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YKDELTA RAC MEETING 1

9/26/2018 YKDELTA REGIONAL COUNCIL FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE MEETING

Computer Matrix, LLC 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501

Phone: 907-243-0668 Fax: 907-243-1473 Email: [email protected]

YUKON-KUSKOKWIM DELTA ALASKA FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE REGIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

PUBLIC MEETING

VOLUME I

AVCP Regional Housing Authority Building

Conference Room Bethel, Alaska

September 26, 2018 1:36 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alissa Rogers, Chair Robert Aloysius John Andrew David Bill James Charles Raymond Oney Michael Peters

Regional Council Coordinator, Eva Patton

Recorded and transcribed by:

Computer Matrix Court Reporters, LLC 135 Christensen Drive, Suite 2 Anchorage, AK 99501 907-243-0668/[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]:907-243-0668/[email protected]





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1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 3 (Bethel, Alaska - 9/26/2018) 4 5 (On record) 6 7 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Good afternoon 8 folks. This is Alissa Rogers. I'm going to go ahead 9 and call this meeting to order. The time now is 1:36.

10 I apologize for the six minute delay on our start. 11 We're getting a little situated here. 12 13 All right. 14 15 Thank you, and welcome to the Yukon 16 Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council 17 here at the AVCP, and thank AVCP Housing Authority for 18 allowing us to have our conference here. And thank 19 you, Ms. Eva, for coordinating all the good work that 20 you've done. Today is September 26th, we're starting 21 our meeting. For those of you that want to join us on 22 teleconference, the teleconference number is on our 23 posters and posted on line. If you need any further 24 information, please, contact Eva Patton. 25 26 All right, folks, we'll go ahead and 27 start with our agenda and our first item is invocation. 28 29 Mr. Charles, you've been nominated. 30 31 MR. CHARLES: Okay. 32 33 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Charles, will 34 go ahead and do our invocation. 35 36 (Invocation) 37 38 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Quyana, Mr. 39 Charlie. All right, Eva, would you please go ahead and 40 do roll call and establish quorum -- oh, Mr. -- is he 41 going to do it? 42 43 MS. PATTON: Sure. Either way. 44 45 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Oney, would 46 you be willing to do our roll call. 47 48 MR. ONEY: Thank you, Madame Chair. 49 50

mailto:[email protected]





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1 William Brown. 2 3 (No comments) 4 5 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 6 I do have an update for Charlie Brown. I had an 7 opportunity to talk with Alissa, our Chair, Charlie 8 will not be able to join us for the meeting today, he's 9 at home recovering from a medical condition and not

10 able to travel. I talked with Charlie yesterday, at 11 length, and talked with his wife, he's doing well and 12 recovering. We'd like to wish him well from the 13 Council. He may be able to call in tomorrow, he very 14 much wanted to participate in the fisheries proposals. 15 So we might have him for a little bit by teleconference 16 tomorrow but he's at home and resting at doctor's 17 orders. 18 19 Thank you. 20 21 MR. ONEY: James Charles. 22 23 MR. CHARLES: Here. 24 25 MR. ONEY: John Andrew. 26 27 (No comments) 28 29 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 30 And I've been on the phone with John Andrew several 31 times this morning, he's still on weather hold in 32 Kwethluk and waiting for a Ravn flight. So he may be 33 able to fly this afternoon, yet, so we'll keep on 34 standby with John. 35 36 Thank you. 37 38 MR. ONEY: Okay, moving on. Michael 39 Peters. 40 41 MR. PETERS: Here. 42 43 MR. ONEY: Alissa Rogers. 44 45 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Present. 46 47 MR. ONEY: Raymond Oney, here. 48 49 Robert Aloysius. 50






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1 MR. ALOYSIUS: Here. 2 3 MR. ONEY: David Bill, Sr. 4 5 MR. BILL: David's here. 6 7 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Go ahead, Eva. 8 9 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council.

