U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Togiak National National

Wildlife Wildlife Refuge

Planning Planning Update

Spring 2001

This is the second in a series

of planning updates on the

revision of the comprehensive

conservation plan for the

Togiak National Wildlife

Refuge. The revised plan will

guide management of the

Togiak Refuge for the next

10-15 years.

Where We Are Now

Over the past year, our core

planning team has met four

times to work on revising the

Togiak Refuge’s

comprehensive conservation

plan. The team consists of

Togiak Refuge staff, Fish and

Wildlife Service planners,

tribal government

representatives from six local

villages, and representatives

from the Alaska Department

of Natural Resources and

Alaska Department of Fish

and Game.

Our last update contained a set

of preliminary planning issues.

Issues are important because

they tell us what to focus on

when revising the plan. We

received well over 100 letters

or verbal comments on the

issues.

Based on what we heard, we

revised the planning issues,

which are summarized on

pages 2-4. If you’re interested

in the longer description of

issues, you can request one or

view it at our planning

website:

http://www.r7.fws.gov/planning/

plan.html

The web site also displays our

first Togiak Refuge update

and additional information

about planning, including

information on the other two

Alaska refuges for which plans

are currently being revised.

You can also send us an email

directly from the web site.

We are now working with the

core planning team to identify

possible ways the Togiak

Refuge and its management

partners could address the

issues. We’re starting by

identifying actions that the

Togiak Refuge should continue

doing regardless of what

management approach is

eventually chosen.

At the same time, we’re

looking at some new options.

We’re calling the new options

“building blocks” because they

will be used to build alternative

management directions to be

presented and evaluated in the

draft environmental impact

statement.

The Togiak Refuge provides outstanding vistas and experiences.

In This Issue

Planningissues............ 2-4

Aboutourteam............. 4

What happens happens happens happens happens next . . . . . . . . . 4

Planningsteps.............. 5

Ongoingstudies............. 5

Howtocontactus........... 6
Planning Issues

When the Fish and Wildlife

Services revises a

comprehensive conservation

plan, we usually don’t change

everything about how the

refuge is managed. Many

components of current

management may be

Working well and are

continued.

The issues are important

public and Fish and Wildlife

Service concerns or

opportunities that call for

new approaches to

management. Issues are

therefore the foundation of

revising the plan.

In response to the first

planning update describing

preliminary issues, we

received 72 letters: 64 from

individuals; 3 from local or

state government; 3 from

guides; and 2 from

organizations. Eleven of the

written comments were from

locals, 11 from non-local

Alaskan addresses, and 47

were from residents of the

lower 48 states.

In addition, we held meetings

in local villages and

Anchorage. A total of 67

people attended, 11 in

Goodnews Bay, 19 in

Quinhagak, 12 in Togiak, 12 in

Manokotak, 2 in Bethel, 6 in

Dillingham, and 5 in

Anchorage.

The notes from these

meetings and the comments

from the letters were

merged into a database to

ease summary of the

responses. The full meeting

notes and copies of all

About 2/3 of the people who

provided written comments

said the range of issues

listed in the update covered

their concerns. The

comments helped us to

modify or further describe

the issues and ways of

addressing them. For some

issues such as wilderness

most people stated their

preferences.

One of the questions on the

first planning update

response sheet asked people

what they valued most about

Togiak Refuge and its

resources. The most

frequent response was the

wilderness character and

environment, followed by

fish and opportunities for

fishing, wildlife, subsistence

uses, and opportunities for

motorized access.

When asked about threats to

those values, people’s most

frequent response was

increasing human use and

2

The people of Goodnews Bay express their hopes

and concerns for the Togiak Refuge.

