Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 1

Member of the Associated Press A I I Monday, December 5,1994 Early Wrap Up Middle School" T-." TMTM 8 1 W-, of donated Middle School. The event is sponsored by the Sitka Community Hickel Record Gets Some Good Marks By RALPH Alaska enaea oir ethics charges. Throughout year when the Alasica Snnmmp. r-mirt An Alaska AP Member Exchange JUNEAU (AP) Gov. Walter Hickel marks the end of a sometimes turbulent four years in office when he hands the governorship to Democrat Tony Knowles.

But Hickel has managed to salvage a record that some observers praise and many give at least decent marks. Hickel's administration was frequently battered by scandal and con- vote loomed. Hickel and his aides sometimes were ridiculed for their megaproject proposals, siich as a water pipeline to California and an undersea railroad to Siberia. Hickel rarely worked well with the Legislature and barely talked with his lieutenant governor, Jack Coghill. And the administration fell into UA, Environmentalists Settle Logging Dispute By ROSANNE PAGANO Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE (AP) Conservationists who threatened to "stay in court forever" to stop Cape Suckling logging by the University of Alaska said Friday they were satisfied with an agreement to end the seven-year long dispute.

An put-of-court settlement calls for the university to give up rights to harvest 309 million board feet of'old- growth spruce and hemlock for comparable rights on a rain forest parcel between the Duktoth River and Icy Cape, where logging already occurs. 'Buck Lindekugel, a lawyer for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, a plaintiff in the case, said the compromise was bittersweet It provides for the largest harvest of state timber in a single plan since statehood. "SEACC was willing to stay in court forever to block timber harvest at Cape Suckling," Lindekugel said in a prepared statement "We fought to protect critical habitat along the Kali- akh River and to force the state to think about eco-tourism development as an alternative to large-scale timber development" Conservationists opposed logging at Cape Suckling because it would expand cutting to a pristine area. Plaintiffs claim the area is high-value habitat for fish and wildlife. The university said one-time cutting rights to some 35,000 acres would.yield 450 million board feet, generating between $40 million and $60 million.

Parcels were part of UA's land grant from the state. Logging along Alaska's "lost coast" was planned for the next 15 to 20 years. The sparsely populated region between the Copper River Delta and Icy Bay on the Gulf of Alaska attracts few visitors. The agreement calls on the university to spend about 5500,000 to erect a base lodge and cabins for a proposed hut-to-hut hiking trail that could increase "It's a win-win situation," Hickel administration spokesman John Manly said. Steve Kallick, a lawyer for the Alaska Rain Forest Campaign, said the agreement showed environmentalists did not want to stop all tree cutting.

"Our groups do not oppose log- gmg," Kallick said Friday. "We just want it to take into account the jobs that also depend on fishing and tourism, and the people who depend on subsistence, and recreation." The state Legislature in 1990 unsuccessfully tried to resolve the lawsuit by buying UA's timber rights. The agreement goes next to the Superior Court at Sitka before becoming final. The state said Attorney General Bruce Botelho, Natural Resources Commissioner Harry Noah and Fish and Game Commissioner Carl Rosier planned to sign the settlement Friday. Plaintiffs included the conservation council; the city and borough of Yakutat; the Yakutat Fishermen's Association; and Cordova District Fishermen United as well as individuals.

The University of Alaska and the Department of Natural Resources were named as defendants. Brian Rogers, UA vice president for finance, said interest in resolving the lawsuit resumed in October after the state Legislature approved a settlement to the mental health lands trust Rogers said a swap involving the Duktoth River site had been proposed years ago, but was dropped because of uncertainty that lands to the south and east couid become pan of the reconstituted mental health lands trust The agreement also would: --Give UA rights to a minimum of 230,000 board feet and a maximum of 265 million board feet between the Duktoth River and Icy Cape in exchange for the Cape Suckling parcel; --Require UA to fund $250,000 in research into the region's fisheries, forestry and wildlife; --Call on UA timber contractors to provide on-the-job training for Vaku- tat residents and ensure local hire and local contracting. Yakutat Mayor Daryl James said the city would hold the university to its promise of job training. He said he was satisfied that the agreement, which permits no cutting in the Kali- akh River drainange for 20 years, would protect local fishermen and hunters worried that logging would displace wildlife. Conservationists said Friday they would continue working to include year when the Alaska Supreme Court said Hickel and the Legislature illegally spent nearly $1 billion from the state's constitutional budget reserve.