10 And just to confirm, again, the current Council 11 membership is at eight Council members. We do have 12 those five vacancies that were left by some early 13 departures and the recent Secretarial appointments. We 14 will have new Council members seated at the winter 2019 15 meeting. We did get many applications through the last 16 round of RAC application cycle, it takes about a full 17 year, in fact, we're going to be taking on the new call 18 for RAC applications at this meeting. But we are 19 anticipating that we'll have those five seats that are 20 currently vacant appointed and new members joining the 21 Council for the winter 2019 meeting. 22 23 So currently the membership is eight 24 Council members, so quorum is five members, and we do 25 have six, so we do have quorum. 26 27 Madame Chair and Council, when there's 28 a vacancy on the Council the membership is the actual 29 seated members on the Council. We do anticipate that 30 we will once, again, have a full 13 member Council, 31 which is very important. But when there are vacancies 32 it's the current seats that are filled that count 33 towards the quorum. So we do have quorum at this time. 34 35 Thank you. 36 37 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Ms. 38 Patton. 39 40 Moving right along with our agenda, it 41 sounds like we have a pretty full agenda so we'll try 42 to keep on track and on time as much as possible. 43 44 All right, since we got a quorum 45 established, we'll go ahead and do welcome and 46 introductions. We'll start with Mr. Peters. 47 48 MR. PETERS: Mike Peters, Marshall. 49 50






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1 MR. ONEY: Ray Oney, Alakanuk. 2 3 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Alissa Rogers 4 from Bethel. 5 6 MR. CHARLES: James Charles from 7 Tuntutuliak. 8 9 MR. ALOYSIUS: Bob Aloysius, Kalskag.

10 11 MR. BILL: David Bill, Sr., from Nelson 12 Island. 13 14 MS. PATTON: Welcome everyone, Eva 15 Patton, Council coordinator for the YK Delta 16 Subsistence Regional Advisory Council. 17 18 MS. KENNER: Hi, I'm Pippa Kenner and 19 I'm an anthropologist at the Office of Subsistence 20 Management in Anchorage. Good afternoon. 21 22 REPORTER: Do you mean you want me to 23 go up there? 24 25 (Laughter) 26 27 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Yes. 28 29 REPORTER: Hi, my name's Tina and I'm 30 the RAC coordinator -- or I mean not coordinator, 31 recorder. 32 33 (Laughter) 34 35 MS. PATTON: And been doing it so long. 36 37 MR. BRINK: Zack Brink. I'm with Pat. 38 39 MR. SAMSON: Patrick Samson, 40 Translator. Thank you. 41 42 MS. PELTOLA: Mary Peltola with the 43 Kuskokwim River InterTribal Fish Commission. 44 45 MR. LIND: Camai, Hello. Orville Lind. 46 Native Liaison from Office of Subsistence Management in 47 Anchorage. 48 49 MR. STAHLNECKER: Ken Stahlnecker, 50






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1 Refuge Manager for Yukon Delta National Wildlife 2 Refuge, Fish and Wildlife Service. 3 4 MR. WHITFORD: Good afternoon. My name 5 is Tom Whitford. I'm the Regional Subsistence Program 6 Leader for the Forest Service. I'm based out of 7 Anchorage. Glad to be here. 8 9 MR. ORR: Hello. I'm John Orr with

