Earlier this month, the state’s Local Boundary Commission agreed to consider Manokotak’s petition to annex the Igushik section of the Nushagak fishing district, as well as parts of the Snake and Weary rivers.
Dillingham had already submitted its own petition to annex the entire Nushagak District, which includes the Igushik section, and the state will consider the overlapping requests on the same timeline.
Manokotak Mayor Melvin Andrew said his community has strong ties with the fishery, which helped prompt the request.
“It would be beneficial for Manokotak because most of our community residents go down during the summer to subsist, to commercial fish,” Andrew said.
The schedule for considering the two petitions gives the public until February 26 to comment on them. Then there’s time for the two cities to file more information, the state will produce its own report and there’ll be public hearings on the requests in September. A final decision could come next October.
