNAHOO AIN ROADS@1`1@ . ... .. ..... - - ---- ---------------- .. ........ .2 zss -- --------- j (A ha n'd ---------- -2 Sam 77 @Adoo .. ......... 00 C7 . . ..... ........... .. L- 17 cl ....... ------- --- Tab' )e Istand 13 Sand .......... -92 V j 21 24, 22 V. Till . .. . ...... .......... 25 T- 2 Ij :N-4 ------- 3 1-1 ....... v .40 @2 r@ 0 0. 0 20W' 00 23 -2fr- 2 L -- >41 Villa ge p 2-5 x 8 ---------- --------------- ----------- vfflla .............. CHAIK 33 B A Y .... ..... . Pook y 16, Woody P Zn 2750 t ... ....... .... k.- 'a ------- ------ --- - - -------- -- 32 36 J, 14 MI,\ Lj 5 _7 IL--- T LAND OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT JURISDICTION Lw It LAND OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT JURISDICTION TIUDMONAL SOCL4L ORGANMUON The sentiments of the Angoon people toward contemporary land ownership are closely related to their traditional kinship and land ownership concepts. A review of Tlingit social organization and land ownership will aid in understanding their views on contemporary land ownership and management. The Tlingit conceive of their total society in terms of a duality. A Tlingit is born into one of two equal groups known as moieties. Descent is reckoned from the mother's line. Every clan has an animal or plant as a clan crest, and a clan may have several crests. The moieties are the Laayaneidee (Raven) and the Shangukeideei (Eagle). The traditional moiety organization set up a pattern for reciprocal relationships between groups and individuals in the society. It classified all individuals into groups that could only marry into the opposite group. Each moiety was in a sense dependent on the other for marriage partners, economic aid, and potlatching. Each moiety included over twenty major clans or lineages. No single clan was present in every Tlingit village, and traditionally no villages contained representatives of all the clans. Historically, villages tended to contain about equal representation from the Raven and Eagle moieties and generally an equal number of clans from each. Most of the larger clans were known to be located in certain geographical areas. Minor lineages of clans existed as the localized clan segments within a village and were the most important social groups. Generally, each minor lineage was the property owning group in the. society, with property including salmon streams, hunting grounds, berry patches, sealing rocks, house sites, rights to travel routes, and certain important stories, totems, and songs. In 1988 the following clans of either the Raven or Eagle moieties were represented in Angoon. Not all of the clans listed here have a tribal house in Angoon. Laayaneidee (Raven side) Deisheetaan (Angoon Raven) Dakk dain taan (Sea Bird) Anxaldtaan (Dog Salmon) Kiks.adi (Frog) L'uknax.adee (Coho) K'akweideee (Basket Bay Beaver) Slumgukeideei Wagle side) Teikweidee (Brown Bear) Dukl'aweidee (Killerwhale) K aagwantaan (Sitka eagle) Tsaagweidee (Kake Killerwhale) Woosh kee tann (Shark) -12- TRADMONAL LAND USE AND OWNERSHIP The following general description of the Angoon traditional use area is adapted from Goldschmidt and Haas (1946) who documented the use and occupancy of the Tlingit and Haida Indians in southeastern Alaska. Angoon lands and waters traditionally extended great distances up and down Chatham Strait. Traditional occupation included most of the west coast of Admiralty Island from Point Marsden southward and around the southern tip of Admiralty as far as Chapin Bay, and lands along the east coasts of Chichagof and Baranof Islands, from Basket Bay southward to Gut Bay. Oral history indicates that Tenakee Inlet, Freshwater Bay, and False Bay were once a part of the Angoon territory, but in later years they came to be owned and occupied by the Wooshkeetaan clan. The Wooshkeetaan clan (variation: Wuckitan) which probably originated from Auk Village near Juneau, had affiliations with the Angoon people but to some extent were separate from them. Angoon Tlingit and people from Kake jointly use the southern end of the west coast of Baranof Island below Gut Bay. Angoon and Kake generally agree that Herring Bay, Chapin Bay, and Eliza Harbor belong to Angoon people, while small Pybus and Pybus Bay are Kake territory. The Tlingits' claim to extensive traditional use areas is explained by the anthropologist Frederica de Laguna (1960: 21): "For him the territory is rather conceived in terms of points, that is, spots and localities. We are accustomed to think of the land in terms of areas that are marked off by boundaries ... If our picture of the world is that of farmer, property owner, and landlubber, the Tlingits' is that of traveller, especially the mariner, who is concerned with places and the routes between them. The world of the Tlingit is probably visualized more as it is in our sailing and harbor charts ... Sib (clan) territories do not refer to areas, but to specific spots: fishing streams, coves, berry patches, or house sites." Traditional use areas were not static and they changed over time. The same holds true today. The ancestors of Angoon residents formerly lived in outlying villages and fish camps. In the past, the Angoon clan territories overlapped with those claimed by other clans from Sitka and Hoonah, Many of these territories were and continue to be shared with Angoon non-clan members, and clan relations in other parts of the region. The Tlingit did not hunt, fish, or gather on every part of the lands and waters they considered their territory. As mentioned above, Angoon clan territories include spots claimed by clans from Sitka and Hoonah. Yet the "spot" concept does not mean that areas which are not harvested do not have significance for survival. These other lands and waters provide summer and winter ranges, and spawning, rearing and feeding habitat for the fish and wildlife that the Angoon people harvest elsewhere. Concepts of property and ownership were recognized by all clans. Possession of land and its resources by a clan or its localized segment evoked certain rights, including the* priority right to use the life-sustaining resources in the area. Resource territories included valued sockeye salmon streams, hunting areas, halibut fishing grounds, berry and root gathering areas, hot springs, trade routes and shellfish grounds. -13- Q/YjC 'Y'q Q or :Q3. pm Marsden qj J@ ivo qp WUCKITAN r 4.. z C" FisherY OA- Bas4et ay DECITAN Little Basket Bay TECKWEDI Parher Pt.\, Oat KAUKWEDI 0 NAZADI Ilk @Rodrn an Angoon**. \31 KIIIIsnoo.. Sa 'k Hanas +0o Distant Pt. CATHERINE ISLAND@ Chalk Bay a 00 tu whirewate'r IDAKL,AWE Bay., Wilson, Cove, BARANOF ANQAKITAN ISLAND 0 KUPREANOF ISLAND pt' . 4@ Gardner melson Bay Red Bluf Bay Nogglatt Bay KUM ISLAND Gut Be, JOINTLV At USED WITH -MAKE iplEopl-e- THADOTIONAL USE AREA OF VNE ANGOON TLINGIT mdmp@sd from Goldschmidt and Hm@o 1946 Use AV-am moundury 0 M M 0 SCALE > z 5 10 is 20 M15(gs Z C) > STATE OF ALASKA DEPT. OF FOSH AND GAME Subsistence DOvIo6on Typically a clan shared a house, but very large clans needed several houses. The clans and their associated houses were primary economic units. The heads of localized clan house groups were known.as yitsati, "keeper of the house." The yitsati were responsible for coordinating the harvest and management of the lineage's resource areas. The Tlingit regulated land and resource tenure in a way that allowed for sustained yield, escapement, and management of whole ecosystems. Clan leaders used biological, social and spiritual techniques to ensure that their territories remained productive. Although they have possessed for centuries the technology and expertise to deplete a salmon stream by over fishing, the Tlingit have expertly managed stream conditions, escapements, harvest levels and other aspects of the fishery. Many Tlingit elders use the English phrase "take care of" when referring to a relative's or ancestor's relationship to a stream or bay, as in "My uncle used to take care of that creek." (Thornton 1990:19) The clan territory system worked quite well. The economic viability of a clan unit depended upon a resource territory of adequate size, diversity and abundance to sustain its members year in and out. If a particular salmon run failed or hunting was poor in a particular year, the clan could count on receiving permission to hunt or fish in another clan's territory. Each clan had specialists who were expert hunters or fishermen or gatherers. A clan would trade or give away the surpluses rather than sell the food or goods to other clans. Trade was a means to lessen shortfalls in resource harvesting. For example, if the coho run in Mitchell Bay was thought to be threateningly low, the clan house leaders might decide to harvest fewer cohos than usual and to supplement their supply through trade or access to another fishery. As alternatives to overharvesting, trade and reciprocity among clans also enabled the Tlingit to protect their resources for future generations. Formal and informal kin and trade networks are still used to distribute subsistence resources today. A non-clan member needed permission from a clan leader before he could harvest from an area. Non-residential kin invoked clan ties for access rights to resource areas. Agreements permitting outsiders access to resource areas were very common and provided a network of relationships that could be called upon in case of hardship in the local owner's territory. 'Vhen salmon or other fish are taken from that area, duty is paid to the land owner. Likewise, when game is taken, duty is paid to the land owner." (statement by Yunyeidee, a Tlingit landowner, in Peck 1986:25) The ownership of important sites was often symbolized in totemic carvings or potlatches. AUTCHELLBAY Ethnographic accounts reveal prehistoric settlement of the Angoon, Kootznoohoo Inlet, and Mitchell Bay areas by Tlingit peoples known as the Decitan and the Teikweidee. Although Angoon is outside of the Mitchell Bay AMSA boundary, its settlement is described here because of its importance in past and present traditional land use. Decitan The Decitan (variation: Deisheetaan) say that they have lived in this area since the time of The Flood. During the Flood they travelled to the interior of Alaska but migrated back to their coastal homes some time afterward. The Decitan say they returned to the salt -15- waters at the Haines area and lived there for some time. The Chilkat area Thngits point to a mountain near Haines that belongs to the Angoon Decitan. Subsequently, the Decitan moved to Freshwater Bay, and later to Tenakee. After that, the Decitan moved to the Killisnoo area but felt that it was too noisy. The surf kept them awake, so they moved to Kootznahoo Inlet and the Kanalku Bay and Salt Lake/Hasselborg River areas. Kootznoowoo Hnlet, called Lklen, was claimed by the Decitan clan. "From way back it was claimed by them. Ht is a long story about how we got the place. Beaver led us there." (Billy Jones in Goldschmidt & Haas, 1946:113) The Decitan moved again, to Stillwater Anchorage, and remained there until they finally settled at the present site of Angoon. Some of the sites that they had previously settled continued to be used as summer fish camps. The Decitan generally maintained two seasonal residences, a winter village and a summer camp or village. The Decitan clan includes both the Kaukwedi (variation: Kakweidee, Basket Bay people) and the Ganaxadi (variations: Ganaxedi or Gaanax'adi, people of Gaanax). The Basket Bay people are considered a separate group of the Decitan, without ownership or use rights in Kootznahoo Inlet. The Decitan of Angoon say that when the first members of their clan arrived at the new village site, there were already people living in the area. They were known as the Ganaxadi, and are said to have been the first Ravens in Chatham Strait. They originally owned all of Kootznahoo Inlet, including the Angoon townsite and Sitkoh Bay across Chatham Strait. The Decitan asked permission to move to the area, and lived alongside the Ganaxadi for some time. Trouble between the two clans caused the Ganaxadi to move out of the area, leaving their land holdings and rights of use to the Decitan. No people calling themselves Ganaxadi were left in the Angoon area, but probably a few Ganaxadi (Raven) women married to Eagle moiety men stayed on and their children became Decitan (Goldschmidt & Haas: 1946:171). Today the Decitan are known as the Raven Beavers. The Decitan use the beaver crest as well as the raven because the beaver showed the Decitan the site of Angoon: "According to Tlingit history, the site of Angoon was discovered by three Deisheetaan hunters who had followed a beaver they had spotted swimming in Kootznahoo Inlet. They followed it to the beach, now known in Angoon as the 'little skiff harbor,' and followed its trail to a beach on what is now known as Chatham Strait. The hunters saw that the place the beaver took them was a good site for their house so they went back to inform their people of their find. The decision was made to move to the site and the Deisheetaan built their house at the end of the beaver trail. The house was called Deishoo-hit, 'end of the trail house.' (George & Bosworth, 1988:14) Angoon is so old that no precise date can be established for the original occupation of the village site. All the people of Angoon used the head of Favorite Bay near the fish stream to get herring, and continue to use it. There was a fish camp for rendering oil and smoking fish. The people gathered seaweed from the shores of Favorite Bay and berries from the land, and fished halibut in the bay. The Decitan had about nine houses, gardens and smokehouses here. There were smokehouses and cabins in Kanalku Bay, but no villages. -16- "The natives of Angoon use the Kootznahoo Inlet, including Mitchell Bay, Favorite Bay and Kanalku Bay and the environs for hunting, trapping and fishing. They also secure their fuel wood from this neighborhood. They catch here herring, kings, dog salmon, humpies, sockeyes, bears, beaver, mink and sea otter. They have gardens on Turn Point, and several smokehouses on Sullivan Point..." (Andrew Gamble in Goldschmidt & Haas,1946:114) Teikweidee While the Decitan claimed all of Kootznoowoo Inlet, it was recognized that the very head of Mitchell Bay belonged to the Teikweidee clan (variations: Teokwedi, Teoquedi). "Mitchell Bay was given to the Teokwedi.' (Billy Jones in Goldschmidt & Haas,1946:113) The Salt Lake/Hasselborg area was given to the Teikweidee, the Bear clan, in payment for the death of a Bear woman and her child. (George & Bosworth, 1988:91) George & Kookesh (1982) confirm that in the 1800's Mitchell Bay - meaning the headwaters - belonged to the Decitan clan who had a summer village on the shores of Hasselborg River for harvesting and processing salmon for winter use. Later in the century ownership passed to the Teikweidee clan who subsequently moved the summer camp further west into Salt Lake. Today, the area at the mouth of the narrows is used fo:r trapping, and the Teikweidee own houses there. The large lakes up Hasselborg Creek belong to the Teikweidee, but all the Angoon people use the area for hunting, fishing and gathering berries. In the old days there were smokehouses. This area was used in the winter of 1945-46 by many Angoon people for trapping beaver. At that time, bears discouraged summer use of the lakes region for berry picking. HOODBAY Daklawedi There are varying accounts of traditional ownership of Hood Bay. Today, the people of Angoon say the Decitan clan owns the North Arm of Hood Bay, and the South Arm belongs to the Daklawedi or Killer Whale clm The ethnographic literature does not describe ownership of Hood Bay by the Decitan. It is possible that the Decitan claim ownership of the North Arm through mutual agreement with other Angoon clans. The Daklawedi (variation: Daklaweidee) clan joined with the Tsagwedi clan at an earlier time. The Daklawedi claim only Hood Bay, Angoon, and Eliza Harbor as places where they have a right to live and to get food. They share Hood Bay with the Tsagwedi, although the Tsagwedi have not exercised their rights for many years. Present day Thngits confirm that parts of Hood Bay are owned by the Daklawedi or Killer Whale clan, and other sources verify that they are the last recognized Tlingit owners of the Bay. The Daklawedi say they have used this area since before The Flood and a traditional place name is suggestive of long occupation. The mountain top at the head of FIGURES 6,7 AND 8: Maps depicting MITCHELL BAY TRADITIONAL PLACE NAMES; HOOD BAY TRADITIONAL PLACE NAMES; and CHAIK-WHITEWATER BAY TRADITIONAL PLACE NAMES will be inserted in the Concept Approved Draft the South Arm of Hood Bay, is called "Tsa qwa canuk," meaning "Hood Bay old woman7 and the people say they took refuge on this mountain during The Flood. The Daklawedi are the original owners of the South Arm, named "Tsa qwa," and they obtained the North Arm through the accidental death of a young boy of the Killer Whale clan who was attacked by a bear while fishing in the salmon stream named "Xa yah." This happened before western contact. A dramatic change in the use of the area has taken place since the early 1800's when the Killer Whale people migrated each spring from the winter villages to summer fish camps at Hood Bay. Canoes originally carried the people to Hood Bay subsistence fish traps and smoke houses. By 1916 power boats improved transportation possibilities and involvement in commercial fisheries. Other hunting and fishing areas began to be used. The Hood Bay Daklawedi migrated to Killisnoo/Angoon in the late 1800's for employment opportunities and to meet school attendance requirements. During the early 1900's the Daklawedi fished Hood Bay for a winter subsistence salmon supply and had at least eight smokehouses in the area. They planted extensive vegetable gardens along the south- facing shores until the 1940's and still used the last garden in the 1960's. They hunted both deer and brown bear in this area, and one account tells of an Angoon hunter