Aleknagik conservation agreement would preserve land

BOBBY ANDREW

May 15, 2008 at 2:33PM AKST

After receiving phone calls after KDLG’s open-line program on May 6, I am obliged to respond to some of the questions asked.

I also want to express my appreciation to those who care enough to have expressed their opinion both in favor of and in opposition to the sale of a conservation easement over the 18 percent of Aleknagik Natives Limited lands inside the Wood Tikchik State Park.

These lands are managed under a 23-year old joint management agreement with the state.
As president of Aleknagik Natives Limited, I need to set the record straight on the conservation agreement proposal, which was sent to all shareholders for their consideration in advance of a meeting to be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27, at the Dillingham Senior Center.

The board of directors has recommended that the shareholders adopt the proposed agreement. The board has expended considerable effort to present this plan to preserve the land without selling it or developing it and to provide a financial benefit to its current shareholders and future shareholders.

In this way, ANL won’t have to change the unspoiled beauty of the land to derive a financial benefit from it. It seems to the board that this agreement offers the best opportunity to achieve its goals.

Shareholders should understand that ANL would continue to own the land and retain important rights. The land will be protected for subsistence use. There is no commercial use of ANL lands without permission. No outsider will have the right to hunt and trap on ANL’s lands.

ANL has the right to choose to issue permits and charge for them (or not) if it believes that there are enough subsistence resources available to allow others to use the land for hunting and trapping. Fishing and recreational use in the park will continue, except that sports anglers will not have access to ANL uplands beyond a 25-foot easement.
Many people are aware of the sale of allotments inside the park. Some of the most vocal critics of the conservation easement sold their own land outright and gave up their title to the land completely.

ANL has never considered this valuable land.

The ANL board has recommended to the shareholders that they make a positive decision in favor of preserving their beautiful land forever and controlling its use. The decision is an act of leadership. Leadership is supposed to be what a board of directors provides to a corporation. In the end though, the board wants the shareholders to decide.

Those who say that ANL should preserve its right to develop the land in the future have to admit that there are no plans for development now or in the foreseeable future.
What sort of development could there be on the Agulowak River and Lake Nerka in the next 25 to 30 years and beyond? Essentially the only current opportunities for development are for the residential subdivisions - second homes for wealthy fly-in occupants - and for sports fishing and hunting lodges.

Both of these alternatives would bring more people and more pressure to the land, which is the opposite of what ANL is proposing. No shareholder has said that he or she wants more people in our lands.

And what would be the benefit to ANL or its shareholders of such development? Development would bring money, but that is exactly what this proposal would bring, bring money without bringing more people to the lakes.

ANL will not have to bear the expense of development and will not have to bear the risks of an uncertain business venture. And, don’t forget, there are no foreseeable plans for development of this land inside the state park, so whatever money might be generated would not be received until far into the future.

Aleknagik will receive funds over the next two or 2-1/2 years. These funds will be used to pay dividends to shareholders in 2009 and will be paying benefits for many, many years before the first positive financial benefits if any of future development could possibly be realized.

ANL has 94,000 acres of lands outside of the Wood Tikchik State Park. It owns a great deal of developable land just outside the park.

Development on Lake Aleknagik is much easier than inside the park. There is road access to the edge of the lake 12 months a year. Transportation to the Agulowak and Lake Nerka is more difficult. Lake Aleknagik is better situated for development in the foreseeable future than inside the park where there is no road access.

Also, even though ANL’s lands inside the park are not subject to park regulations, it would be naive to believe that developing land inside a state park would not be significantly more difficult than developing other lands.

Those who say that ANL is not getting enough money should know that the board has wrestled with this issue too but decided to recommend the agreement because any potential developer would also use an appraisal.

ANL does not believe that any competent appraisal would yield dramatically different numbers unless the prime land was broken into much smaller parcels. This would lead to checkerboard ownership with the best parcels being sold first.

The money that will provide shareholder benefits could be in place soon. Rather than having to wait for some indefinite buyer in the indefinite future to pay an unknown price to buy ANL land, our shareholders will begin receiving benefits at a time when our oldest original shareholders will be able to receive them without giving up ownership.

Please understand this is not a sale of the lands inside the state park but a sale of the right to develop those lands. ANL is offering a plan to get paid for doing what it wants to do anyway, keep the land as it is for its shareholders to use and enjoy.

Bobby Andrew is president of Aleknagik Natives Limited. ANL offices can be reached at (907) 842-2385.