10 AVCP Natural Resources. 11 12 MS. OLSEN: Hi everyone. Lisa Olsen 13 with Subsistence Division, Fish and Game. 14 15 MR. TULIK: Christopher Tulik, US Fish 16 and Wildlife Service for the Yukon Delta Refuge. 17 18 MR. SAMUELSON: Good afternoon. I'm 19 Jonathan Samuelson, Kuskokwim River InterTribal Fish 20 Commission. 21 22 MR. COGGINS: Good afternoon. I'm Lou 23 Coggins with Fish and Wildlife Service here in Bethel 24 at Yukon Delta Refuge. 25 26 MS. EVAN: Sophie Evan. I'll be 27 interpreting the next two days. 28 29 MR. WEBBER: Aaron Webber, US Fish and 30 Wildlife Service here in Bethel. I'm a fish biologist. 31 32 MS. MATTHIAS: Mary Matthias, Natural 33 Resource Director for Orutsararmiut Native Council. 34 35 MR. PARENT: Marvin Parent, Marshall 36 Traditional Council. Thank you very much for allowing 37 me to be here. 38 39 MS. PETRIVELLI: Pat Petrivelli, BIA 40 Subsistence Anthropologist out of Anchorage. 41 42 MR. RISDAHL: Hi. I'm Greg Risdahl. 43 I'm the new OSM Fish Division Lead. 44 45 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mary. 46 47 MS. NANUWAK: Quyana. Mary Nanuwak. 48 49 (In Yup'ik) 50






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1 INTERPRETER: My name is Mary Nanuwak 2 and my family came from the tundra area and -- but my 3 family was nomadic so we've been here and there. 4 5 MS. NANUWAK: And that is true for 6 everybody. The only -- the only restrictions that 7 people have a tendency to put upon themselves is, oh, I 8 can't. I mean there you're defeating your purpose 9 already when you say that. But say like, I can, we

10 can, then we make progress. 11 12 Quyana. 13 14 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mary. 15 Thank you. For folks that are here in the room, I'm 16 glad you guys are here, it's great to have you guys 17 here in important matters that we need to talk about 18 today. 19 20 For those of you on teleconference, 21 would you please introduce yourself, first and last 22 name and your affiliation so we can get you on record. 23 24 MR. ALSTROM: Bill Alstrom. 25 26 MS. WORKER: This is Suzanne Worker. 27 I'm with the Office of Subsistence Management. 28 29 MS. MONCRIEFF: And this is Catherine 30 Moncrieff. I'm with the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries 31 Association. 32 33 MR. DECOSSAS: This is Gary Decossas 34 with the Office of Subsistence Management. 35 36 MR. ALSTROM: This is Bill Alstrom, St. 37 Marys. I'm with the Middle Lower Yukon Advisory 38 Committee. 39 40 MS. PATTON: Good afternoon. Anyone 41 else joining us on teleconference that hasn't 42 introduced themselves yet. 43 44 (No comments) 45 46 MS. PATTON: Okay. Well, welcome 47 everyone and for those on teleconference, we'll try to 48 check in here as we're moving through the agenda. When 49 we get to fisheries proposals, which likely will come 50






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1 up tomorrow, we'll have a formal process for engaging 2 the public for comments and so we'll be sure to check 3 on teleconference as well. 4 5 So welcome everyone. Glad you could 6 make it here today. And we'll continue with the 7 agenda. 8 9 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Eva.

10 We're on to review and adopt agenda. Do we have any 11 suggestions for changing of the agenda. 12 13 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 14 An update, I do have just a couple updates on the 15 agenda. 16 17 This afternoon we do have on the 18 agenda, Donlin Mine, Final EIS update, and subsequently 19 there was a record of decision since the meeting book 20 was printed. We will have a time certain as we 21 discussed, at 4:00, for BLM, Army Corps of Engineers 22 and Donlin Mine representatives to provide the Council 23 with an update on that record of decision and also to 24 cover the Section .810 analysis. So we had set aside 25 that time starting at 4:00 p.m., for that update and 26 they'll be joining the Council by teleconference. 27 28 Additionally, we have a couple ANSEP 29 students, Alaska Native Science and Engineering 30 students that will be joining us for the meeting. 31 We're always really happy to have presentations from 32 our students and the young folks that are coming up and 33 joining us. We may have a couple of high school 34 students joining us as well, when they can, with their 35 class. And so when the ANSEP students join us we'll 36 welcome them. We're anticipating an update from ONC 37 with their ANSEP students tomorrow and then two 38 students on Friday who will be presenting under the ONC 39 update as well. 40 41 The North Pacific Fisheries Management 42 Council will not be presenting at this meeting. They 43 have overlapping obligations. We do have information 44 for the Council. They are seeking nominations for a 45 newly formed community engagement committee and so I 46 have that information for the Council and they are 47 confirmed for our winter meeting. 48 49 Madame Chair and Council, those are the 50