selling bear skins to people in Kake. Bear hunting ended when it was believed to be illegal. People still trap in Hood Bay. The Hood Bay cannery was built in the early 1920's but it is not known how many local people were initially employed there. The Angoon Community Association bought the cannery and 14 seine boats in 1947, heralding dramatic though shortlived changes in traditional use patterns. The seine boats made it possible to safely travel long distances, participate in the commercial seine fishery, and harvest food resources while traveling to and from the canneries. When Killisnoo was destroyed by fire in 1928, the people moved to Angoon and during these years continued to use Hood Bay for hunting, fishing and gathering. Many current Angoon residents summered at Hood Bay while they or their parents worked at the Hood Bay Cannery. The cannery operated until it burned down in 1961. After that time, the Angoon commercial seine fleet deteriorated and the opportunity to continue seining decreased. From 1961-1980, the fleet composition converted from seiners to hand trollers due to economic factors and to limited entry in the fisheries. The 12 to 36 foot hand trollers have also had an impact on the use of resources in the Angoon area. These boats carry hunters quickly to hunting areas without overnight stays. CBAIK BAY Decitan Most of Chaik Bay, including the right to the halibut banks, is presently claimed by the Decitan clan. The Decitan includes both the Kaukwedi clan (Basket Bay people) and the Ganaxadi clan who were assimilated at an earlier date. Many years ago there was a community at Village Point where some of the relatives of Angoon people were raised. There was also a fort at Village Point at one time. -19- There were gardens at Village Point, and smoke-@iouses at the head of the Bay. Smokehouses were scattered along the northwestern part of Chaik Bay from Village Point eastward. WEE[TEWATER BAY GanaxadiMenediADecitan Sources vary regarding the changes in clan ownership in Whitewater Bay. According to Garfield (Goldschmidt & Haas 1946:171), the Ganaxadi clan were in Whitewater Bay when the Tlenedi people arrived. Because of internal trouble the Ganaxadi moved out of the Angoon area but some were absorbed into the Decitan clan by marriage. The Decitan later replaced the Tlenedi in the Angoon area. Angaldtan The Tlingit people claim use and occupancy of the Whitewater Bay area since the time of The Flood, and name Table Mountain as a place where they took refuge from the rising waters. George and Bosworth (1988) state that the Leeneidee, the original name for the Angakitan, were the first owners of Whitewater Bay. The clan name is variably shown as Anxakitaan and Aanxakeetan. The Angakitan or Dog Salmon Clan had a winter village at Neltushkin on the outer north shore of the bay. Here they built their homes, smokehouses and gardens. There were also smokehouses near the opening to the salt lake. The Angakitan claim "Titilhini" or Dog Salmon Creek flowing into Whitewater Bay. Some of the Angoon elders spent their childhoods at Whitewater, and others once lived year round in the area, originally accessing the Bay by canoe. In the early 1920's salt lake was fished for cohos with beach seines. Before that time the people from Neltushkin used traditional gaff hooks and subsistence fish traps. Frederica de Laguna (1960) described the use of impaling stakes for the harvesting of salmon in the salt lake area. The Dog Salmon people of Neltushkin moved to the Angoon/Killisnoo area in the early 1900's to seek employment and to meet school attendance requirements. When they moved to Angoon, the Decitan people welcomed them by moving their houses apart at the center of town and had the Dog Salmon house built in the middle of the village. Thus, the Leeneidee people came to be locally known as Angakitan which means "people from the center of the village house." Today, the Dog Salmon people claim ownership of Whitewater Bay. The remains of village houses, smokehouses, gardens and storage pits are still visible. -20- CONTEMPORARY LAND OWNERSMP Transition Passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 ended Native land claims forever, in exchange for 35.5 million acres of land, creation of regional and village native corporations, and nearly a billion dollars in compensation. The settlement was considered a significant achievement since the claims had never been recognized by the government. Nevertheless, many Natives were reluctant to surrender claim to their aboriginal territories, and some maintain that they have an inalienable right to possess and use these lands as they deem fit. Some of the Native elders do not recognize federal, state, or native corporation land ownership and still believe the lands are owned and managed by the clans. Until the Supreme Court challenge to the state subsistence law in December 1989, harvesting privileges were granted to residents of "rural" communities that met the criteria established by state law, regardless of ethnicity. At this writing, the Alaska Legislature has not acted on the issue and it is unlikely that a state constitutional amendment will be placed before Alaskan voters in 1990 to continue the present law's "rural" preference. Without a constitutional amendment or statutory revision, all Alaskan residents will become eligible for subsistence on July 1, 1990. Rural preference on federal lands, as mandated by the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act, will continue. A dual management system for subsistence on state lands and on federal lands will occur after July 1, 1990. Several Alaska Native groups lobbied the 1990 Alaska Legislature for a change in the state law that would reflect a "Native" as well as a "rural" preference. Many Tlingits, continue to emphasize ethnicity, moiety, clan or house ties, and other principles of social organization as important criteria for evaluating subsistence and territorial rights: "Thus, Angoon elders felt compelled to establish not only that Sitkoh Bay was Angoonkwaan (localized community) territory, but also that it was Deisheetaan clan territory, and furthermore that only one 'side' of that clan (i.e. those who could trace descendency from a particular house) had legitimate possessory rights to the bay." (Thornton 1990:18) Property title to traditional lands previously used and occupied by clan groups passed to the United States as public lands managed by the U. S. Forest Service. President Carter created the Admiralty Island National Monument in 1978 by Presidential Proclamation under the Antiquities Act. In 1980, ANILCA set aside hundreds of millions of acres of land in Alaska for fish and wildlife refuges, new parks, and wilderness areas. ANILCA designated all of the Admiralty Island National Monument as wilderness except for 18,000 acres held by the Greens Creek Mining Company. Greens Creek operates a silver mine at Hawk Inlet north of Angoon. Most of the 1.1 million acres of designated wilderness on Admiralty Island is managed for purposes including wildlife habitat, hunting and fishing, other forms of recreation, and limited use of timber exclusive of commercial harvesting. All three of the Angoon AMSAs are within the Admiralty Island National Monument. -21- Kootznoowoo Corporation and Shee Atika, Inc., the Angoon and Sitka village corporations, hold title to over 26,000 acres of land on Admiralty Island. Other private landowners share title to about 6,000 acres on Admiralty Island. Thirty miles north of Angoon, Shee Atika Inc. has commercially harvested timber in the Cube Cove uplands since 1983. AUTCHELL BAY Land ownership in Mitchell Bay is depicted in Figure 9. Under ANCSA, Kootznoowoo Corporation selected additional lands from the National Forest in the Angoon, Kootznahoo Inlet and Mitchell Bay areas. Kootznoowoo Corporation received more than 3,500 acres of land on Admiralty Island in addition to commercial timber land on Prince of Wales Island. The Corporation is reserving much of the land near Angoon for traditional use activities and wildlife habitat. The City of Angoon owns 158 acres on the Angoon Peninsula immediately west of Kootznahoo Inlet. The City has zoned most of this land as non-commercial. About half of the uplands in Mitchell Bay are owned by Kootznoowoo Corporation and are subject to a joint management agreement with the Forest Service. The Kootznoowo0 holdings form a corridor stretching 660 feet inland from mean high tide along Mitchell Bay and all associated waters west of the line separating R 68 E from R 69 E. In other words, the Corporation holdings include Diamond Island and land to the west of it. The Forest Service corridor lands are east of Diamond Island and include the eastern tip of Kanalku Bay. The Mitchell Bay corridor corresponds with the AMSA upland boundary and the land is included within the AMSA. There is public access on all corridor lands where the Forest Service has asked for a public right of way. The surface estate of these corridor lands in Mitchell Bay is owned in title by Kootzoowoo Corporation, with reserved rights of timber, development and public access retained by the Forest Service. The corridor lands are designated "alienated land within wilderness boundary." Although the corridor land is not designated as wilderness, it will probably be managed for uses other than timber harvest. The Forest Service owns the subsurface estate of these lands. Congress provided for Forest Service appro val of all land uses proposed for these lands. Sealaska, the regional native corporation, and Kootznoowoo Corporation share title to the subsurface of all Kootznoowoo Corporation lands through ANILCA except for the corridor land in Mitchell Bay. Kootznoowoo Corporation retains subsurface rights to 1,700 acres in the Angoon area. The Corporation owns 120 acres in Kanalku Bay, including the old coal mine and deposit. Other patented land is located on the shores of Turn Point directly across Kootznahoo Inlet from the City of Angoon and the floatplane dock. Native allotment land totalling 160 acres has been awarded in Favorite Bay to an Angoon family but the land transfer is pending. Kootznoowoo Corporation is legally contesting the award because it believes that these lands were given to the Corporation through ANCSA. The Forest Service has issued a special use permit for a cultivation site at Turn Point. Several non-permitted structures exist in the AMSA, including a storage building at the trail head to Thayer Lake Lodge and one or two trespass cabins. -22- All tidelands and submerged lands to the three-mile limit are owned by the State of Alaska. HOODBAY Land ownership in Hood Bay is depicted@in Figure 10. Nearly all of the land surrounding Hood Bay is owned and managed by the Forest Service as the Admiralty Island National Monument. These lands are classified as Land Use Designation I (LUD 1) wilderness areas. LUD I wilderness is managed according to the 1964 Wilderness Act, as amended by ANILCA. Timber harvesting, mining, roads, and most motor vehicles will not be allowed. Private land in Hood Bay is limited to the North Ann and includes the old Hood Bay cannery site owned by the Angoon Community Association, and lands owned by the IRA shareholders. There are one or two private homesites on the North Arm. A split parcel of native allotment land totalling 160 acres has been awarded to an Angoon family on the South Arm and extending around toward Chaik Bay. It is not yet patented. Alaska Pulp Corporation owns 53 acres situated inland from Cabin Point. The Corporation intends to develop the land sometime in the future but has not formally announced its plans. All tidelands and submerged lands to the three-mile limit are owned by the State of Alaska. CHAIK-WB=WATER BAYS Land ownership in Chaik and Whitewater Bays is depicted in Figure 11. There are small parcels of native allotment land in the Chaik-Whitewater AMSA. It is difficult to determine whether the land has been transferred and patented. The Forest Service owns and manages most of the land surrounding Chaik and Whitewater Bays as part of the Admiralty Island National Monument. These lands are classified as Land Use Designation I (LUD I) wilderness areas. LUD I wilderness is managed according to the 1964 Wilderness Act, as amended by ANILCA. Timber harvesting, mining, roads, and most motor vehicles will not be allowed. All tidelands and submerged lands to the three-mile limit are owned by the State of Alaska. -23- % ao --- -------- -y 53 3r 32 - --------- sult La 2 3 Lu A." j, ..... ....... - --------- an, C, c J i jipI f r @51 --- -------- P! ------------- Tr, 017 Pi tuN "u' C.,v 1N CITY d. 23 'C@ -- - ----------- .......... !"-%o PO 00 0 001@ 60; 0 0 Q ;wo r, 0 '7 00 r,,C@ 06, 0 0 ... .. . ...... 04 0 .0.* 0 ------ 0 Kanalku Bay .,'@Iknqoo- 00 Qk Fo@ .09:, :p 0 0. o 09@9 1W. - p R. .. 31 0, :4 % % 0 0 0 0,V-0, 0 0 0 0 0 0. :0 .045. 0 0 o 90V --o, o0 00 0 000 0 oo@o 0 0 0' 0 00 0 0000 0 .0.0 o 0 o o 0 6 , 000 00 00 0 .000 . 1. 0 0 KOC@2NAHOO 0000 0@jo o000 _00 00 Q.,oo 3 00000 '00 00 .:e. 0 a00 do0@<N RoADS 0dt. Z" 0' o '0 O'b 0--,a o 'o o :0 000 9 O;oolal@ooo - 0 0 0 0 -.06 00o 0 00 000 C> 01 0 . ....... -7 - - ------ 000 00 r -1 -27.5 - ------ oo .0%0 -- 010j: 0o .0 00 -00 00 00 0 -0 o000oo 000 --6 * 0 0 0!,,'Q. )0006@ .00 0@1 0 0 0%.,o- 0 00 5floo 0 00 0 o 000 00 0 0 00 0 .0 000.0. %0 0 0 0 0:0 0 o .0 .-o.O.O.-P 0 00 .0 0 0 0 0, 0 0. 00 00.0 000 000 0 0 'o 0 000 1@1. f . ... ... ... C) W- 0.. -o- "o, "o 0 o o o o . -6.@ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 oi 0 0 .0 ------- --- -- 0 0 a b 0000 o cl 0 0,4? 0,0 0 %, 0- 0 00 0*0 0.0'. 000 ,, ;,@, o 0 0 'o .6 . ! . ..... . 0, 0 0 0b U& LIZ. Im --------- - - r-3 T 13 49T n A,, 4 A-, W7, Q1 % OF 21 QD, T", lj@ A V Aa, 11"i -I' 4 A?IM ov# 7j @'i in 25 49 Vi . .......... f Al l -07 :lea @J ----------- ----- ..... . ..... V!Oage Pt .......... CHAIK 33 B A Y Poc@- P', 14 10, LY TT; ------ i74, dv P Woo, v -N V50- --12445- -------- --- --- -- o ,inck P, kQ 3 2 pf ------- --- 32 c 71, p k ',1414, 64 A /1, 2-7, - -- ------ - - RESOURCE HNVENTORY and ANALYSIS . . . .. ..... 4--:1 -27- RESOURCE INVENTORY and ANALYSIS of the MITCHELL BAY AMSA Biophysical and socioeconomic information about Mitchell Bay is found in Chapters 2 and 3 and Figures 22-37 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan. The information in this chapter is a more detailed supplement to the Angoon CMP, and it provides the basis for the AMSA policies. RESOURCEINVENTORY General Setting The Mitchell Bay AMSA consists of interconnected bays scattered with reefs and islands surrounded by mostly low-lying terrain. These waterways possess unusually strong tidal currents, tidal falls, and wide daily tidal ranges that combine with large tidal flats and estuaries to yield extremely productive waters. The productivity of the marine waters contributes to the productivity of the surrounding terrestrial environments including muskegs and old growth forests. Fish and Wildlife The sheltered waterways of the Mitchell Bay AMSA access one of Angoon's most important and abundant traditional fish and wildlife use areas with several anadromous fish streams and miles of prime wildlife habitat. The anadromous fish streams produce abundant pinks and chums, small runs of sockeyes, and provide spawning grounds for Pacific herring. All salmonids except king salmon spawn in the Angoon area. Figure 30 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan depicts the anadromous fish streams in the AMSA. Salt Lake is fed by the Hasselborg River, Jims Creek, Freshwater Creek and other smaller creeks that together support the largest run of cohos on Admiralty island. Residents claim that Salt Lake has the best silver salmon run in the fall, and the best sea-run cutthroats in the spring. Favorite Bay is known for its dog salmon, and Kanalku Creek for its sockeyes. Dolly varden and steelhead trout are also prevalent in the area. Herring play a vital role in many marine food chains. They primarily feed on planktonic crustaceans and occasionally pink salmon fry, and in turn, the herring feed numerous terrestrial and aquatic species including salmon, halibut, eagles, and marine mammals. Prevalent bottom-dwelling fish include the walleye pollock, halibut, sablefish or blackcod, arrowtooth flounder or turbot, Pacific perch, Pacific cod, and flathead, Dover and rex soles. Common shallower water fish include starry flounder, greenling, ling cod, shiner perch, ratfish, dogfish, surf smelt, tomcod, yellowfin sole, shortspine thornyhead or idiotfish, and various rockfish and sculpins. Common marine invertebrates include clams, scallops, mussels, abalone, snails, crabs, shrimp, barnacles, urchins, sea stars and sea cucumbers. Eight known edible species of mussels, clams, and cockles occur in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zones. Gumboots or chiton are found in Favorite Bay and Mitchell Bay. Crab species include Dungeness, Mng and Tanner. -28- Marine mammals commonly found year-round in the Angoon area include Steller sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, Dall and harbor porpoise, and killer and humpback whales. Other marine mammals occuring occasionally in the area include Northern fur and elephant seals, minke and sei whales, and North pacific whiteside dolphins. Sitka black-tailed deer is the game species of primary importance. Together with brown bear, they are the only large mammals found on Admiralty Island and both species range from the beach fringe to the alpine meadows. Deer are in the Mitchell Bay area throughout the year and are hunted during the August 1 - January 31 season. Other mammals include mink, land otter, marten, marmot, beaver, short-tailed weasels, squirrel, voles, shrews, mice, and bats. The coastal forest provides important cover and habitat for most of these species. Marine foods taken from the intertidal zone can make up an important part of the diet of mink, land otter, and - to a lesser extent - marten. Some of these mammals are taken by subsistence trappers. Game birds