Under Hickel, no solution was found to Alaska's subsistence dilemma and federal managers are gaining increasing control over the state's fish and game. And the state got no closer to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. And while the Hickel administration claims to have made substantial cuts to state agencies, conservatives lament that he did not cut enough. But many people have been moved by Hickel's populist impulses, such as his recent veto of a pay raise legislators gave themselves. Others liked the governor's barrage of lawsuits accusing the federal government of violating its statehood pact with Alaska.

Many find his demeanor personable and real, not at all the caricature of a politician who wouldn't utter a word without checking the polls or his handlers. Even people who were once among Hickel's biggest foes now have kind words for the departing governor. Environmentalists considered his pro-development administration a major threat But it was Hickel who finally found a way to buy back Kachemak Bay timber and save Homer from a vista of clearcuts. It was Hickel who bucked powerful oil companies, such as when he fought hard for legislation requiring Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to respond to all crude oil spills in Prince William Sound.

And it was Hickel who earlier this year vetoed a bill that would have allowed billboards along Alaska's highways. "It may be that some of his biggest successes are going to be environmental," said Pam Brodie, the Sierra Club representative who once backed the recall. "I kind of have a warm spot in my heart for Wally. I wasn't always happy with his bureaucracy," said Keith Harun, executive director of Alaska Center for the Environment "But the one thing you have to say about Hickel: He cares about Alaska very deeply." Many Alaska Natives are similarly torn. On key issues such as subsistence and sovereignty, Hickel was no ally of Natives.

But it was a Hickel aide who recently received the Alaska Federation of Natives' highest non- Native award for leading a $100 million effort to bring village water and sewer systems above Third World standards. "We commend Gov. Hickel for his effort to improve lives for Alaskans," AFN president Julie Kitka said recently- As governor, Hickel was an enigma. On some days he worked to protect vast stretches of coastline from timber cutlers; other times he would blast the federal government for squeezing Southeast loggers out of business. He pushed hard for legisla- Continued on Page 8 Feds to Place Order for Alaskan Canned Salmon KODIAK (AP) Alaska's pink- salmon industry will be getting a big boost soon from the federal government The U.S.

Department of Agriculture said it will be buying canned pinks for distribution to a variety of federal food programs. The agency also will be conducting a test purchase of breaded minced salmon nuggets for the National School Lunch Program. Tonnage figures were not immediately available. But Chris Mitchell, a spokesman tor the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation which helped push the test trials of salmon nuggets, estimated the value ot the federal purchase at some to S7 million next year. They don't just buy it and warehouse it," Mitchell told Alaska Fish Radio.

The federal government has purchased canned salmon as a surplus commodity in the past But the trial of salmon nuggets is new. The Fisheries Development Foundation gave the USDA some data collected from "tummy trials" at a nunv est Coast schools rating, the foundation said. The test salmon will include about 500,000 pounds of pink salmon nuggets for distribution around the country, Mitchell said. "If it's successful, it could be much larger," he said, indicating that the first trial should be worth about a half-million dollars to Alaska processors. Twenty-two companies around the nation have the capability or already are producing salmon nuggets, Mitchell said "We want to draw salmon out of the state, and the more the merrier," he said.

"It's a great opportunity." The USDA is working with the National Marine Fisheries Service to prepare purchase documents and specifications which will be mailed soon to processors. Pink salmon delivered under the system must have originated from landings of U.S.-flag vessels during the 1994 season. Alaska processors canned more pink salmon last summer than they have in the past half-century. In September, the Alaska pink pack totaled 3.4 million cases. That's the most since 4.6 million cases were put up in industry officials said.

Volume 56 No. 233 Sitka Alaska 500 Knowles Sworn In As Ninth Governor By TERRY MUTCHLER Associated Press Writer JUNEAU (AP) Democrat Tony Knowles was sworn in as Alaska's ninth governor today, promising to lead the state into the 21st Century. Knowles told about 2,000 people jammed into Centennial Hall that the destination is clear jobs for Alaskans, better schools and living within one's means. Supreme Court Justice Jay Rabinowitz administered the oaths of office to Knowles and to Lt. Gov.

Fran Ulmer. They succeed Gov. Walter Hickel and Lt Gov. Jack HickeL Knowles said the new direction he wants to chart is centered on personal responsibility. People who receive government assistance must better themselves, he said.

Education, training and jobs are the key to that, Knowles said. "Government also must bear a responsibility to live within its means, saying 'no' to some of Alaska's wants so it can say to some of Alaska's needs," the governor said. Knowles and Ulmer received several standing ovations. Despite one of the closest gubernatorial races in state history, the inaugural theme focused on unity. It took nearly a month after the Nov.