Purposes of the Togiak

National Wildlife Refuge

(established in Section

303(6)(B) of ANILCA):

(i)to conserve fish and

wildlife populations and

habitats in their natural

diversity including, but not

limited to, salmonids, marine

birds and mammals,

migratory birds and large

mammals (including their

restoration to historic

levels);

(ii)to fulfill the

international treaty

obligations of the United

States with respect to fish

and wildlife and their

habitats;

(iii)to provide, in a

manner consistent with

purposes set forth in

subparagraphs (i) and (ii),

the opportunity for

continued subsistence uses

by local residents; and

(iv)to ensure, to the

maximum extent practicable

and in a manner consistent

are available.

crowding, followed by

conflicts between and among

sport and subsistence users.

written comments received
A 50-page report describes

the issues, summarizes how

the Togiak Refuge and

others address the issues

now, identifies data or

information relevant to the

issues, and sorts out who has

authority to address each

issue. Please look at our web

site or contact us for the full

report.

Here’s a quick look at the

seven issues and some of the

questions the revised plan

will address:

1. Water Quality

What is the current status of

water quality on the Togiak

Refuge? What is the Fish

and Wildlife Service’s role in

improving or maintaining

water quality? What is the

effect of human uses on

water quality, especially in

the Kanektok River?

2. Health of Fish

Are fish stocks healthy?

What are the impacts to

spawning areas from public

use? What is the effect of

catch-and-release fishing on

fish mortality? How can the

Togiak Refuge minimize the

risks of introduction of

whirling disease or other

parasites that could infect

fish populations?

3. Subsistence Opportunities

How should the Togiak

Refuge define and manage

for subsistence

opportunities? How will the

Togiak Refuge know if

subsistence uses are

declining in quality or

becoming significantly

restricted?

What are the main

influences on subsistence on

the three main river

systems? How is

recreational use of the three

main river systems affecting

subsistence uses?

4. Recreation Quality

How do visitors and the

Togiak Refuge define a high

quality recreational

experience, and is that

experience being provided?

What resource and social

conditions contribute to high

quality experiences, and

what are the threats to

recreational opportunities?

What should the Togiak

Refuge’s role be in defining

and managing for quality

experiences on the Kanektok,

Goodnews, and Togiak

rivers?

5. Impacts Impacts Impacts Impacts Impacts of Public Use on

Wildlife in the River

Corridors

Under what conditions are

game species displaced from

river corridors during

hunting season? What can

the Togiak Refuge do to

minimize effects on

subsistence hunting? Under

what conditions are bears

attracted to human camps

along the rivers? What can

the Togiak Refuge do to

minimize the effects of bears

on fish camps, villages, and

recreational visitors?

6. Management of Human

Use and Wildlife at Cape

Peirce

How can the Togiak Refuge

protect marine mammals

and other species which

depend on Cape Peirce, while

providing opportunities for

public use?

3

The quality of recreation on the Togiak Refuge is one of the

issues to be addressed in the plan revision.
7. Possible New Land

Management Designations

What lands, if any, should the

plan recommend for

designation as wilderness?

Where and how would

additional wilderness help the

Togiak Refuge to better

achieve its purposes? What

effects would additional

wilderness designation have

on human uses and

administration of the Togiak

Refuge?

What river segments are

eligible for designation as

Wild and Scenic Rivers, and

which, if any, should the plan

recommend?

Would Wild and Scenic River

designation help the Togiak

Refuge better achieve its

purposes, and what effects

would it have on human uses?

4

What Happens Next

At its next meeting, the core

planning team is taking a

closer look at the range of

actions the Togiak Refuge

could take to address the

issues. One topic will be how

to manage non-guided use of

the three main river

systems. Currently, the

number of guided sport

anglers is limited through

the special use permits that

are required for all guiding

businesses. However, there

are few restrictions on

non-guided use.

Local residents have depended on wild resources for

generations. Fish camps with drying racks like this are

located on private lands within the Togiak Refuge.

the Wilderness boundary,

lands along the Kanektok

and Togiak rivers are

owned and managed by

Native Corporations. Many

other lands within the

Togiak Refuge are Native

allotments that are

managed by individual

landowners.

It should be clear that the

Togiak Refuge needs

partners to help meet its

goals. That is why the core

team for the Togiak Refuge

plan revision is not

composed only of Fish and

Wildlife Service employees.