include the blue grouse and rock ptarmigan. Birds of prey are the bald eagle; the red-tailed, gos-, sharp-shinned, sparrow, and marsh hawks; great gray and great horned owls; and peregrine and gyrfalcons. Common birds breeding in the forest and in other upland habitats include the rufous hummingbird; yellow-bellied sapsucker; western flycatcher; tree and barn swallows; raven; crow; chestnut-backed chickadee; ouzel; winter wren; varied, hermit and Swainson's Thrush; orange-crowned, Townsend's myrtle, and Wilson's warblers; fox and Lincoln's sparrow; pine siskin; red crossbill; and dark-eyed junco. Each spring during the annual migration to their northerly breeding grounds, thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds pass through Chatham Strait which is part of the Pacific Flyway. Estuaries and wetlands like those found in Mitchell Bay provide critical resting and feeding habitat, especially in years when breakup further inland is late or temporarily delayed by weather. Nesting waterfowl concentrate at the heads of most bays, and along lakes and streams. Nesters include red-throated and common loons, Vancouver Canada geese, trumpeter swans, mallards, harlequin ducks, and common and red-breasted mergansers. A population of wintering trumpeter swans uses Salt Lake, the Hasselborg River and Freshwater Lake. Pintail, shoveler and teal also pass through the area. Waterfowl constitute an important subsistence food source. Inshore waters, especially along the shores of bays and inlets, provide needed habitat for overwintering gulls, mallards, scaup, common and Barrow's goldeneye, buffleheads, oldsquaws, harlequins, white-winged, surf and common scoters, common and red- breasted merganser, Vancouver Canada geese, loons, grebes, marbled murrelets, murres, guillemots, and other alcids, puffins, eider, and pelagic cormorants. Important fall and winter food for these birds includes eelgrass, sea lettuce, and other algae, marine inverte-brates, small fish, and spawned-out salmon and their roe. Shorebirds such as black turnstones, black oystercatchers, rock sandpipers, surfbirds, and dunlins frequent the rocky shores during winter. Migrating whimbrel, golden, black- bellied, and semi-palmated plover, and wandering tattlers also rest in the area, -29- frequently stopping at low tide. Snipe and greater and lesser yellowlegs nest along the shore of marine and freshwater bodies, swamps, and muskegs. Puffim, petrels, gulls, guillemots, jaegers, murres, murrelets, and phalaropes are found in the area at various times of the year. FUMries Anadromous fish, particularly salmonids, support a major commercial fishery, as well as a sport fishing industry and the traditional and customary use economy. Pink salmon, followed by chum salmon, are the most abundant and commercially important fish in this region. Only a fraction of the streams are capable of supporting coho runs, so the coho are less abundant but still very valuable to and highly sought by commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen. Angoon-area sockeye runs are small because of the limited number and size of lakes necessary for rearing their offspring. Although sockeye are not commercially fished near Angoon, they are prized by sport and subsistence users. Currently, halibut and handtrolling are the two commercial fisheries commonly conducted in the nearby waters of Chatham Strait, mostly by local residents. These fisheries are an outgrowth of traditional use. Commercial fishing within Mitchell Bay is not expected to occur. The Mitchell Bay AMSA is the site of subsistence fisheries for coho, sockeye, chum and pink salmon. The Salt Lake subsistence coho fishery is legally limited to Angoon and lKlukwan residents. The opening is August 1 through October 31. In 1990 a new sockeye subsistence fishery opened at Kanalku Creek. The fishery runs from late June through the month of July, and the primary means of harvest is by beach seine. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) has policies but no regulations governing subsistence fishing of chum and pink salmon. In addition, there are personal use crab pots in Mitchell Bay. Fisheries Enhancement and Mariculture In 1989 the Angoon Community Association (ACA) conducted site surveys for mariculture development at four locations in Mitchell Bay. The sites are located at the .head of Mitchell Bay, northwest of Davis Creek, the north shore of Kanalku Bay, and the narrows in Kootznahoo Inlet near Favorite Bay. See Figure 12 for station locations. Based on the 1989 survey of growing conditions, the ACA considers Favorite Bay (Station 1) and Kanalku Bay (Station 2) the most promising sites. Further site testing is being conducted in 1990 because the conditions during the 1989 testing were unusually dry and atypical. The 1990 summer project includes small scale test culturing of oysters and mussels at the Favorite Bay and Kanalku Bay sites, and data collection at the other sites. The Angoon Aquaculture Association (AAA) has had a permit pending since 1982 at Favorite Bay along Favorite Bay stream to build a hatchery for chum, pink and coho salmon. However, the AAA hatchery proposal at Favorite Bay faces an uncertain future. Issuance of a permit by ADFG Fisheries Rehabilitation and Enhancement Division (FRED) is conditional upon the construction of a dam and reservoir for an adequate, stable and controlled water source. Although the dam and reservoir projects were once included in the Alaska Power Authority capital budget, they were later deleted and no initial funding was ever secured. The project proposal is for an annual capacity of 20 million chum eggs, 7.5 million pink eggs, and 1.5 million coho eggs. -30- Kootznoowoo Corporation has several fishery enhancement proposals still in the conceptual phase. These include a sockeye hatchery (with some coho) at the headwaters of Mitchell Bay, a hatchery at Favorite Bay, and a coho rearing area at Stillwater Anchorage. Feasibility studies have not been conducted. The ADFG Fisheries Rehabilitation and Enhancement Division may develop remote release net pens and outstocking projects in the Angoon area in the future. Recreation The recreational importance of Admiralty Island National Monument has made Mitchell Bay a popular destination. Float planes drop tourists on the Island. Boats from outside the community traverse the Mitchell Bay waterways during summer and early fall. Local recreational guide boats carry clients to popular sportfishing spots. Visitors at Thayer Lake Lodge north of town hike the trail and Esh Salt Lake for cohos. Alaska Discovery, a recreational guiding company in Juneau, charters wilderness kayaking trips in Kootznahoo Inlet. The Forest Service maintains trails to Kanalku Bay, Freshwater Lake and Thayer Lake. In cooperation with the Angoon Monument Committee, a group of local residents, the Forest Service has identified fifteen recreational campsites which receive substantial use. Some of the shelters date back to the days of the Civilian Conservation Corps. These campsites are not located near any cultural resources. The public is encouraged to use the campsites through Forest Service pamphlets and contacts with the Wilderness Rangers who patrol the area. The recreational value of Admiralty Island National Monument brings anglers to Mitchell Bay from all over the world. Sportfishing is so popular that five local residents conduct sportfish guiding services in or near Mitchell Bay. Power boaters, kayakers, canoeists and campers fish in the sheltered waters. Kootznoowoo Corporation and others have considered lodge development although formal plans have not been announced. Someday Kootznoowoo Corporation may develop a recreation and tourist-oriented Indian village in Kootznahoo Inlet. Minerals There are coal deposits on the south shore of Kanalku Bay. Kootznoowoo Corporation owns both the surface and subsurface rights to this land. The coal deposits were mined for a while in the early 1900s, but several factors discouraged continuation of the industry. The tunnel flooded and could not be pumped out. The deposits did not yield high grade coal, and it became apparent-that the thin beds were separated by massive layers of overburden. According to a Kootznoowoo Corporation spokesman, it is unlikely that mining will be resumed. No commercial-grade mineral deposits have been identified in or near the AMSA. lUnber The Sitka spruce and western hemlock forest is the dominant forest type from sea level to timberline, which varies from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The most common conifers are western hemlock, Sitka spruce, mountain hemlock, and Alaska cedar. -31- Of all terrestrial habitats, old-growth forest is generally considered the most important for wildlife in northern Southeast Alaska. The most critical and productive old-growth habitat consists of the highest volume stands on south-facing slopes between the beach and 1,000 feet elevation. Stands with highly variable tree spacing of many large trees with full crowns interspersed with trees of varying age, size, and crown development and an understory abundant in bunchberry, blueberry, trailing raspberry, and goldthread provide first class fodder and shelter for deer, bear, and smaller mammals and birds. Typically these stands are found on south-facing slopes within a few miles of the beach or in riparian corridors. Deer frequent the beach fringe in winter and spring, and subalpine areas in summer and fall, but they depend on old-growth forest year-round and especially during winter and spring. The crowns, needles, and branches of spruce and hemlock form a canopy which reduces snow accumulation on the ground. This allows species such as deer to continue to access the understory plants. The canopy also reduces radiant heat loss so that temperatures in the woods may be as much as ten or fifteen degrees warmer than those in muskegs, meadows and clearcuts. With the additional wind protection afforded by heavy timber and brush, the old-growth forest becomes critical habitat in periods of extreme cold and periods of deep snow. The Vancouver Canada goose depends on old-growth forests and rich estuaries. Unique among geese which tend to nest in marshes, it nests in old-growth trees in the spring and migrates to intermediate altitude muskegs during summer. Instead of migrating south, many of the Vancouver sub-species are year-round residents in bays, estuaries, and tide flats near their nesting areas. The forest also plays an important role in regulating in-stream water volumes and temperatures. Tall trees growing along river banks shade stream courses from thermal extremes, both the intense mid-suwmer sun and intense mid-winter cold. Trees and their root systems regulate the rate of run-off, storing water received during wet periods and releasing it slowing during dry periods. The forest steadily contributes small amounts of bark, needles, leaves, insects, and other nutrients essential to the aquatic lifeforms found in lakes, rivers, and streams. Periodic blow downs of patches of forest by high winds during fall and winter storms occasionally block anadromous fish streams, but generally the effect of trees and stumps on streams is positive. Blow downs provide shelter for fish and animals and growing platforms for algae and insects. Attached marine algae and eelgrass are often torn loose and deposited on beaches. As these plants are broken down by physical and chemical processes, they become an important winter food source for shellfish and marine invertebrates. The forest is also important as a source of firewood. Firewood is a traditional resource essential to a majority of Angoon households for heat, domestic hot water and cooking. Demand is heavy, and wood consumption per household may exceed several cords a year. EneM There are currently no energy related projects in the AMSA. Seven or eight years ago the Alaska Power Authority conducted a reconnaissance study of tidal power at Little Pass, between Village Rock and Angoon. However, because of the small power market in Angoon, the APA did not request funding for further study or project development. -32- Cultural MmKmwces Thirty-seven known prehistoric and historic sites dot the shores of the Mitchell Bay AMSA. The cultural inventory includes village middens, gardens, fort sites, cemeteries, fish weirs, petrographs, and a myth site. Adjacent to the AMSA, the thirteen clan houses in Angoon are valued resources as well. There may be significant unknown sites of great age in the Mitchell Bay AMSA. RESOURCE ANALYSIS Introduction In the following Resource Analysis, existing and potential future uses, issues and conflicts in Mitchell Bay are explored. Figure 12 shows existing and potential future land and water uses in the Mitchell Bay AMSA. Issues identified in the Resource Analysis are addressed in the AMSA policies. Traditional and Customary Natural Resourm Use Traditional Tlingit culture has a rich and close relationship to the environment. The survival of Tlingit traditions depends upon both the continuation of the land and sea to provide resources and the ensured access to and use of those resources by the people. Angoon residents regularly share wild foods with friends and relatives both inside and outside the community. Traditional and customary natural resource use is integral to the way of life of most Angoon residents. The Mitchell Bay AMSA may be the most valued and most productive traditional use area of the Angoon Tlingit. Kootznahoo Inlet is both an historic and contemporary use area shown in a 1985 survey to be the most frequently used of all Angoon hunting and fishing areas. Traditional use has fluctuated through time from nearly 70 percent of Angoon households in 1955 to just over 90 percent of all households in 1984. Probably at least half of all the fish, wildlife and plants traditionally harvested by the people of Angoon come from the Mitchell Bay AMSA alone. Nearly all the species that are included in the diet of Angoon people can be found in this area. Mitchell Bay yields salmon, crab, shrimp, octopus, gumboots, clams, cockles, urchins, sea cucumbers and other invertebrates, dolly varden, steelhead, halibut, rockfish, other bottomfish, grouse, bird eggs, seal, firewood, alder for smoking fish, and small mammals by trapping. Sitka black-tailed deer is the most valued game species. The greatest concern and use conflict in the Mitchell Bay AMSA centers on the competing uses that threaten traditional and customary use of natural resources. This concern is a consistent theme throughout the Resource Analysis. The average Angoon household depends heavily on food harvesting for its year-to-year survival. Traditional and customary use, rather than government welfare, is the primary means of supplementing income. Because both their cultural and physical livelihoods depend on the traditional use of natural resources, the people of Angoon give the highest priority to the preservation and use of these resources. -33- Fisheries Enhancement and Mariculture As discussed in the Resource Inventory, the oyster farm surveys conducted by the ACA are the only current mariculture activities in the AMSA. The future of oyster farms will depend upon favorable physical, logistical and environmental conditions, economic viability, and the availability of grants to cover the start-up costs. The ACA Board endorses the mariet@ture project. While mariculture could provide shellfish resources for local consumption and could also benefit local employment and economics, there are concerns that projects be operated in an environmentally sound manner and that they not conflict with traditional harvesting activities. The Kootznoowoo Corporation's fishery enhancement proposals are still in the conceptual stage. The District has not taken a strong position regarding hatchery development in the AMSA. Hatcheries might provide local employment oppor-tunities and more fish for traditional and customary use. However, they also might lead to increased sportfishing and commercial fishing activities in the AMSA. As enhancement proposals become better defined in the future, careful resource management will be needed. In addition, hatchery projects would be required to operate in an environmentally sound manner. Recreation Recreational fishing and hunting pose a great current and anticipated use conflict in the AMSA. Angoon residents voice concern about recreation activities perceived to threaten traditional resources in the AMSA. One resident is alarmed that "people from all over come to Angoon and go into Mitchell Bay for the herring and deer ... people from the west coast come up to fish here (in Mitchell Bay) in the summer months." Several people say that there are no herring in Favorite Bay due to use by outsiders. Others say that there aren!t any deer left. The international reputation and recreational value of Admiralty Island National Monument will encourage future tourism and recreational use of the Mitchell Bay AMSA. Local perception that recreational fishing and hunting is a threat to traditional resources is heightened by the number of boats seen going in and out of the AMSA in the summer and fall months, by the expanding activities of local sportfishing guides, and by the existing infrastructure of campsites. Many Angoon residents feel that the primary use conflict centers on the expanding sportfishing activities of a local sportfish guide. They perceive sportfish guide operations as direct competition for Salt Lake cohos. However, other competing uses exert some pressure on the Salt Lake cohos as well. During the peak season of early August to mid- September, the Salt Lake area is used by subsistence fishermen and hunters from Angoon, guided anglers, guided canoeists and non-guided anglers and kayakers. Recreational use can potentially result in habitat and scenic impacts that include littering, firewood cutting debris, disturbance of traditional berry picking areas, and stowage of boats on tidelands within sight of other boaters. Sport hunting pressures currently are