8 general election to declare Knowles the winner over Republican Jim Campbell. Since then, most of the Knowles' and Dinner's energy has been focused on naming a transition team and cabinet members. Over the weekend, meanwhile, members of the Hickel administration worked on emptying their offices. "The tape has been roaring off every moment to seal boxes," Hickel spokesman John Manly said Friday. "It's been kind of a strange day actually." Lt.

Gov. Jack Coghill signed a number of regulations Monday before leaving his office for the last time in an official capacity to witness the swearing-in. "(I've got) everything in one box and one briefcase," Coghill said. Hickel planned to head for Anchorage after the ceremonies. "He's anxious to get on with the rest of his life," Manly said.

Lt. Gov. Ulmer Names Elections Review Team JUNEAU Lt Fran Ulmer says she wants to renew public confidence in the state Elections Division and has named an eight-person team to review the agency she takes over from Lt Gov. Jack Coghill. The transistion team will suggest ways to improve the office and put into effect Alaska's "motor-voter" law.

The new law requires voter registration help at state motor vehicle and public assistance offices, state agencies serving the disabled and armed forces recruitment offices. Ulmer said team members would notbe paid for thek work, but would receive travel reimbursement The lieutenant governor-elect said she also will request an audit by the governor's Office of Management and Budget of this year's election procedures. She said she and her transition team also will review past legislative audits of Elections. Those audits "raised some questions about the management of the division, all of which need to be reviewed," she said. "Alaskans must be assured that each election is conducted in a scrupulously fair and accurate manner.

She said people were frustrated with delays in vote results from the Nov. 8 election and confusion about which precincts had been included in the evening's frequently updated tallies. The transition team does not have a deadline for its work, but Ulmer said she expects its recommendations in February or March. Named to the team Saturday were: --Patty Ann Policy, Jyneau city clerk and former director of the state elections office. --John Lindback, public information officer at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau and a former newspaper reporter.

--Ann Spohnholz, former Anchorage legislator. --Red Boucher of Anchorage, former lieutenant governor and ex-legislator. --Karen Crane of Juneau, state libraries, archives and museums director and chairwoman of the League of Women Voters in Alaska. --Linda Murphy, Seward city clerk. --Paulette Lambert, Northwest Arctic Borough clerk in Kotzebue.

--Mona Drexler, Fairbanks North Star Borough clerk. Sitka Group Picked for National School Study By HEATHER MacLEAN Sentinel Staff Writer The Sitka chapter of Phi Delta Kappa has been selected as one of 50 chapters of the national fraternity for educators to help outline the country's objectives and values for the public school system. PDK will be surveying teachers, school boards and community members across the country to determine what students should be learning and whether schools should be teaching certain beliefs and values. "We are actually getting to say something and it is really impressive," said Gary Stevens, an associate professor at Sheldon Jackson College who is organizing the local survey. Sitka's voice will be significant, since so few chapters are participat- ing, said School Superintendent John Hoist Juneau was the only other site selected in Alaska.

Community members have a chance to take part in the project -A Study of Core Values" by at- tendiiig a 6:30 p.m. meeting Wednesday at the ML Edgecumbe High School cafeteria. "We're trying to get as many people from the community as we can said Stevens. Participants will discuss issues and fill out a survey. Also giving responses, but separately, are local public school teachers, including those at ML Edgecumbe High School, and members of the Sitka School Board and the MEHS Advisory School Board.

Different sur- Continued on Page 8 Regents OK Fee Hikes, Changes in UA Budget ANCHORAGE (AP university of Alaska regents approved fee increases and budget relocations on Saturday after hearing from dozens of students and teachers opposed to various parts of the plan. Regents said the program assessment would help UA meet priorities as budgets tighten. The action does not reduce the university's budget overall, but shifts funding within the system. "This was not a cost-cutting process. It was a focusing process," said board president Sharon Gagnon.

The three-year plan would increase tuition and student fees by about $16 million a year, cut academic programs by about $4 million a year an reduce administrative and student service expenses by about $7 million a year. Jerome Komisar, university president, said most of that money would satisfy existing commitments. About 54 million in new funds would be available to enhance or establish other programs, he said. Komisar asked administrators at UAA, UAF and UAS to come up with a priority list of programs that could be enhanced or cut. The board voted 8-2 to accept the recommendations, which are to be implemented in the schools' budgets over the next three years.

Scott Otterbacher, student regent from Fairbanks, voted against the plan because it assumed a 15-percent tuition hike that the board will not for- maHy consider until February. "I think that's a slap in the face to students," he said. Other regents said a tuition increase was inevitable. "If we don't move ahead with this, three or four years Continued on Page 8.