The two state agencies are

represented, as are tribal

governments of local

villages. Representatives

from Manokotak,

Quinhagak, Goodnews Bay,

Twin Hills and Togiak

attend the meetings and

have a substantial role in

helping shape the plan

revision.

Deciding what, if anything,

to change about how the

Togiak Refuge is managed

is not the only question

that needs to be answered

during revision of the

comprehensive plan.

Another important

question is who has the

authority to take various

actions?

The Togiak Refuge does

not have authority over

many of the resources and

opportunities located

within its boundaries. The

Alaska Department of Fish

and Game manages

resident fish and wildlife

populations and sets

harvest regulations for

sport users. The Alaska

Department of Natural

Resources manages state

lands and waters within

the refuge.

Many issues focus on the

Togiak Refuge’s main

rivers. Downstream from

Team Togiak: Togiak: Togiak: Togiak: Togiak: Searching Searching Searching Searching Searching for Common Ground
The current Togiak Refuge

plan calls for assessing how

to manage non-guided use

when it reaches the level of

guided use on the three

rivers. This is now the case

for the upper Kanektok and

upper Goodnews.

Another topic will be

regulations for human waste

disposal. Currently, people

are required to bury their

waste properly on Togiak

Refuge lands. Along the

lower rivers where the river

corridor uplands are

privately owned, visitors are

required to carry out solid

human waste or obtain a

Native Corporation permit

to use the uplands.

Our next planning update,

scheduled for this summer,

will describe preliminary

alternatives developed by

the core team. We’ll ask for

your comments and then

develop a final set of

alternatives. The Draft EIS

will assess the effects of

each alternative on the

resources and opportunities

on the Togiak Refuge, and on

the local villages and

economies.

Planning Information

❚ The Fish and Wildlife

Service is planning to begin

or continue several studies

to provide information for

the plan revision.

❚ A multi-year baseline

study of water chemistry at

locations on the Togiak

Refuge where the Fish and

Wildlife Service has stream

gauges. This will be

5

❚ A study of subsistence uses

and conflicts on the

Kanektok, Goodnews, and

Togiak rivers, to better

understand uses of the

Wilderness and lower

sections of the rivers and

identify conditions that add

to or detract from

subsistence.

❚ A study of sport angling on

the same three rivers, to

assess how anglers use and

perceive conditions on the

river and the quality of

recreation. The results will

be compared with a similar

survey conducted in 1995.

❚ A study monitoring

abundance and distribution

of caribou on the Nushugak

Peninsula and moose in the

Togiak drainage. Ongoing

monitoring of rainbow trout

and char population

movements and distribution.

Monitoring populations of

Haulouts, such as Cape Peirce, provide walrus with

critical critical critical critical critical places to rest and digest. digest. digest. digest. digest.

marine mammals and

seabirds at Cape Peirce, part

of an international research

effort.

supplemented by water

quality monitoring at the

Wilderness boundary on the

Kanektok.

The Planning Steps

Identify issues

What should we consider?



Develop alternatives

What are some different

ways of acting on the issues?

(we are here now)



Analyze alternatives

How well would each

alternative work?



Choose alternative

Which would work best?



Publish draft plan

Public is asked to review and

comment.



Publish final plan

Another chance for the public

to see and comment.



Publish record of decision

The Fish and Wildlife

Service makes its final

decision public.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

How to contact us:

You can contact the planning

team leader or the refuge

manager with comments or

questions. You can reach us by

email at:

Refuge Manager:

Aaron M. Archibeque

Togiak National Wildlife Refuge

P.O. Box 270

Dillingham, AK 99576

(907) 842-1063

Team Leader:

Maggi Arend

USFWS-Mail Stop 231

1011 E. Tudor Rd

Anchorage, AK 99503

(907) 786-3393

USFWS Mission Statement

“The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and

enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Division of Refuges

1011 E. Tudor Road

Anchorage, AK 99503-6199

Tribal representatives can also be

contacted through the tribal councils.

Togiak National National National National Wildlife Wildlife Wildlife Wildlife Refuge

Planning Planning Update Spring 2001

fw7_togiak_planning@fws.gov