not heavy in Mitchell Bay, but some residents hunt deer in Hood and Chaik-Whitewater Bays "because the deer have been hunted out" -34- in Mitchell Bay. As logging continues on East Chichagof and East Baranof, emergency closures and reduced bag limits will increase hunting pressures on West Admiralty. Any increase in guided deer hunts, or outfitting of non-resident hunters could have a serious impact on local traditional users. Kootznoowoo Corporation has informal plans to finance a tourism facility in Kootznahoo Inlet sometime in the future. The Corporation takes a conservative approach to development in Mitchell Bay, and feels that any tourism activities should be tightly restricted. Proposed tourist activities would include sportfishing, viewing of traditional cultural events, and the sale of locally made items. With proper management, a tourism site in Mitchell Bay might be compatible with traditional use. Another site the Corporation may consider for a tourist facility is adjacent to the AMSA at the unnamed lake on the Angoon Peninsula south of the ferry terminal. Although the site is outside of the AMSA boundary, future development may be evaluated for spillover impacts. Minerals Most of the Mitchell Bay AMSA and its waters are surrounded by Admiralty Island National Monument. The wilderness and monument designation does not allow mineral development. If the privately held Kanalku Bay coal deposits were considered economically viable sometime in the future, there potentially would be serious conflicts between development of the mine and both recreational use and traditional and customary use in the area. 11mber There are currently no timber lease sales or proposed forestry activities anywhere near the AMSA, and none are expected because of the wilderness designation of the uplands. However, the Mitchell Bay corridor lands corresponding with the 660' AMSA upland boundary are jointly managed by the Forest Service and Kootznoowoo Corporation and are not designated wilderness. Logging would not be prohibited because of management designation of these lands. There also could be minimal timber harvesting associated with road construction and residential development on private land. Kootznoowoo Corporation, the owner of the old Kanalku Bay coal mine, does not intend to mine the deposits but has suggested it may log the 102-acre surface lands at some future time. Any logging activities would be subject to conditions and stipulations that ensure maximimum protection to all other resources and to traditional and customary use. Beach log salvage may be a future activity. Beach log salvage is a -low impact activity found to be generally consistent with the ACMP, with general stipulations to avoid tideland impacts and cultural resource sites. The on-going yearly harvest of firewood has depleted the readily available stands of timber close to town. Access to new sources further from town and the roadways must be ensured. Road construction or residential development may yield some firewood, but people will increasingly rely on sources within the AMSA. Associated harvesting problems of debris, conflicts with* other users, and potential fire hazards during dry weather must be addressed. -35- The Forest Service allows harvesting of dead and down wood for personal use without a permit. Although the agency has never issued permits, the Forest Service would regulate harvesting of green wood for house logs or trolling poles. Currently the Forest Service does not regulate the cutting of green alder in Nfitchell. Bay for smoking fish. Cultural Resourms Protection of known and undiscovered cultural resources is essential in preserving the cultural heritage of the Tlingit people. Protective measures must include the classification of site information so that people will not trespass or desecrate the sites, and careful review of the site inventory before approval of any proposed development activity to avoid the destruction of cultural resources. -36- 36 32, 32 00 Salt C Q4 a 2 LI 0 - - ----------- --7 Ou@@ T M, e- f io a. 121 ....... Aa 12 Pi tio o 0/7 '19 u .113 QI 18" 17 - To. -at;ort 6D .... . .. ...... . . ...... ...... C) qN, d tr v - -------- - 2.4'\ 23 ill v ------- ,eey, ---- ---- ---- ------ . ..... ........... 00i P" 'Rr-&f C11 i-A E-Li r A9 27" 30 29 r i Kanqku i'k LAI 4 Ba - - ----- --- ------- -- - -Ono- 33 3, 2 00 K0017NAHOO z 6, ------- --- ROAQSI. ------- --- ------ ...... -271 7. 56' kiffi (A ba r, ci INO- 100' a151100 - ------------ - RESOURCE INVENTORY and ANALYSIS of the HOOD BAY AMSA Biophysical and socioeconomic information about Hood Bay is found in Chapters 2 and 3 and Figures 22-37 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan. The information in this chapter is a more detailed supplement to the Angoon CMP, and it provides the basis for the AMSA policies. RESOURCEE4WNTORY General Setting The Hood Bay AMSA has great value to the general public and specifically to Angoon as a traditional and customary use area. Hood Bay provides important traditional anadromous fish streams, and deer and waterfowl hunting grounds for the people of Angoon. The magnificent scenery makes it a popular destination for sport fishermen and hunters. The Bay is also used by subsistence hunters from other nearby communities. Fish and Wildlife The marine and terrestrial habitats of the Hood Bay AMSA support a rich and diverse range of fish and wildlife. Anadromous fish in the area include pink, chum, sockeye, coho, and king salmon and dolly varden, cutthroat, and rainbow or steelhead trout. Figure 30 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan depicts the anadromous fish streams in the AMSA. Although there are no king salmon spawning streams nearby, commercial handtrollers and subsistence fishermen spend a lot of time pursuing this species during the spring and early summer. Most of the harvest effort is concentrated in Hood Bay and along Chatham Strait. The most common bottom-dwelling fish include the waileye pollock, halibut, sablefish or blackcod, arrowtooth flounder or turbot, Pacific perch, Pacific cod, and flathead, Dover and rex soles. Common shallower water fish include herring, salmonids, starry flounder, greenling, ling cod, shiner perch, ratfish, dogfish, surf smelt, tomcod, yellowfin sole, shortspine thornyhead or idiotfish, and various rockfish and sculpins. Common marine invertebrates include clams, scallops, mussels, abalone, snails, crabs, shrimp, barnacles, urchins, sea stars and sea cucumbers. Eight known edible species of mussels, clams, and cockles occur in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zone. Crab species include Dungeness, King and Tanner. Marine mammals commonly found year-round in the Angoon area include Steller sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, Dall and harbor porpoise, and killer and humpback whales. Other marine mammals occurring occasionally in the area include Northern fur and elephant seals, minke and sei whales, and North pacific whiteside dolphins. Sitka black-tailed deer and brown bear are the only large mammals found on Admiralty Island, and both range from the beach fringe to the alpine meadows. Hood Bay is known for its abundant deer. -38- Other mammals include mink, land otter, marten, marmot, beaver, short-tailed weasels, squirrel, voles, shrews, mice, and bats. The coastal forest provides important cover and habitat for most of these species. Marine foods taken from the intertidal zone can make up an important part of the diet of mink, land otter, and - to a lesser extent - marten. Some of these mammals are taken by subsistence trappers. Game birds include the blue grouse and rock ptarmigan. Birds of prey are the bald eagle; the red-tailed, gos-, sharp-shinned, sparrow, and marsh hawks; great gray and great horned owls; and peregrine and gyrfalcons. Common birds breeding in the forest and in other upland habitats include the rufous hummingbird; yellow-bellied sapsucker; western flycatcher; tree and barn swallows; raven; crow; chestnut-backed chickadee; ouzel; winter wren; varied, hermit and Swainson's Thrush; orange-crowned, Townsend's myrtle, and Wilson's warblers; fox and Lincoln's sparrow; pine siskin; red crossbill; and dark-eyed junco. Each spring during the annual migration to their northerly breeding grounds, thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds pass through Chatham Strait which is part of the Pacific Flyway. Estuaries and wetlands like those found in Hood Bay provide critical resting and feeding habitat, especially in years when breakup further inland is late or temporarily delayed by weather. Nesting waterfowl concentrate at the heads of most bays, and along lakes and streams. Nesters include red-throated and common loons, Vancouver Canada geese, trumpeter swans, mallards, harlequin ducks, and common and red-breasted mergansers. Pintail, shoveler and teal also pass through the area. Waterfowl constitute an important subsistence food source. Inshore waters, especially along the shores of bays and inlets, provide needed habitat for overwintering gulls, mallards, scaup, common and Barrow's goldeneye, buffleheads, oldsquaws, harlequins, white-winged, surf and common scoters, common and red- breasted merganser, Vancouver Canada geese, loons, grebes, marbled murrelets, murres, guillemots, and other alcids, puffins, eider, and pelagic cormorants. Important fall and winter food for these birds includes eelgrass, sea lettuce and other algae, marine invertebrates, small fish, and spawned-out salmon and their roe. Shorebirds such as black turnstones, black oystercatchers, rock sandpipers, surfbirds, and dunlins frequent the rocky shores during winter. Migrating whimbrel, golden, black- bellied, and semi-palmated plover, and wandering tattlers also rest in the area, frequently stopping at low tide. Snipe and greater and lesser yellowlegs nest along the shore of marine and freshwater bodies, swamps, and muskegs. Puffin, petrels, gulls, guillemots, jaegers, murres, murrelets, and phalaropes are found in the area at various times of the year. Fisheries Commercial and subsistence king salmon fisheries coexist in Hood Bay. The commercial king salmon fishery occurs mostly in the outer reaches of the Bay to the west of the old Cannery site, and not in the North or South Arms. -39- Halibut and dungeness crab are also commercially harvested. The shorelines of the entire Bay comprise the halibut commercial fishery. Dungeness crab are commercially taken at the head of the North Arm and at the mouth of streams in the South Arm. Fisheries Enhancement and Mariculture There are no hatchery or mariculture developments in the Hood Bay AMSA. However, in 1989 the ACA mariculture project surveyed conditions for commercial oyster farming at one site in the South Arm of Hood Bay (Station 5 in Figure 13). Data is being collected again during the 1990 summer months because of atypical conditions during the 1989 test season. The ADFG FRED- may develop remote release net pens and outstocking projects in areas close to Angoon, but specific sites have not been selected. Recreation The reputation for good fishing and deer hunting, and the beautiful scenery within the Admiralty Island National Monument draws recreationists to the Hood Bay AMSA. 11mber The Sitka spruce and western hemlock forest is the dominant forest type from sea level to timberline, which varies from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The most common conifers are western hemlock, Sitka spruce, mountain hemlock, and Alaska cedar. Of all terrestrial habitats, old-growth forest is generally considered the most important for wildlife in northern Southeast Alaska. The most critical and productive old-growth habitat consists of the highest volume stands on south-facing slopes between the beach and 1,000 feet elevation. Stands with highly variable tree spacing of many large trees with full crowns interspersed with trees of varying age, size, and crown development and an understory abundant in bunchberry, blueberry, trailing raspberry, and goldthread provide first class fodder and shelter for deer, bear, and smaller mammals and birds. Typically these stands are found on south-facing slopes within a few miles of the beach or in riparian corridors. Deer frequent the beach fringe in winter and spring, and subalpine areas in summer and fall, but they depend on old-growth forest year round and especially during winter and spring. The crowns, needles, and branches of spruce and hemlock form a canopy which reduces snow accumulation on the ground. This allows species such as deer to continue to access the understory plants. The canopy also reduces radiant heat loss so that temperatures in the woods may be as much as ten or fifteen degrees warmer than those in muskegs, meadows and clearcuts. With the additional wind protection afforded by heavy timber and brush, the old-growth forest becomes critical habitat in periods of extreme cold and periods of deep snow. The Vancouver Canada goose depends on old-growth forests and rich estuaries. Unique among geese which tend to nest in marshes, it nests in old-growth trees in the spring and migrates to intermediate altitude muskegs during summer. Instead of migrating south, many of the Vancouver sub-species are year-round residents in bays, estuaries, and tide flats near their nesting areas. _ 40- The marbled murrelet feeds in saltwater but nests in old-growth forests growing on steep hillsides, sometimes as much as twenty or more miles *inland. Liquidation of nesting habitat by logging has endangered the species in California, Oregon and Washington. Marbled murrelet numbers in Southeast Alaska remain high, but the impact on their population by logging activities has not been assessed. It is believed that marbled murrelets feed along the entire western shore of Admiralty Island. Nesting is likely to be especially concentrated on the steep slopes above Hood Bay. The forest also plays an important role in regulating in-stream water volumes and temperatures. Tall trees growing along river banks shade stream courses from thermal extremes, both the intense mid-summer sun and intense mid-winter cold. Trees and their root systems regulate the rate of run-off, storing water received during wet periods and releasing it slowing during dry periods. The forest steadily contributes small amounts of bark, needles, leaves, insects, and other nutrients essential to the aquatic lifeforms found in lakes, rivers, and streams. Patches of forest are periodically blown down by high winds that accompany the frequent fall and winter storms. Blow downs occasionally block anadromous fish streams but generally the effect of trees and stumps on streams is positive. Blow downs provide shelter for fish and animals and growing platforms for algae and insects. Attached marine algae and eelgrass are often torn loose and deposited on beaches. As these plants are broken down by physical and chemical processes, they become an important winter food source for shellfish and marine invertebrates. The forest is also important in providing firewood. Firewood is a traditional resource essential to a majority of Angoon households for heat, domestic hot water and cooking. Demand is heavy, and wood consumption per household may exceed several cords a year. Sections of the Hood Bay old growth forest were logged in the past. The commercial harvest of timber probably began in the late 1870's for wood to build and operate canneries. Timber was also commercially harvested for pilings and floats for commercial fish traps owned by the canneries. Between 1913 and 1947, many trees were cut along the beach fringe individually or in small clearcuts. A private logging company clearcut 154 acres in the South Arm in 1947. An additional 524 acres were harvested at the extreme end of south Hood Bay between 1948 and 1951. Minerals There are no known economic concentrations of minerals in Hood Bay. The Forest Service owns the subsurface estate. The agency has classified the area as wilderness and mining is incompatible with this land use designation. (Cultural Resources Eleven cultural sites in the Hood Bay AMSA have been identified and mapped. These include a prehistoric settlement, and evidence of historic villages and a mythical fish camp. The Tlingit people have occupied Hood Bay for a long time and it is likely that significant unknown cultural sites exist. 