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1 only agenda changes and updates at this moment. Any 2 feedback from the Council. 3 4 Thank you. 5 6 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Eva. 7 Do we have anyone from the Council members that would 8 like changes in our agenda. 9

10 (No comments) 11 12 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: All right, 13 hearing and seeing none, go ahead, Eva. 14 15 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 16 If I may, just to provide kind of an update for 17 everybody in how we're kind of expecting the flow to 18 go, we have a lot of fisheries proposals, both on the 19 Kuskokwim and the Yukon, and what we're anticipating is 20 that we'll get up to the fisheries proposals at the end 21 of the day today, so that we'll start those first thing 22 tomorrow morning. We may get to the Kuskokwim 23 Partnership Project update at the end of the day today 24 or we might need to take that up first thing in the 25 morning and then proceed with the fisheries proposals. 26 27 The Council did want to address State 28 Board of Fish proposals, in addition to the Federal 29 proposals. We'll work through all of the Council's 30 Federal Subsistence obligations and then where there is 31 some joint proposals that -- or companion proposals, 32 some were submitted both on the Federal and the State 33 side and they're identical, we'll try to identify that 34 for the Council as we're working through the Federal 35 proposals, so you can take up the State one as well, if 36 you'd like to make a recommendation on that. And then 37 we'll get to reviewing the other Board of Fish 38 proposals after we've gone through all the Federal 39 proposals and also the Fisheries Resource Monitoring 40 Program Priority Information Needs discussion. 41 42 Thank you. 43 44 MS. PATTON: All right. Do we have any 45 further discussion on the agenda? 46 47 Go ahead, Mr. Oney. 48 49 MR. ONEY: Yeah, thank you, Madame 50






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1 Chair. Are we taking any public testimony before each 2 session, like in the mornings, afternoons. 3 4 Thank you. 5 6 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair [sic] and 7 Council. Yes, and so we always have on the agenda, 8 under No. 8 you'll see public and tribal comment on 9 non-agenda items. Typically that's available in the

10 morning. We had this opportunity to start early today 11 and so if there were comments from the public or tribes 12 that you'd like to address the Council, the main thing 13 is that we have a process for the fisheries proposals, 14 so if it's on the agenda, we have a process to hear 15 from the tribes and from public on any recommendation 16 you have on the agenda items, but if there's something 17 that's not on the agenda that you'd like to bring to 18 the Council's attention at this time or in the morning 19 before the meeting then we have an opportunity for 20 that. 21 22 I'll note up at the front when you came 23 in, there's a little green piece of paper if you want 24 to address the Council. This helps us know who you 25 are, that you have an issue you'd like to bring to the 26 Council's attention so that we're sure to call on you 27 and then able to address your question. So there's a 28 little green slip of paper up at the front there, if 29 you would like to address the Council, you can fill 30 that out and that way we're sure to attend to your 31 questions. 32 33 And for the folks that are on 34 teleconference, again, if it's on the agenda we'll be 35 calling for public and tribal comment, as well as the 36 agency comments on the proposals. If you would like to 37 address the Council during the non-agenda items, just 38 pipe up because we're not able to see you on line 39 there. And then we do have a presentation procedure. 40 And, again, when we get to the proposals we'll make 41 sure that everybody has an opportunity to be heard so 42 we'll walk through the agencies, public, tribes, so 43 everyone will have an opportunity to speak if you would 44 like the Council to hear your recommendation on the 45 fisheries proposals. 46 47 Thank you. 48 49 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Eva. 50






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1 Mr. Peters. 2 3 MR. PETERS: You know this is Mike 4 Peters from Marshall, you know, on these proposals, 5 like coming from the Yukon, you know, I would like to 6 consider the tribal councils that -- how it's going to 7 affect them, like from, you know, Marshall, we got two 8 tribal councils and there's also Pilot Station, St. 9 Mary's and also Mountain Village, and I think it's very

