The state Division of Parks, which had about $600,000 in hand for improving the bear-people situation along the Chilkoot River, just received another $1.5 million for its project.
That should be good news, but it could be the opposite, depending on what Parks does with the dough.
The Chilkoot desperately needs a fix. Condemned by some longtime visitors as a “zoo,” its unmanaged and dangerous mix of people and wild brown bears is providing red meat for bloggers writing damning trip reviews, and for good reason. It’s not a quality experience. It’s a throwback to when Alaskans took visitors to garbage dumps to view wildlife.
Tourists these days know better. So should we.
The $2.1 million may not fix the Chilkoot’s problem because the problem isn’t a lack of hardware, it’s an overabundance of people and automobiles. If the $2.1 million goes for expanding the Chilkoot’s narrow, picturesque, road, or carving big parking areas or viewing decks into it, we and the bears lose in two ways: The area becomes less scenic and more crowded.
A photo of a bear against the backdrop of a viewing deck is worth less than one of a bear against a grassy embankment. And putting more people along the river only feeds a spiral of increased restrictions in the future.
Despite new rules, education efforts, signs and brochures, we have devalued Chilkoot in the past 20 years by allowing it to become more crowded. When it comes to wildlife viewing, crowds don’t come to see crowds. And with a new generation of mega cruise ships on the way, more crowds are coming. As much or more than anything else, those visitors will want to see a grizzly bear in the wild.
At this time, there’s no reason to expect government to fix Chilkoot. Speaking to borough leaders last spring, state parks superintendent Preston Kroes rather shockingly said he didn’t intend to make any changes in management, but if there were a serious incident, he’d shut down the river corridor. More recently, the message from Parks to the community is, in so many words, “Chilkoot is ours. We make the decisions out there.”
The Haines Borough hasn’t done better. The borough assembly last spring placed a moratorium on new tour permits on the Chilkoot, but with existing tours at a third or less of their permitted capacity, the moratorium is virtually meaningless in terms of limiting numbers or reducing crowding. Plus, the borough has no control of independent visitors driving out to see the bears.
After Kroes’ alarming statement, I tried to get the assembly to write a strongly-worded letter to Parks asking the agency to take any action to meaningfully address the Chilkoot, but other assembly members weren’t biting. Some suggested the assembly should propose its own solution, but as its moratorium – a small action – required a Herculean effort, don’t hold your breath.
Borrowing from a strategy that helped create the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, residents perhaps should take this issue to national media, wildlife and environmental groups to build public pressure for preserving the Chilkoot. The same shameful photo of a brown bear nosing into a potato chip bag that discredits our town could also prod state leaders to do the right thing.
And the right thing at Chilkoot is using the gate there to start limiting numbers of cars and people on the park road when bears are feeding. That would begin to preserve the majesty of Chilkoot and allow the town to start marketing it as the great attraction that it is.