41- "KE'LEESOURCE ANALYSIS introduction In the following Resource Analysis, existing and potential future uses, issues and conflicts in Hood Bay are explored. Figure 13 shows existing and potential future land and water uses in the Hood Bay AMSA. Issues identified in the Resource Analysis are addressed in the AMSA policies. Traditional and Customary Natural Resource Use Hood Bay was noted in a 1985 survey as one of the more important traditional fish and wildlife use areas for Angoon. Traditional resources harvested in Hood Bay include king salmon, sockeye salmon by beach seine and troll gear, halibut, herring, crab, deer, seals, birds and bird eggs, seaweed, firewood, mussels, clams, cockles and other invertebrates, and small mammals by trapping. Over 50 percent of the active Angoon households reported using the Hood Bay area in 1957. That number increased to 75 percent in 1985, with use averaging 55 percent over the 28-year period. The Angoon people have strong cultural ties to the area and continue to use it today for a variety of food harvesting activities. Proximity to Angoon and relatively protected harbors enhance use of the Bay. Patterns of use of Hood Bay for deer hunting fluctuated between 40 percent to 60 percent of Angoon households until recently when nearly 80 percent of the households reported using the area. This may be because deer populations are reportedly low in Mitchell Bay, and Chaik-V*rhitewater Bays are more distant and involve greater travel time and costs. Beach hunting is prevalent, as well as forest hunting. Muskeg and alpine hunting are not as common. There are no roads in Hood Bay, and very few people hunt the old clearcuts. Several important factors have influenced changes in traditional and customary resource use of Hood Bay. Use has been greatly influenced by the purchase and operation of the Hood Bay Cannery in 1947, the ownership of commercial seine boats, and employment of many local people in the cannery operation. In 1961. the cannery burned down. The loss of the cannery resulted in a shift in employment location for many Angoon residents and an eventual change in the composition of the fishing fleet to trollers. With the shift to a troll fleet, Hood Bay began to be used more for day trips to harvest areas. The trollers also brought about an increase in beach hunting for deer. The average Angoon household depends heavily on food harvesting for its year-to-year survival. Traditional and customary use, rather than government welfare, is the primary means of supplementing income. Because both their cultural and physical livelihoods depend on the traditional use of natural resources, the people of Angoon give the highest priority to the preservation and use of these resources. Fisheries Enhancement and Mariculture Data collection by the ACA for potential oyster farming is the only current mariculture- related activity in the AMSA. If salt water farming becomes viable at the site in the South Arm, oysters will be grown and there may be some herring pounding as well. The ACA Board endorses the mariculture project. -42- While mariculture may provide the local community increased shellfish resources and employment and economic benefits, there are concerns that projects be operated in an environmentally sound manner and that they not conflict with traditional harvesting activities. Recreation A conflict between sport and subsistence deer hunting appears to exist. People in Angoon report that hunters in Hood Bay take only the hindquarters of deer and leave the rest. It is also rumored that people from Petersburg trespass on the ACA's Hood Bay Cannery land and take deer. Increased ADFG monitoring and enforcement of sport hunting regulations in Hood Bay is needed. The alpine country in the Hood Bay area is accessible by several well known deer and bear trails. The Angoon people generally agree that they do not want to identify existing trails or write a policy specifically about them because of concern that identification will lead to increased use and accompanying littering and habitat destruction. They report that people using the bear trail have left garbage on Hood Mountain. The Forest Service may build a trail and issue temporary camp permits in the future on land within or upland from the AMSA. These changes would result in greater recreational use of Hood Bay, and would increase the potential for littering and other impacts on habitat and traditional and customary use. The abandoned Hood Bay Cannery site is owned by the ACA. The ACA has indicated it may decide to build a tourist facility at this site someday. The Alaska Pulp Corporation may develop its land near Cabin Point in the future, and a corporate spokesman has stated that the land 'lends itself to a remote lodge." Mmber As discussed in the Resource Inventory, commercial timber harvest activities occurred in south Hood Bay in the past. The Angoon Tlingit were not involved in the harvest, although some residents were employed in logging elsewhere. The impacts from these activities on traditional and customary natural resource use can still be felt today. The Hood Bay clearcuts of the late 1940s greatly distressed the Angoon people. They believed the timber harvest area belonged to the Killer Whale clan and they questioned the right of the Forest Service to sell the timber to the logging company. A suit was filed in the late 1940s on behalf of the Angoon Tlingit against the Forest Service challenging the legality of this timber sale. The suit was resolved in 1955 as part of the Tee Hit Ton case. The clearcut timber harvest of 1947 also affected use of portions of the bay. An Angoon elder testified at a public meeting held by the Forest Service in 1982 to discuss a five-year timber harvest sale. He said that nothing is found in the Hood Bay clearcut areas because the trees in that area are so close together that nothing can move. Another Angoon resident told George and Bosworth (1988:130) "1 avoid areas like this, and I have learned early on that deer are not found in areas like this, for there is nothing here for them." There are currently no timber lease sales or proposed timber harvests in the Hood Bay AMSA. Most of the Hood Bay AMSA lands are designated wilderness in the Admiralty -43- Island National Monument and are not available for timber harvest. However, the privately owned lands within the AMSA could be harvested at some future time. Beach log salvage may be a future activity. Beach log salvage is a low impact activity found to be generally consistent with the ACMP, with general stipulations to avoid tideland impacts and cultural resource sites. Firewood is another use for timber in the Hood Bay AMSA. The on-going yearly harvest of firewood has depleted the readily available stands of timber close to town. Access to new sources further from town and the roadways must be ensured. People will increasingly rely on sources within the AMSA. Associated harvesting problems of debris, confficts with other users, and potential fire hazards during dry weather must be addressed. The Forest Service allows harvesting of dead and down wood for personal use without a permit. Although the agency has never issued permits, the Forest Service would regulate harvesting of green wood for house logs or trolling poles. Cultural Resources Several of the cultural resource sites in Hood Bay are visible from the water, and others are known by local residents. Protection of known and undiscovered cultural resources is essential in preserving the cultural heritage of the Tlingit people. Protective measures must include the classification of site information so that people will not trespass or desecrate the sites, and careful review of the site inventory before approval of any proposed development activity to avoid the destruction of cultural resources. -44- @-q Tabie Island IJ 6 -At LEGEND '11, '39 - ----------- TRADITIONAL HUNTING, FISHING, AND GATHERING r,,, OCCURSTHROUGHOUTTHEAMSA 21 2 SPORT HUNTING AND FISHING OCCURSTHROUGHOUTTHEAMSA POTENTIAL MARICULTURE STATION --- --- POTENTIAL TOURISM FACILITY 27 COMMERCIAL SALMON FISHERY COMMERCIAL HALIBUT FISHERY COMMERCIAL DUNGENESS GRAB FISHERY P, 32 AJ -Ile 3 @'j IA Ho @_abin P, 7 8 0 /* 1A -4-@ 'IC /* 10 2 iN 7=:c 2 3o.. 0,z may RESOURCE INVENTORY and ANALYSIS of the CHAIK-WHITEWATER DAY AMSA Biophysical and socioeconomic information about Chaik and Whitewater Bays is found in Chapters 2 and 3 and Figures 22-37 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan. The information in this chapter is a more detailed supplement to the Angoon CMP, and it provides the basis for the AMSA policies. RESOURCEINVENTORY General Setting Chaik and Whitewater Bays have value to the general public for recreation, and to Angoon as traditional and customary use areas. Both possess anadromous fish streams and valuable deer and waterfowl habitat. Fish and Wildlife Anadromous fish in the area include pink, chum, sockeye, coho, and king salmon and dolly varden, cutthroat, and rainbow or steelhead trout. Figure 30 in the Angoon Coastal Management Plan depicts the anadromous fish streams in the AMSA. All species except king salmon spawn in the Angoon area. The most prevalent bottom-dwelling fish include the walleye pollock, halibut, sablefish or blackcod, arrowtooth flounder or turbot, Pacific perch, Pacific cod, and flathead, Dover and rex soles. Common shallower water fish include herring, salmonids, starry flounder, greenling, ling cod, shiner perch, ratfish, dogfish, surf smelt, tomeod, yellowfin sole, shortspine thornyh-ead or idiotfish, and various rockfish and sculpins. Common marine invertebrates include clams, scallops, mussels, abalone, snails, crabs, shrimp, barnacles, urchins, sea stars and sea cucumbers. Eight known edible species of mussels, clams, and cockles occur in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zones. Crab species include Dungeness, King and Tanner. Marine mammals commonly found year-round in the Angoon area include Steller sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, Dall and harbor porpoise, and killer and humpback whales. Other marine mammals occurring occasionally in the area include Northern fur and elephant seals, minke and sei whales, and North pacific whiteside dolphins. Sitka black-tailed deer and brown bear are the only large mammals found on Admiralty Island, and both species range from the beach fringe to the alpine meadows. Deer are plentiful in both Chaik and N"itewater Bays. Other mammals include mink, land otter, marten, marmot, beaver, short-tailed weasels, squirrel, voles, shrews, mice, and bats. The coastal forest provides important cover and habitat for most of these species. Marine foods taken from the intertidal zone can make up an important part of the diet of mink, land otter, and - to a lesser extent - marten. Some of these mammals are taken by subsistence trappers. -46- Game birds include the blue grouse and rock ptarmigan. Birds of prey are the bald eagle; the red-tailed, gos-, sharp-shinned, sparrow, and marsh hawks; great gray and great horned owls; and peregrine and gyrfalcons. Common birds breeding in the forest and in other upland habitats include the rufous hummingbird; yellow-bellied sapsucker; western flycatcher; tree and barn swallows; raven; crow; chestnut-backed chickadee; ouzel; winter wren; varied, hermit and Swainson's Thrush; orange-crowned, Townsend's myrtle, and Wilson's warblers; fox and Lincoln's sparrow; pine siskin; red crossbill; and dark-eyed junco. Each spring, during the annual migration to their northerly breeding grounds, thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds pass through Chatham Strait which is part of the Pacific Flyway. Estuaries and wetlands like those found in Chaik Bay provide critical resting and feeding habitat, especially in years when breakup further inland is late or temporarily delayed by weather. Nesting waterfowl concentrate at the heads of most bays, and along lakes and streams. Nesters include red-throated and common loons, Vancouver Canada geese, trumpeter swans, mallards, harlequin ducks, and common and red-breasted mergansers. Pintail, shoveler and teal also pass through the area. Waterfowl constitute an important subsistence food source. Inshore waters, especially along the shores of bays and inlets, provide needed habitat for overwintering gulls, mallards, scaup, common and Barrow's goldeneye, buffleheads, oldsquaws, harlequins, white-winged, surf and common scoters, common and red- breasted merganser, Vancouver Canada geese, loons, grebes, marbled murrelets, murres, guillemots, and other alcids, puffins, eider, and pelagic cormorants. Important fall and winter food for these birds includes eelgrass, sea lettuce, and other algae, marine inverte-brates, small fish, and spawned-out salmon and their roe. Shorebirds such as black turnstones, black oystercatchers, rock sandpipers, surfbirds, and dunlins frequent the rocky shores during winter. Migrating whimbrel, golden, black- bellied, and semi-palmated plover, and wandering tattlers also rest in the area, frequently stopping at low tide. Snipe and greater and lesser yellowlegs nest along the shore of marine and freshwater bodies, swamps, and muskegs. Puffin, petrels, gulls, guillemots, jaegers, murres, murrelets, and phalaropes are found in the area at various times of the year. Fisheries Subsistence chum and pink salmon are taken by beach seine in Chaik and Whitewater Bays from July I through September 30. Fall chum salmon are fished from Augutit I until October 30. King and coho salmon may be taken incidentally under a subsistence permit. Subsistence halibut are fished in the spring and summer when the halibut move into shallow waters. There are commercial dungeness crab fisheries and commercial halibut fisheries in both Chaik and Whitewater Bays. Dungeness are taken in the shallow waters of the flats inside the head of each Bay. Halibut are fished in the deeper waters at the entrance to each Bay. the coho troll fishery occurs off Village Point in Chaik Bay and seining takes place within the Bay. -47- In 1990 a new sea cucumber commercial fishery opened at Distant Point south to Chaik Bay, an area adjacent to both the Hood Bay and Chaik-Whitewat,er Bay AMSAs. Fisheries - ncement and Mariadture Presently there are no hatchery site proposals or mariculture study sites in Chaik and Whitewater Bays. Recreation Chaik and Whitewater Bays attract visitors who hunt and fish, and enjoy the scenic values of Admiralty Island National Monument. However, the Bays are unable to accomodate even a small number of boats because they lack good anchorages and are fairly exposed to weather in Chatham Strait. There are no Forest Service recreational trails in either Chaik or Whitewater Bay. At this time there is no private or public sector tourist facility development proposed in the Chaik-Whitewater AMSA. Tunber The Sitka spruce and western hemlock forest is the dominant forest type from sea level to timberline, which varies from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The most common conifers are western hemlock, Sitka spruce, mountain hemlock, and Alaska cedar. Of all terrestrial habitats, old-growth forest is generally considered the most important for wildlife in northern Southeast Alaska. The most critical and productive old-growth habitat consists of the highest volume stands on south-facing slopes between the beach and 1,000 feet elevation. Stands with highly variable tree spacing of many large trees with full crowns interspersed with trees of varying age, size, and crown development and an understory abundant in bunchberry, blueberry, trailing raspberry, and goldthread provide first class fodder and shelter for deer, bear, and smaller mammals and birds. Typically these stands are found on south-facing slopes within a few miles of the beach or in riparian corridors. Deer frequent the beach fringe in winter and spring, and subalpine areas in summer and fall, but they depend on old-growth forest-year round and especially during winter and spring. The crowns, needles, and branches of spruce and hemlock form a canopy which reduces snow accumulation on the ground. This allows species such as deer to continue to access the understory plants. The canopy also reduces loss of radiant heat, so that temperatures in the woods may be as much as ten or fifteen degrees warmer than those in muskegs, meadows and clearcuts. With the additional wind protection afforded by heavy timber and brush, the old-growth forest becomes critical habitat in periods of extreme cold and periods of deep snow. The Vancouver Canada goose depends on old-growth forests and rich estuaries. Unique among geese which tend to nest in marshes, it nests in old-growth trees in the spring and migrates to intermediate altitude muskegs during summer. Instead of migrating south, many of the Vancouver sub-species are year-round residents in bays, estuaries, and tide flats near their nesting areas. -48- The marbled murrelet feeds in saltwater but nests in old-growth forests growing on steep hillsides, sometimes as much as twenty or more miles inland. Destruction of nesting habitat by logging has endangered the species in California, Oregon and Washington. Marbled murrelet numbers in Southeast Alaska remain high, but the impact on their population by logging activities has not been assessed. It is believed that marbled murrelets feed along the entire western shore of Admiralty Island. Nesting is likely to be especially concentrated on the steep slopes above Chaik Bay. The forest also plays an important role in regulating in-stream water volumes and temperatures. Tall trees growing along river banks shade stream courses from thermal extremes, both the intense mid-summer sun and intense mid-winter cold. Trees and their root systems regulate the rate of run-off, storing water received during wet periods and releasing it slowing during dry periods. The forest steadily contributes small amounts of bark, needles, leaves, insects, and other nutrients essential to the aquatic lifeforms found in lakes, rivers, and streams. Blow downs of patches of forest during storms occasionally block anadromous fish streams but generally the effect of trees and stumps on streams is positive. Blow downs provide shelter for fish and animals and growing platforms for algae and insects. Attached marine algae and eelgrass are often torn loose and deposited on beaches. As these plants are broken down by physical and chemical processes, they become an important winter food source for shellfish and marine invertebrates. The forest is also important as a source of firewood. Firewood is a traditional resource essential to a majority of Angoon households for heat, domestic hot water and cooking. Demand is heavy, and wood consumption per household may exceed several cords a year. Sections of Whitewater Bay were logged in the past. The first commercial timber harvests were probably for' logs for commercial fish traps, followed by small scale commercial hand logging and select logging of spruce trees in the 19208. Small scale logging changed in 1911 when 80 acres were harvested at once. From 1911 to 1960 just over 323 acres of timber were commercially harvested. A road system was put in by a logging company and over 1870 acres were clearcut from 1962 to 1964. MineivIs There are no known economic concentrations of minerals in Chaik Bay or Whitewater Bay. The Forest Service owns the subsurface estate. The agency has classified the area as wilderness, and mining is incompatible with this land use designation. Cultural Pa%ources Eighteen archeological sites in Chaik and Whitewater Bays have been identified and mapped. Investigations have yielded historic period artifacts from village and fort