November & December 2003 Cover

Items of Interest

An Angel Falls to Heaven

Pilgrim Family airlift news

ROW inter-community meeting

Want to go home? Just get a permit!

Local classical guitarist releases second CD

Customary & Traditional access in WRST—a primer

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

When the Pilgrim family found the only ground access to their home “closed to all motorized vehicles” by the park service, they were told they needed a permit. (Although the notice posted by the National Park Service said the route was an “illegal route” and was “closed to motorized vehicles,” NPS later said the route was not closed to motorized vehicles—only to the Pilgrims. Others who were local residents were free to travel in pursuit of subsistence activities.)

State officials were only mildly supportive of the Pilgrim’s right of access. Bob Loeffler, Director of the Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water said, “Since...the park service appears willing to give a permit, we recommend people just go ahead and deal with the Park Service and get on with their life.”

On June 13, Papa Pilgrim, David Pilgrim and their attorney J.P. Tangen, met with NPS Regional Director Robert Arnberger in his Anchorage office about access to their property in the McCarthy Creek valley. At that meeting Mr. Chris Bockmon stated that all ANILCA permits ever done by NPS went through him. In response to

Mr. Tangen’s questions as to what form the Pilgrims should use to request access, Bockmon and Director Arnberger said there is no particular form and to just send something in asking for access.

Based on the comments made by Bockmon and Arnberger at the June 13 meeting, Pilgrims emailed the original access permit request to Superintendent Gary Candelaria asking for emergency access.

07/08/2003 08:48 PM PST

Subject: Permit

From: Pilgrim AKA Robert Hale

PO Box MXY

Glennallen, AK. 99588

To: Regional Director Rob Arnberger and Superintendent Gary Candelaria

I want a permanent permit to “dead” head a bulldozer with a trailer from the town of McCarthy up the Green ButteMother Lode Road to where my wife and younger children live at the Marvelous Millsite, to provide our daily needs and to return the same way I came; in other words, bring “dead headed” dozer and trailer back to the town site of McCarthy on the same road, to make this trip whenever I feel it is necessary.

[signed] Pilgrim AKA Robert Hale

Superintendent Candelaria had different ideas from that of Director Arnberger and his solicitor of how a permit should be requested. Pilgrim got the following response:

To: Pilgrim AKA Robert Hale

From: Gary Candelaria, Superintendent, WrangellSt. Elias National Park and Preserve

Thank you for your email. From the content of your message, it appears you are seeking a RightofWay permit. We will be happy to assist you and/or your attorney in completing the necessary RightofWay Permit application and facilitating the required coordination with other affected federal and state agencies such as the Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife Service, etc. This is a complicated process, but one we have been through before and are willing to assist you in following. It would be most helpful for you or your attorney to contact the park, specifically Ms. Vicki Snitzler, Park Planner and Chief of Compliance at 9078227206, for details and to setup a meeting to begin the permit application process. Ms. Snitzler can explain the process and its components.

Gary Candelaria

Superintendent

Solicitor Bockmon subsequently offered a form SF 299 and offer of help to Mr. Tangen in completing the application, which was again submitted to Superintendent Candelaria on September 2. This time the request was for temporary emergency access, and on the specified form. “Please understand that these delays have now caused the situation to become very urgent for us with winter coming on,” wrote the Pilgrims. “An application for permanent access requirements will be submitted at a later date.”

Candelaria responded on September 8 with a request for more information. Questions about which route the family wanted to take, how many trips and when, specifically what size and type of equipment, what does “deadheading” mean were posed to the Pilgrims. “Please explain the nature of the emergency,” wrote Candelaria. The letter also implied that further studies would need to be done. “Recent fisheries inventories lead us to believe that McCarthy Creek may be inhabited by spawning anadromous fish,” said the Superintendent. “The presence of an anadromous fishery requires that we consider the stream crossings under the National Environmental Policy Act.”

Pilgrims responded with a 9-page, handwritten letter expounding on answers to each question posed in the Candelaria letter. To the question of which route: “You know as well as I, that you have not only allowed others to use this road constantly...for over 60 years after the close of the Green/ Butte and Motherlode Mines. I personally know of only one road that accesses the Motherlode properties. It is the shortest, and most expedient, as well as environmentally safe... But after your own multi-thousand dollar assessment of the road you should be able to determine this for yourself!”

“Deadheading means blade up and not used except for emergency application. Blade would be up except when encountering rock slides which are very few indeed.”

Under “explain the nature of the emergency,” the Pilgrim letter set forth three categories.

.

The actual physical needs

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The unfeasibility of winter travel to supply emergency needs.

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The “open window” concept so indigenous to Alaska bush living.

As to the claim of anadromous fish, Pilgrims wrote, “I would like to receive proof of spawning anadromous fish in McCarthy Creek.” To which NPS responded by sending rangers wielding fish nets in a helicopter to see what they could find. Apparently they found some native Dolly Varden Trout, but no anadro¬mous fish such as salmon, because in a follow-up letter written by NPS Acting Regional Director Marcia Blaszak, she states that, “Park biologists have documented Dolly Varden spawning habitat and observed spawning-size adults in the stream.” (Anadromous means fish that migrate up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh water, which does not apply to native trout.)

Blaszak also stated that NPS departmental guidance on what constitutes an emergency includes situations where federal action is required “to prevent or reduce risks to public health or safety or serious resources losses, particularly if there is a possibility of imminent loss of life, property or resources.” She went on to say that “[it is] our determination that this situation does not constitute an emergency.” And though she is the one who responded to the emergency request, she then referred them back to Superintendent Candelaria as “your point of contact.”

Candelaria followed with a letter to the Pilgrim’s attorney, J.P. Tangen, in which he reiterated that NPS did not consider the Pilgrim’s situation an emergency, that no permit could be forthcoming in less than 9 weeks, but that the NPS did offer to “waive these costs for processing this application for a temporary permit.”

Since there was no possibility of obtaining a temporary permit during what the family considered the “window of opportunity,” and based on the suggestion of their attorney, the family elected to decline the offer. Instead, Chuck Cushman, of the American Land Rights Association started an effort to mobilize volunteers for what became known as the “Pilgrim Airlift.” Friends and neighbors of the Pilgrim family, along with many who had been following the story on the Internet, offered help. As we go to press more than 60 flights from McCarthy to the Mother Lode Mine have been completed. One volunteer lost his Cessna 180 when the landing gear failed during landing. Fortunately there were no injuries. NPS has been asked to help with the effort but so far has declined.