by Nate Borson
Hello, Icy Strait enthusiasts!
Last Friday I attended a slide show by SEAWEAD about their work at Point Adolphus. On Saturday and Sunday SEAWEAD collaborators Bob, Nikki, Brady and Jamie met with a group of mostly locals interested in Icy Strait to discuss the future of Icy Strait and what role SEAWEAD should play in it.
SEAWEAD explained the purpose of their work, which as I understand it is to provide the information that stewards will need to wisely manage Icy Strait, and to facilitate communication and collaboration among all interested agencies, groups, and individuals to achieve cooperative stewardship.
My synopsis of the meetings is that:
a.. Use patterns are changing and there is the potential for losing some of the wildlife and solitude that
are important to at least some of us.
b.. We need a widely shared common vision of what we want Icy Strait to belike. Those at the meeting agreed that Preserving the abundant wildlife of Icy Strait was vital. Other desired conditions included opportunity for a range of recreation, sustainable business opportunities, continued hunting and fishing, and small human communities.
c.. A vision by itself will do nothing for Icy Strait. Concrete actions are probably needed soon to prevent displacing bears from parts of Mud Bay.
Seals are also sensitive to disturbance. And many already think the crowding at Point Adolphus is too much.
d.. More work by SEAWEAD is needed to determine just what the effects of human use on the wildlife are. In the end, three task groups formed to support SEAWEAD in continuing their efforts:
a.. A Fundraising task force will work to find grants and other funding to keep SEAWEAD operational. b.. A group will work on creating a "User's Guide to Icy Strait" which will have interpretive information about the area and recommendations forhow to use it respectfully. After an outline is developed, it will be widely circulated for comment. This could be a way of building a common vision for the area. I'm on this group.
c.. Another group will be formulating the research plan for SEAWEAD.
Everyone understands the importance of making this an open and inclusive process. That's why there are two new electronic mailing lists about Icy Strait -- one for news announcements and one for ongoing discussions. You can sign up for the lists and view SEAWEAD's 1999 report at http://gustavus.lib.ak.us/public/IcyStrait/index.htm.
I have noticed considerable curiosity about what SEAWEAD is up to and what these meetings were about. When people ask me to keep them informed, I add them to the icystrait-news list. If they are really interested, I add them to the icystrait-discuss list as well (Spirit walker workers, I added you because I just knew you wanted to be informed!). I plan to announce the list to all the Glacier Bay National Park employees and invite them to subscribe.
Bob, Nikki, Brady, and Jamie, I appreciate your interest in Icy Strait and in getting people thinking about how it is changing and how it should look in the future. With luck, we are acting soon enough to preserve some of what we love.
Nate