sites and fish camps throughout the AMSA. It is likely that a number of unknown but significant prehistoric cultural sites exist, as the Tlingit people have inhabited this area of Southeast Alaska for several thousand years. -49- RESOURCE ANALYSIS Introduction In the following Resource Analysis, existing and potential future uses, issues and conflicts in Chaik and Whitewater Bays are explored. Figure 14 shows existing and potential future land and water uses in the Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA. Issues identified in the Resource Analysis are addressed in the AMSA policies. I)raditional and Customary Natural Resource Use Chaik and Whitewater Bays have been traditional fish and wildlife use areas for a very long time. Neltushkin in Whitewater Bay was once an enduring Tlingit village with over 50 residents. Many years ago there was a community at Village Point in Chaik Bay where some of Angoon's elders were raised. A fort also existed at Village Point at one time. Chaik and Whitewater Bays yield salmon, halibut, deer, seal, seaweed, crab, clams, cockles, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, mussels and other invertebrates, ducks, geese, as well as other waterfowl, bird eggs, firewood, and small mammals by trapping. The AMSA, especially Whitewater Bay, is considered by Angoon people as "too far" to be an easy day trip. It is described as "a day trip with an overnight stay." Thus only special trips are undertaken to harvest specific resources. People travel to Whitewater to hunt deer and seal, to fish halibut, cohos, king and dungeness crabs, and to dig clams and cockles. The high mountain peaks-behind Chaik provide good deer hunting in August and September. Later in the season deer are hunted within two or three miles of saltwater, and in late winter, beach hunting prevails. The patterns of use of Whitewater Bay for deer hunting have fluctuated since the 1950's, due to several factors including logging. The relative abundance of deer plays a major role in the traditional use patterns of Whitewater Bay because reports of good hunting are an incentive for hunters to travel 20 miles to the Bay. Other factors affecting hunter selection of Whitewater for deer in recent years include the cost of gasoline to get there, and safety. Hazardous travel across the open water and several reefs between Angoon and Whitewater Bay discourages small boat owners. Deer hunters avoided the Whitewater Bay area and were essentially displaced during the period of active logging. There was a general feeling that logging would drive away the deer. Peak use of the area occurred in 1967, shortly after the logging stopped. After the loggers left Whitewater Bay in 1965, Angoon hunters began using the roads and clearcuts in the Bay. Use of the roads and clearcuts decreased to 10-20% in the 1980s, partly because the logging road was overtaken by the growth of alder. Although beaches were not used in the 1940s-1950s, beach hunting increased to 75% of all hunters in the 1970s, and it remained high in the 1980's. Apparently in the 1970s reports began to circulate that Whitewater Bay was not as good for deer hunting, and hunting efforts shifted to areas closer to town. Seal hunting is incidental to deer hunting and occurs during most of the year except during the pup calving season, mid-May to early July. _50- Fisheries This spring the sea cucumber fishery in Southeast Alaska was closed early in order to address management problems. Although the future of the Distant Point sea cucumber fishery is uncertain and the fishery is outside both the Hood Bay and Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSAs, any continuation of the fishery may be reviewed for potential spillover impacts. The sea cucumber fishery in Southeast Alaska has developed from a zero harvest in 1986 to 1.3 million pounds harvested in 1989. At the time of the spring 1990 opening, the ADFG Division of Commercial Fisheries did not have a management plan for this species. The Tlingit & Haida Central Council has publicly voiced its concerns that unlimited entry without a management plan could threaten depletion of the traditional resource by non- Natives. The timing of future sea cucumber fisheries depends on the gathering of population estimates and other biological data, as well as development of a comprehensive management plan. The Division of Commercial Fisheries requested FY 91 legislative funding for management plan development and implementation. The division received limited funding targeted for research. The funding is earmarked for commercial sampling of locations and numbers of sea cucumbers. The management plan will be completed by July 1, 1990. However, funding for implementation was not received. According to the Division of Commercial Fisheries, re-opening of the sea cucumber fishery may be limited to the larger fisheries in Sitka and Ketchikan. Fisheries Enhancement and Mariculture The ADFG FRED has indicated that remote release net pens and outstocking projects may be planned near Angoon sometime in the future. Shoals and exposure to weather from Chatham Strait may make Chaik and Whitewater Bays unsuitable for temporary or permanent anchorages for fish processing, floating facilities, or mariculture facilities. Recreation The only known or anticipated use conflicts are between traditional fishing and hunting, and sports fishing and hunting. Unlike the situation in the Mitchell Bay AMSA, the conflict is not perceived as critical. Competition is not focused on a specific resource. Chaik and Whitewater Bays are important traditional use areas but they are not relied upon as heavily as some other areas. The AMSA is more distant and requires specially planned trips for specific harvest activities. The Forest Service may build a trail or issue temporary camping permits on Monument land in the future. Increased recreational use of the AMSA would increase the potential for habitat and scenic impacts such as littering, debris from firewood cutting, disturbance of traditional berry picking areas, and stowage of boats on tidelands within sight of other boaters. Chaik and Whitewater Bays have deer trails that are used for traditional hunting and trapping. Some residents do not want a policy to identify existing trails because of potential litter problems and habitat damage by recreational users. A member of the -51- Angoon Planning and Zoning Commission stated that boaters "tear down the berry bushes." Twaber Whitewater Bay has a history of timber use that began in order to meet the domestic needs of the Leeneidee people for houses, smokehouses, cooking utensils, fishing gear, and cooking and heating fuel. The commercial timber harvests occurring between 1911- 1964 displaced hunters who traditionally used Whitewater Bay, and probably impacted traditional and customary use in other ways as well. Although private holdings exist in Chaik and Whitewater Bays, there are currently no timber sale leases or plans to harvest timber. The surrounding uplands are designated wilderness in the Admiralty Island National Monument. Beach log salvage may be a future activity. Beach log salvage is a low impact activity found to be generally consistent with the ACMP, with general stipulations to avoid tideland impacts and cultural resource sites. Firewood is another use of timber within the AMSA. The on-going yearly harvest of firewood has depleted the readily available stands of timber close to town. Access to new sources further from town and the roadways must be ensured. People will increasingly rely on sources within the AMSA. Associated harvesting problems of debris, conflicts with other users, and potential fire hazards during dry weather must be addressed. The Forest Service allows harvesting of dead and down wood for personal use without a permit. Although the agency has never issued permits, the Forest Service would regulate harvesting of green wood for house logs or trolling poles. Cultural Resources The remains of the old settlements in Chaik and Whitewater Bays are visible today. Protection of known and undis-covered cultural resources is essential in preserving the cultural heritage of the Tlingit people. Protective measures must include the classification of site information so that people will not trespass or desecrate the sites, and a careful review of the site inventory before approval of any proposed development activity to avoid the destruction of cultural resources. 52- V!I,Icqe Pt nm lb 0 CHAIK 33 B A Y V OCKY -T- @-2 Z-@ it" w -@Odv p c . .......... \N ------ 2 24 Go 2.7 15 2 A i v S ? 11 rill "e fill- ------------ 32 36 4& '414,\ - ---------- - MANAGEMENT of the AREAS MERITING SPECIAL ATTENTION -54- MANAGEMENT of the AREAS MERITING SPECIAL ATTENTION in MITCHELL,- HOOD and CHAIK-W"HITEWATER BAYS 1WRODUCHON A management plan for an AMSA must preserve, protect, enhance, or restore the value or values for which the area was designated. The AMSA management plans for Mitchell, Hood and Chaik-Whitewater Bays preserve and protect the traditional use value of these lands for hunting, fishing, food gathering and foraging. In the management scheme, traditional and customary natural resource uses are placed above commercial fishing, and recreational fishing and hunting. The AMSA management plans outlined below will discuss proper and improper uses, subject uses, goals and objectives, enforceable policies, how the plan will be implemented and the authority to carry it out. Issues and use conflicts exist because of competition for scarce resources. The major issues are the potential effects of recreation and resource development on traditional resources, and the continued adequacy of habitats and fish and wildlife resources to meet traditional and customary natural resource use needs. In resolving the conflicts, it is expected that there will be compromises between resource development and resource protection in order to achieve the balance needed to allow human presence on the land. Goals are the coastal district's general statements of its philosophy and the outcome it desires in relation to uses or activities in the AMSAs. Objectives establish direction toward the goals and describe the district's achievable intent in relation to uses or activities in the AMSAs. Neither goals nor objectives are enforceable. Policies are the enforceable rules of the AMSA plan. They guide management decisions about the use and development of specific coastal resources. When the AMSA management plan is adopted, it becomes part of the Alaska and Angoon Coastal Management Program and the enforceable policies will be used by state and federal agencies when development projects or plans are reviewed throughout the AMSAs. On AMSA lands within the City of Angoon boundaries, local permits will also be reviewed in relation to the AMSA plan policies. On private lands in the AMSAs, the policies will be effective through voluntary participation, and whenever state or federal permits are needed for actions. Once permits are required, these policies are binding rather than voluntary. The Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP) policies are in effect throughout Southeast Alaska. The following policies are additional, specific policies to supplement the ACMP state standards, 6 AAC 80.040 - 80.150. We refer the reader to Pages 124-125, Definitions, in the Angoon Coastal Management Program plan for the meanings of words used in the following policies. -55- PROPER AArD V11PROPER USES All land and water uses within the AMSAs will. be considered proper if they are consistent with the policies of this AMSA management plan, the ACMP standards, and applicable state and federal regulations. No uses are categorically prohibited within the AMSA boundaries. Uses of state and national concern will not be arbitrarily or unreasonably excluded from the AMSAs. SUBJECT USES All land and water uses and activities occurring on City, state and private lands, and federal actions which directly affect coastal resources within the boundary of the AMSA plan are subject to the AMSA plan policies, including: * land and water uses within the AMSA boundary which require approvals, including permits and certifications of the City, state or federal governments; and * resource leasing activities that require federal, municipal or state permits, land disposals, regional plans, and community plans. These include permitted activities that are subject to categorical approval, general concurrence, and individual project review under coastal management regulations. Land and water uses and activities occurring on state and private land which directly affect the coastal resources within the AMSA are subject to both the policies contained in the federally approved Angoon Coastal Management Program and this AMSA plan. Although federal lands and waters are excluded from the coastal area, uses and activities occurring on federal lands and waters which directly affect the coastal area are subject to this program. All proposed actions in the AMSAs will be evaluated by regulatory agencies to determine if the action is consistent with the AMSA management policies. A permit will not be granted if the proposed action or activity is not consistent. The District will work with the project applicant to revise the proposed development project plans in order to make it consistent with the policies of this plan. Consistency reviews of state activities will be coordinated by the Division of Governmental Coordination if more than one state agency permit is involved or a federal permit is required. Federal activities within the AMSA must be consistent with the management policies to the "maximum extent practicable." In other words, activities must be consistent unless the agency will be violating another federal law by doing so. Upland activities on federal lands will be reviewed for consistency with this AMSA plan for all potential "spillover impacts." Federal rules require that federal agencies identify which of their activities will have spillover impacts that affect the AMSA (15 CFR 930). However, the State of Alaska provides guidance in three documents to the Forest Service regarding activities that will be reviewed for consistency. These documents are the State of Alaska Coastal Management Program; a Memorandum of Understanding currently under revision between the State of Alaska, Office of the Governor, Division of Governmental Coordination, and the U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Region; and the State Forest Resources and Practices Act (AS 41.17), as amended in 1990. -56- Activities on state, municipal or private lands adjacent to the AMSA may also be evaluated for spillover impacts. N TRADITIONAL AND CUSTOMARY NATURAL RESOURCE USE Traditional and customary natural resource use of plants, fish, and wildlife is the primary and highest priority use of all land and waters within the AMSAs. Goal 1.1: To protect traditional and customary use of plant, fish, and wildlife resources and habitats, and to maintain the traditional way of life in order to preserve the traditional cultural values and economy. Objective 1.11: To balance competing uses and activities with maintenance of the Tlingit culture and traditional use economy. Policies A . Before a proposal can be approved, possible adverse impacts of the potentially conflicting use or activity on traditional and customary use must be analyzed and safeguards provided to assure continued traditional and customary use. B. A potentially conflicting use or activity shall not curtail the age-old traditional culture of the Tlingit people. 0. A potentially conflicting use or activity shall not remove indispensable fish, game or plant habitats from use by traditional and customary users, or cause a decrease in the range or extent of diversity within the local ecology that the Tlingit people depend on for food. D. Sport fishing and sport hunting shall not be allowed in areas that are intensively used for traditional fishing, hunting and gathering. E. Within the AMSAs, proposers of non-subsistence uses and activities shall locate such uses and activities at alternate sites outside the AMSA. Where location in alternative sites is not feasible and prudent, uses and activities shall avoid adverse impacts to traditional use resources and habitats, or to traditional users during periods of harvesting and gathering activities. E RECREATION Goal 2.1: To promote recreational uses and activities on the coastal lands and waters that do not conflict with traditional and customary use. Objective 2.1.1-. To balance sport fishing, hunting and other recreational uses and activities with maintenance of the Tlingit culture and subsistence economy. Policies A. The state and federal agencies shall give high priority to maintaining, and where appropriate, increasing public access to coastal lands and waters. -57- B. Proposed recreational activities and developments which conflict with traditional and customary resource use shall not be encouraged. 0 FISHERIES ENHANCEMENT AND MARICULTURE Fisheries are vital to the Angoon lifestyle and economy. Commercial fishing provides the most important source of personal income, while subsistence fishing meets a high percentage of the nutritional needs of local residents. The cultivation of shellfish and sea vegetables is a newly developing industry in Southeast Alaska. Any hatcheries and enhancement projects or shellfish farming projects requiring upland use in designated wilderness in the Admiralty Island National Monument would require Congressional approval before development. Generally, the Forest Service will not issue permits to use waterlines, shorelines, or any other improvements above mean high tide for floating facilities adjacent to designated wilderness lands. This may limit the siting of floating facilities to areas where the adjacent shore is in private ownership. All private inholdings in the AMSAs are within designated wilderness, and projects sited on private land would come under Forest Service review. The Forest Service would also review projects located on state-owned tidelands. Sites for floating facilities could be extremely limited--and nearly all pose the potential for conflict with other users and values. Similarly, any enhancement or mariculture projects using tidelands in the AMSAs would require state permits. Goal 3.1: Encourage investigation of the area!s potential for development of mariculture. Objective 3.Ll.