The Alaska Legislature voted to keep the Wood-Tikchik State Park Management Council, overturning Executive Order 126 in a joint session on March 12. The Governor’s order would have eliminated the council and transferred its duties to Alaska's Department of Natural Resources.
House Rep. Bryce Edgmon of District 37, which includes the region where the park is located, supported the resolution to overturn the order. Ahead of the vote, he said the management council was key to the park’s creation, overseeing traditional subsistence hunting and fishing rights in the region.
“It’s been around for fifty years. The park itself has worked beautifully,” he said. “It’s allowed locals to have a say in any management decisions while allowing the state agencies who oversee it, primarily the Department of Natural Resources, to be able to take the lead on the future of the park.”
Democrats Rep. Andy Josephson of District 13, and Rep. Maxine Dibert of District 31, as well as Republican Rep. David Eastman of District 27 also spoke in support of overturning the order during the session.
After the vote, in a call to KDLG Edgmon said that he was confident the resolution would pass — but that it did so with more votes than he anticipated.
“Thankfully we were able to get a few to come across the aisle to help put to rest the notion of eliminating the council and any reasons for doing so,” he said.
Edgmon said, at this point, he does not anticipate any changes to the council or its role, but he expects that future changes would come in the form of a bill.
“The bill of course has to pass the House and the Senate and would involve the public which is what these executive orders should have done in the first place,” he said.
The executive order was one of 12 the State Senate and House addressed during the joint session. The session voted to overturn eight of those executive orders, including the order to eliminate the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.
Get in touch with the author at christina@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