- Determine the compatibility of mariculture with pre-existing uses and the traditional way of life. Goal 3.2: Encourage hatchery and enhancement projects to promote healthy salmon stocks for future generations. Objective 3.2.2: Determine the compatibility of enhancement projects with pre- existing uses and the traditional lifestyle. Goal 3.3.- Maintain healthy populations of high-quality edible fish and marine organisms and plants. Objective 3.3.3: To prevent over-harvesting and resultant long-term damage to local fisheries, encourage the Department of Fish and Game to develop escapement goals for all user groups, fisheries, harvest areas, and drainage systems in the AMSAs. Policies: A. Development which may have a significant adverse impact on fisheries resources, recreational fishing, enhancement projects, subsistence or personal use fishing, or commercial fishing shall incorporate appropriate designs and measures to mitigate potential adverse impacts to these resources and uses. -58- B. Piers, pilings, breakwaters, outfalls and other in-water structures must be designed, sited, and maintained so as to maintain or enhance the natural characteristics of nearshore marine and intertidal habitats. C. In addition to the above, mariculture facilities must meet an identifiable public need, and must satisfy the following criteria: 1. Mariculture and aquaculture projects must be designed, sited, and maintained to be compatible with appropriate culture practices and so as to minimize the risk of disease transmission. 2. Sites must have appropriate flushing characteristics and proper depth to maintain environmental quality. 3. Mariculture and fishery enhancement projects shall be sited in areas of low conflict with existing uses. The following areas shall be avoided: � anadromous fish streams as documented by the Department of Fish and Game; � tidelands or wetlands identified as important habitat areas; � areas of extensive vessel traffic or hazards to navigation; � areas of point or non-point source water pollution; � areas with concentrations of predators on the proposed species; � subsistence areas receiving significant public use; � recreation areas receiving significant public use, and � areas of human habitation. 4. Requirements for floating facilities (see Coastal Development in the Angoon Coastal Management Program) as well as other applicable local, state and federal regulations must be met. N TIMBER The traditional lifestyle of Angoon residents is closely linked with the maintenance of large areas of old growth spruce and hemlock forest. Timber harvest activity depleting these forests reduces populations of Sitka black-tailed deer and other wildlife. Logging and related activities can harm anadromous fish streams. Log storage and transfer facilities can harm marine habitat. Goal 4.1-. Minimize environmental impacts from logging and associated activities. Objective 4.1.1: Where proposed logging activities seem likely to cause environmental damage, require operator to develop measures to mitigate the damage to the fullest extent possible. Policies: A. A complete logging plan consistent with the State Forest Resources and Practices Act (AS 41.17) will be required for timber harvest activities. B. Unless no alternative exists, timber harvest activities shall not be sited in areas of high traditional and customary use. A logging plan must include protective measures to mitigate potentially adverse effects on traditional use resources. _59- C. Timber harvest activities shall be managed so as to protect the AMSA from adverse visual impacts. D. Mitigation plans describing how habitat, air, land and water, and visual impacts will be minimized shall be developed by the land managing agency or land owner, and approved by the land managing agency. Compliance with the mitigation plan is required. E. If no alternative exists, logs may be stored on uplands. Log storage in wetlands and intertidal zones is prohibited. F. Clear-cutting of parcels of private property within the AMSA shall be prohibited unless specifically identified as a part of a development proposal which has received approval from the state agency conducting the consistency review. G. Timber wastes must be disposed of by methods and at sites approved by the Department of Environmental Conserva-tion and the District. H. Whenever possible, timber-harvesters should make non-marketable debris available for firewood gatherers. 0 AMSA DEVELOPMENT Because of the wilderness designation of most lands adjacent to the AMSAs, extensive future development will not occur. In all of the AMSAs, almost any upland development would require access across the beach and the 660 foot shoreline strip that falls within the AMSA boundaries. Developers would be required to obtain permits for their activities. The wilderness designation will restrict or disallow any proposed fish farming sites using the uplands, as well as mineral extraction and timber harvest activities. Development and activities proposed on or adjacent to designated wilderness lands will be evaluated by the Forest Service for compatibility with wilderness, ANILCA, and the National Environmental Policy Act. State and Federal agency permitting requirements and reviews would also occur. In the Mitchell Bay AMSA, most development activities would be sited on or within 660 feet of the shore of the Bay or one of its associated water bodies. Therefore, nearly any development proposal would fall under the joint review of the Forest Service and Kootznoowoo Corporation, joint managers of the corridor lands. The wilderness values of Admiralty Island National Monument and interest in the indigenous culture will draw increasing numbers of tourists to Angoon and the adjacent AMSAs. While most residents want to encourage local tourism, they feel that control over tourism activities and services is needed to protect the resources and the traditional lifestyle from impacts associated with recreational users. If properly managed, a local tourism facility might be compatible with wilderness and traditional use values. Goal 5.1-. Promote limited tourism including sightseeing and overnight camping, and non-consumptive wilderness guiding that does not conflict with traditional and customary use. -60- Objective 5.1.1: Encourage the involvement of local residents in the development of tourism-related services and businesses that are focused on: � local lodges; � locally-based guiding including sport fishing and non-consumptive wilderness guiding; � sightseeing tours; � cultural and historical interpretation; and � locally-based retail services. Policies: A. All land and water use activities shall be conducted with appropriate planning and implementation to mitigate potentially adverse effects on the following resources of local, state, or national importance: 1. fish and wildlife populations and their habitats; 2. subsistence uses and activities; 3. water quality; 4. cultural resources; and 5. designated wilderness areas. Mitigation shall include and be considered in the following order of preference: 1. attempt to avoid the loss of the affected resource or activity; 2. when the loss cannot be avoided, minimize the loss and the need for restoration, maintenance or compensation efforts; 3. when the loss of resources and/or associated activities of local, state or national concern cannot be minimized, restore or rehabilitate the resource to its predisturbance condition, to the extent feasible and prudent; and 4. when loss or damage to important habitat or existing resources and associated activities is substantial and irreversible and the above objectives cannot be achieved, compensation for the resource and/or harvest loss by replacing, enhancing, or providing substitute resources or environments shall be considered. Compensation may be in kind or out of kind and off site or on site. The preferred alternative is in kind and on site, to the extent feasible and prudent. The importance of the habitat and commercial or subsistence harvest will be considered during the evaluation of the need for restoration or compensation. The cost of mitigation, relative to the benefits to be gained, will also be considered in the implementation of this policy. B. Any proposed action must be sensitive to the implications of the action on the Tlingit way of life. Adequate information about the Tlingit culture, its traditional economy, and the ecosystem shall be obtained before deliberation takes place concerning new development or changes in administrative practices. The Angoon coastal district will provide information to decision makers when requested. C. Priority shall be given to water-dependent and water related uses and activities. Uses and activities that are neither water-dependent nor water-related shall only - 61 - be allowed if there is no feasible or prudent inland alternative to meet the public need for the use or activity. D. Where feasible and prudent, developments in or over the water, such as piers, docks and protective structures shall be located, designed, and maintained in a manner which prevents adverse impacts upon air and water quality, fish, wildlife, scenic and vegetative resources. E. Residential uses of private waterfront land shall not be arbitrarily or unreasonably excluded or restricted. 0 FIREWOOD Firewood is a traditional resource essential to many households for heat, domestic hot water and cooking. Residents must have continued access to sources of firewood. Because the on-going harvest of firewood has depleted supplies close to town that are accessible by motor vehicle or boat, people will increasingly harvest wood available within the AMSAs. The associated harvesting problems of access, debris, conflicts with other user groups, and fire hazards need to be addressed. Goal 6.1: Make firewood available for residential use in a manner that minimizes effort, environmental impacts, and conflict with other user groups. Objective 6.1.1: Establish a firewood gathering policy that protects the resource and the public. Policies: A. Conduct firewood gathering activity in a manner that minimizes environmental impacts, protects shoreline and stream-side habitats, and maintains public safety. 2. Felling trees is prohibited within 100 feet of high tide line and within 330 feet of bald eagle nest trees. 2. Cutting trees is prohibited on public lands if the trees are not marked by the land manager for residential firewood gathering. 3. Before beginning felling operations, wood gatherers must make sure that berry pickers, root-gatherers, children and others are safely out of the area. 4. To ensure access to wildlife and other users after gathering activities are completed, wood gatherers must remove the entire tree down to a four-inch top. Tops and other unused portions of trees must be limbed. Unused portions of trees and associated limbs and debris must be removed from ditches, stream courses, and to well above the high tide mark. 5. When the weather is dry and fire hazards become extreme, wood cutting and gathering will be temporarily prohibited. -62- 0 CULTURAL RESOURCES Dating of artifacts and other evidence suggest that humans have inhabited Southeast Alaska for at least 10,000 years. Tlingit oral histories date their presence in Southeast Alaska to the last glaciation. Many migration stories collected from Angoon and Sitka residents chronicle the Tlingits' endurance of a great flood and their subsequent resettlement in various areas of Southeast Alaska. Archeologists have found t 'races of human habitation throughout the AMSAs. The Carbon 14 dating of remains' of a Tlingit-style fish weir unearthed in Favorite Bay in the Mitchell Bay AMSA suggests that Tlingit people as a distinct group have inhabited Southeast Alaska for at least the past 3,000 years. Goal 71: To have local Tlingit history and prehistory studied, protected and preserved for future generations. Objective 7.1.1: Identify and protect all valuable historic and prehistoric sites. Prevent destruction of known historic and prehistoric sites. 1policim A. A proposed development activity or action shall not interfere with, destroy, or desecrate sites including cemetery sites, artifacts, structures or other cultural resources. B. A development site found by archeologists to be of exceptional historic or prehistoric value shall be protected for future generations. 0. Federal and state agencies charged with cataloging historic and prehistoric sites shall provide available documentation for a development site prior to construction. D. When a cultural resource has been discovered, archeologists and professionals in other relevant dis-ciplines shall have adequate opportunity to study the development site prior to construction. E. Coordination with the U.S. Forest Service shall occur when cultural resource activities are proposed for wilderness lands. F. The City of Angoon must be immediately notified if, in the course of any project on state or federal land, cultural or archeological artifacts or evidence of historical or prehistorical occupation are encountered. After notification, the City of Angoon shall inform the Department of Natural Resources and the Forest Service, and shall work with these agencies. N AIR, LAND AND WATER QUALITY Goal 8.1.- To maintain and protect the quality of the air, land and water. Objective 8.11: To ensure continued traditional and customary use, and all other land and water uses and activities. - 63 - Policies: A. Notwithstanding any other provision of Air, Land & Water Quality (6 AAC 80.140), the statutes pertaining to the regulations of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation with respect to the protection of air, land and water quality are incorporated into the Alaska Coastal Management Program and, as administered by that agency, constitute the components of the AMSA management program with respect to those purposes. B. Construction including roads in muskeg/high organic content soils must be carefully planned and designed to minimize structural failures and adverse impacts to local drainages. Developers must adhere to the conditions set forth under Transportation Policies, section (c) in the Angoon Coastal Management Program. .C. The extraction or discharge of dredge or fill material shall be sited, designed, and conducted to avoid adverse impacts to public water supplies. D. Dredged material shall not be discharged in marine environments within the AMSA boundaries. Fill materials, pilings, and other infrastructure placed in fresh and marine waters shall not contain hazardous or toxic sustances in excess of levels allowed by state and federal water quality standards. E. Placement of fill materials shall avoid adverse impacts in aquatic or adjacent shoreline habitats resulting from accelerating or restricting flows. F. Shoreline and wetland fills shall avoid adverse impacts of erosion and other non- point sources of pollution on adjacent habitats. E HABITAT Goal 9.1-. To protect or enh ance habitat which supports living resources. Objective 9.1.1: To ensure that management policies protect habitat important to traditional and customary use and all other uses and activities. Policies: A. Habitats in the coastal area which are subject to the Alaska Coastal Management Program include: 1. offshore areas; 2. estuaries; 3. wetlands and tideflats; 4. rocky islands and sea cliffs; 5. barrier islands and lagoons; 6. exposed high energy coasts; 7. rivers, streams, and lakes; and 8. important upland habitat. B. The habitats listed above must be managed so as to maintain or enhance the biological, physical, and chemical characteristics of the habitat which contribute to its capacity to support living resources. -64- C. In addition to the policy contained in (B) of this section, the following policies apply to the management of the following habitats: 1. offshore areas must be managed so as to maintain or enhance the state's sport, commercial, and subsistence fisheries; 2. estuaries must be managed so as to assure adequate water flow, natural circulation patterns, nutrients, and oxygen level, and must avoid the discharge of toxic wastes, silt, and destruction of productive habitat; 3. wetlands and tideflats must be managed so as to assure adequate water flow, nutrients, and oxygen levels, and must avoid adverse effects on natural drainage patterns, the destruction of important habitat, and the discharge of toxic substances; 4. rocky islands and sea cliffs must be managed so as to avoid the harassment of wildlife, the destruction of important habitat, and the introduction of competing or destructive species and predators; 5. barrier islands and lagoons must be managed so as to maintain adequate flows of sediments, detritus, and water, and must avoid the alteration or redirection of wave energy which would lead to the filling in of lagoons or the erosion of barrier islands, and must discourage activities which would decrease the use of barrier islands by coastal species; 6. high energy coasts must be managed by assuring the adequate mix and transport of sediments and nutrients, and by avoiding redirection of transport processes and wave energy; and 7. rivers, streams and lakes must be managed to protect natural vegetation, water quality, important fish or wildlife habitat and natural water flow. D. Uses and activities in the AMSAs which will not conform to the standards in (B) or (C) of this section may be allowed if the following are established: 1. there is a significant public need for the proposed use or activity; 2. there is no feasible or prudent alternative to meet the public need for the proposed use or activity which would conform to the standards contained in (B) and (C) of this section; and 3. all feasible and prudent steps to maximize conformance with the standards contained in (B) and (C) of this section will be taken. E. In applying this section, the District and state agencies may use appropriate expertise, including regional programs referred to in 6AAC 80.030(b). F. Maintaining important fish and wildlife habitats shall be given first priority when weighing resource use conflicts. G. Uses and activities shall avoid adverse impacts to anadromous fish streams; associated holding, spawning, and rearing areas; and associated riparian habitats. -65- E MINING Although no mineral deposits located within the boundaries of the AMSAs are currently economically viable, changes in the marketplace could make marginal deposits worth development. New mineral discoveries are possible. To some extent, all mining operations impact adjacent areas by displacing wildlife, importing labor, and impairing land, water and air quality. Goal 10.1- Encourage environmentally and culturally sensitive mining activities. Objective 10.U: Consider all environmental, economic, and social aspects of any mining or mineral processing proposal. Objective 10.1.2: Discourage mineral-related proposals and activities that threaten the traditional lifestyle. Policies: A. Mining and mineral processing in the AMSAs must be regulated, designed and conducted so as to be compatible with the policies contained in 6 AAC 80.110, adjacent uses and activities, statewide and national needs, and the ACMP. B. Sand and gravel may be extracted from coastal waters, intertidal areas, barrier islands, and spits only when there is no feasible and prudent alternative to coastal extraction, and only when there is a public need for sand or gravel. C. Sand, gravel and shotrock extraction shall be located to minimize environmental impacts and conflicts with nearby uses and activities. D. In the case of any in-water material extraction, all protective measures available to minimize habitat degradation in adjacent waters must be used. Any in-water activities should be scheduled so as to minimize disruption to seasonal biological processes. E. Mining activities (including treatment and disposal of overburden, tailings, and waste materials) shall be designed and operated so as to prevent and minimize soil erosion, slope failure, ground and surface water contamination, and sedimentation and to maximize habitat and resource protection. IMPLEMENTATION Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA The Chaik-Whitewater Bay AMSA is entirely extra-territorial, or outside the Angoon coastal district bouiRdaries. Because the AMSA is extra-territorial, primary management responsoility lies with state and federal agencies. Th e state and federal agencies will implement the policies and management direction outlined in this plan, and will use the plan as guidance both in conducting agency affairs and in permitting any uses or activities that come under their authority. The agencies will incorporate the policies of this plan as another set of rules under which they exercise their existing regulatory authorities. -66- The agencies are required to notify the District of all activities. The District Will review all projects that have a potential for significant impact on the resources of the AMSA for consistency with the policies of this plan. The District will make advisory consistency recommendations and will cite mitigating technology that it has determined to be effective in reducing the impact a project could have. MitcheR Bay and Hood Bay AMSAs The Mitchell Bay and Hood Bay AMSAs are not entirely extra-territorial. Both of the AMSAs include land that is within the City of Angoon and the Angoon coastal district boundary and land that is outside of that boundary. A dual management system will be needed. One system will manage the land that is within the coastal district boundary. The other system will manage the land that is extra-territorial, or outside the coastal district boundary. The District will manage the AMSA lands within the coastal district boundary by following the consistency review process outlined in the Implementation chapter of the Angoon Coastal Management Plan, Page 139. The District will sit with the agencies to review project proposals affecting the land within the coastal district boundaries, and will have an equal voice in the consistency determinations. The extra-territorial land in the AMSAs will be managed by state and federal agencies under the process outlined for Chaik-Whitewater Bays. AUTHORI77 The authority to implement this management plan is premised upon the Coastal Policy Council's authority to formally designate an AMSA outside a coastal district boundary (6 AAC 80.170), and the existing laws and regulations of the state and federal governments. -67- Appendix A The people of Angoon have many concerns about current fish and wildlife allocation policies and perceived use conflicts in the AMSAs. A more active communication is needed between the coastal district, the agencies, and the fish and game boards to address these concerns. The following recommendations were written by members of the City Council and Planning Commission and cover a broad range of issues. They may provide a starting point for discussions leading to eventual resolution of these issues. While the coastal district recognizes that the policies are the enforceable rules for management of the AMSAs, the recommendations may serve to enhance dialogue about fish and wildlife allocation and other management issues generally outside the ACMP. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING to the MITCHELL, HOOD, and CHAIK-WHITEWATER BAY AMSAS 0 Alaska Department of Fish and Game 1. Manage renewable resources on a sustained yield basis for the benefit of the indigenous people and their traditional use culture. 2. Manage culturally unrelated commercial, sport and recreational use of the land and water in a manner that will not intrude upon the indigenous culture. 3. Develop sportfishing escapement goals for kings, cohos, sockeyes, dogs, humpies and halibut, giving the people of Angoon protection in commercial and subsistence fishing within the AMSAs. 4. Establish a policy restricting access by guided sportfishing operations to areas of commercial fishing or subsistence fishing when these user groups are engaged in fishing. 5. Increase monitoring and enforcement of sport hunting regulations, with a focus on sport hunting activities in the Hood Bay AMSA. 6. Close sportfishing and commercial fishing at the same times. 7. Remove requirement that subsistence users shake loose undersized salmon. 8. Change sportfish bag limit to half a bag on every species. 9. Remove bag limits on subsistence fishing and hunting. 10. Remove licensing and permitting requirements for subsistence fishing and hunting. -68- Angoon Fish and Game Advisory Committee 1. Work with the Boards of Fish and Game to develop allocation strategies that better protect subsistence resources and are equitable to all user groups. Specifically, give more attention to the perceived local threat of sportfishing on subsistence use in Mitchell Bay. -69- Appendix B SALT LAKE COHO USER CONFLICT SummwT of Use Conffict The primary use conflict in the Mitchell Bay AMSA centers on the competition between subsistence users and a local sportfishing guide for the Salt Lake/ Hasselborg River cohos. The Forest Service conducted an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the "Amount and Type of Outfitter/Guide Services at Mitchell Bay" in December 1989. The EA was conducted under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Forest Service and Kootznoowoo Corporation, joint managers of the Mitchell Bay corridor lands. Issues raised during the scoping process included: � degradation of wilderness values, especially at Salt Lake, due to crowding by visitors and boat caches; � restricted access to fishing sites in Salt Lake by subsistence users because of overcrowding by sport fishers; impacts on subsistence hunting and harvesting by large numbers of visitors; � threats to long-term viability of Salt Lake coho stock through overharvesting; � perceived illegal operation of guides on Forest Service lands (without a permit) and perceived violations of State fish and game regulations; � potential impacts of motorized boats and guided groups on bear, deer, sea-run cutthroat trout and trumpeter swan populations; 0 benefits to Angoon economy and individual incomes from guided trips in Mitchell Bay; and � the benefits of diverse recreational opportunities provided by guides. While the EA effectively evaluates and allocates guided use on Forest Service lands in Mitchell Bay, it does not regulate the guided activity that occurs on salt water and tidelands which are under the jurisdiction of the State of Alaska. The initial scoping issues involving state tidelands and fish and game resources are not resolved in the EA decision. Perceived violations involving guide registration and beach trespass need to be addressed. The collection of escapement and harvest level data of cohos at Salt Lake should be an agency priority. Bag limits of cohos in the competing fisheries need evaluation. A summary of agency recommendations addressing the Salt Lake user conflict follows. _70- SALT LAIKE COHO USER CONFLICT SUMMARY of RECOMMENDATIONS by IMPACTED AGENCY OR GROUP Alaska Department of Fish & Game 1. Modify the Freshwater Guide Registration Form to require a Coast Guard Charter License number. 2. Require registration of all assistant freshwater guides employed by the boat operator/freshwater guide. 3. Initiate measures to enforce registration of all freshwater guides. 4. Conduct stream surveys in Salt Lake during FY 91 to collect escapement and harvest level data. 5. Evaluate the long-term viability of Salt Lake coho stock. Alaska Department of Natural Resources 1. Draft a measure regulating boat storage on tidelands in Mitchell Bay. Require storage of boats out of sight, above the mean high tide line, and only at approved locations in Mitchell Bay. U. S. Forest Service 1. Monitor operations of sportfishing guides on Forest Service lands. 2. Ensure that permitted guiding activities (both fishing and non-fishing) inSalt Lake and Hasselborg River do not restrict access to subsistence fishing sites. Angoon Fish and Game Advisory Committee I .Present the issue of Salt Lake coho user conflict before the State Board of Fish to evaluate the number of coho taken by sport anglers and develop allocation strategies that protect the resource and are equitable to all user groups. 2. Recommend to State Board of Fish that coho sportfishing in Salt Lake be evaluated in terms of either A. Daily Bag Limit; or B. Resource conservation measures including 1. Minimum Kill policy 2. Catch and release with barbless hook -71- Angoon Phinning and Zoning Commission 1. Hold a public meeting to discuss the Salt Lake coho user conflict. Invite the Angoon elders and local sportfish guide, Dick Powers. Discuss specific ways to alleviate the conflicts, including alternative sportfishing sites and resource conservation measures. Determine what would be fair and acceptable to each user group. -72- Appendix C DOCUMENTATION of PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PUBUC NOTICES Consultant presentations were publicized throughout the community on available bulletin boards and via community-wide CB radio. The consultants met with local repre- sentatives of ADFG Subsistence, Kootznoowoo Corporation, and the Angoon Community Association. PUBLIC MEETINGS IN ANGOON Jan. 22 & 23,1990 Discussion of AMSA issues and preparation of questionnaire with Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council Feb.22,1990 Public Hearing on Future Land Uses, Issues, and Activities in the AMSAs May 14,1990 Public Hearing for comments on AMSA Public Review Draft May 15,1990 Joint Executive Session with City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission to review policies and agency recommendations A community-wide questionnaire on future land uses in the AMSAs was available at the City office and distributed by staff in February 1990. In addition to the participants at the public hearing, other individuals received the questionnaire from the consultants through meeting contacts or at the Senior Center. Extra copies were kept available at the City office. Copies of the Draft AMSA Plan were made available to the public and the members of the City Council 'and Planning & Zoning Commission for public review in early May, 1990. SLTAEMIARY OF PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing on Future Land Uses, Issues and Activities in the AMSAs February 22,1990 Attendance List: 1. George Jim Sr. 2. Mary Willis 3. Charlie Joseph 4. Floyd Kookesh 5. Gilbert Willard 6. Jean Hogue 7. Dennis Eames -73- 8. Cynthia Ann Jim 9. Frank Lane 10. Matilda Gamble 11. George B. Johnson, Jr. 12. Norman Nelson 13. Roxanne Turner Synopsis: Five members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and seven members of the public attended the hearing. Most of the testimony did not focus on future land uses. Several of the speakers discussed the perceived problem between guided sportfishing and subsistence fishing. Others discussed the impacts on traditional resources from commercial fishing, tourists, and sports hunters. All issues on the questionnaire were addressed, although specific information was not forthcoming about locations where certain uses and activities might be compatible. Seven questionnaires were completed and returned to the consultants. Pub& Hearing on Draft AALSA Plan May 14,1990 Attendance List: 1. George Jim Sr. 2. George B. Johnson, Jr. 3. Lydia George 4. Cynthia Jim 5. Norman Nelson 6. Matilda Gamble 7. Pauline Johnson 8. Mary Bixby, DGC 9. Roxanne Turner Synopsis: Five members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and one member of the public attended the hearing. The consultant, Roxanne Turner, gave an overview of the contents of the Public Review Draft, and Mary Bixby discussed the coastal management program and implementation of AMSA plans. Discussion focused on the policies in the management section and the agency recommendations in Appendix A. Several revisions were proposed and adopted by a majority of those present. CONSULTANT PRESENTATIONS TO ANGOON PLANNING & ZONING CON[MISSION AND/OR CITY COUNCIL The consultants made presentations, answered questions and took comments on the AMSA Public Review Draft during three trips to Angoon: January 22 and 23,1990 February 22,1990 May 14 and 15,1990 All presentations and discussions were open to the public and have been tape-recorded with copies available from the City of Angoon. -74- AppendixD REFERENCES CITED Alaska Heritage Resources Survey. Office of History and Archeology. Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. AngoonAMSA Nomination Report to the Coastal Policy Council. September 19,1988. Angoon AMSA Public Hearing Tape. Angoon,Alaska. March1989. Angoon Coastal Management Program. Concept Approved January 1990. Superscript Consultants. Juneau, Alaska. Bering Straits Coastal Resource Service Area Board. Conceptually Approved October 1986. Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Cenaliulriit Coastal Management Program. Bethel, AK. Effective march 1985. Concept Approved Areas Which Merit Special Attention in Southern Southeast Alaska (Hydaburg). July 1983. de Laguna, Frederica. The Story of a Tlingit Community. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 172. Washington D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1960. Etolin Island Mariculture Pilot Project. Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Land and Water Management. Southeast Regional Office. 1988. Eyak Lake AMSA Cooperative Management Plan. Conceptual Approval March 1985. Professional Fishery Consultant. Cordova, Alaska. George,. Gabriel and Robert G. Bosworth. Use of Fish and Wildlife by Residents of Angoon, Admiralty Island, Alaska. Technical Paper No. 159. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence. Juneau. April 1988. George, Gabriel and Matthew Kookesh. Salt Lake Coho Subsistence Permit Fishery. Technical Paper No. 70. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence. Juneau. 1982. Goldschmidt, Walter and Theodore Haas. Possessory Rights of the Natives of Southeastern Alaska. Unpublished report. Washington, D.C. Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 1946. Hoonah Coastal Management Program. Revised reprint of February 1984 concept approved plan which was prepared and printed by C112M I-fill, Portland, OR. June 1984. Kookesh, Albert. Personal communications, 1990. Kookesh, Matthew. Personal communications, 1990. -75- Mitchell, Ken. Personal communications, 1990. Oberg, Kalervo. The Social Economy of the Tlingit Indians. University of Washington Press, Seattle. 1973. Olson, Ronald Leroy. Social Structure and Social Life of the Tlingit in Alaska. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1967. Painter, Rodger. Angoon Mariculture Project Final Report. Sea Culture of Alaska, Inc. January 3,1990. Peck, Dr. Cyrus E. The Tides People: A Narrative Account of Tlingit Culture and Values Written by a Tlingit. February 1986. Revised Sitka District Coastal Management Program. Concept Approved Draft. City and Borough of Sitka. April 1988. Sharp, Frank. Personal communications, 1990. Stanley, Samuel. Report to the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Changes in Tlingit Social Organization. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Juneau. 1965. Swanton, John R.. Social Conditions, beliefs, and linguistic relationship of Tlingit Indians. Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1904-1905. 1908. Thornton, Thomas F. Utilization and Management of the Sitkoh Bay Sockeye Salmon Fishery. January 1990. Draft of Technical Report Number 174. Division of Subsistence, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau, Alaska. Zuboff, Marlene. Personal communication, 1990. -76- A . 11181111111101 3 6668 14109 8303