10 important that they comment on these public -- for the 11 public on these proposals because it really affects the 12 people that live over there and to take it to -- into 13 some consideration. And to listen to their comments 14 because they're elders involved and also youth. 15 16 Thank you very much. 17 18 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. 19 Peters. Let's go ahead and move on with our agenda. 20 We are at number 5, review and adopt agenda so if I 21 don't hear any more modifications to the agenda, can we 22 go ahead and please get on with moving along our 23 agenda. 24 25 Can I get a motion to approve the 26 agenda, please. 27 28 MR. CHARLES: Madame Chair. I move that 29 we adopt agenda as it is prepared and deletions and 30 additions too, to be in there. 31 32 Thank you. 33 34 MR. ALOYSIUS: Second. 35 36 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you Mr. 37 Charles. Thank you Mr. Aloysius. 38 39 Any further discussion. 40 41 (No comments) 42 43 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Hearing or seeing 44 none, and all those in favor say aye. 45 46 IN UNISON: Aye. 47 48 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you. Let's 49 go ahead and move on to reports, Council member 50






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1 reports. 2 3 We'll start with..... 4 5 MR. ALOYSIUS: Number 6. Next, Number 6 6. 7 8 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Oh, sorry, I 9 wrote the wrong thing, sorry about that.

10 11 Review and approve previous meeting 12 minutes. So we got two sets of meeting minutes here and 13 I do have a few that I've seen Eva. 14 15 On Page, let's see, on Page 10, that 16 first sentence, where pikes are blooming, it should be 17 booming. 18 19 MS. PATTON: Let me..... 20 21 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: First sentence, 22 pikes are blooming, it should be booming. 23 24 MS. PATTON: Booming, okay. 25 26 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: And then on Page 27 12 under Gene Sandone, the spelling of Kwikpak, should 28 be Kwikpak. 29 30 MS. PATTON: Thank you. 31 32 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: And that's all 33 from my review. Thank you, Eva. 34 35 Anybody else. 36 37 MR. PARENT: There's a misspelling on 38 Page 9 under Michael Peters, one, two, three, fourth 39 line down, their should be T-H-E-I-R instead of T-H-E- 40 R-E. 41 42 (Laughter) 43 44 MS. PATTON: Got it, thank you. 45 46 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Any further 47 modifications. 48 49 (No comments) 50






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1 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: All right, 2 hearing and seeing none, I'll go ahead and ask for a 3 motion. 4 5 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair. 6 7 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Go ahead, Eva. 8 9 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council.

10 If I may, just to make one update, as you'll see in the 11 meeting minutes and as we had discussed with the 12 Council, there were a few letters that the Council was 13 working on and we didn't have an opportunity, busy 14 summer season, and also working on fisheries special 15 actions, too, to get all the Council member's feedback 16 on finalizing those letters. And since they were not 17 time sensitive, often what we've done at Council 18 meetings is we're able to put that draft up for the 19 Council's review so you can have further discussion on 20 the record and confirm that you got the points in there 21 that you'd like. And, again, these are draft letters 22 with the Council's discussion from the last meeting. 23 And we're hoping that on Friday we could get back to 24 those letters and have an opportunity to finalize those 25 with the Council. 26 27 Thank you. 28 29 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: All right. Can I 30 go ahead and have a motion on the floor, if there's not 31 any more modifications to the previous meeting minutes. 32 33 MR. ONEY: Madame Chair. I move to 34 accept the meeting minutes with corrections. 35 36 MR. CHARLES: Second the motion. 37 38 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Any further 39 discussion. 40 41 (No comments) 42 43 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Seeing none, all 44 those in favor say aye. 45 46 IN UNISON: Aye. 47 48 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: All those 49 opposed. 50






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1 (No opposing votes) 2 3 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Motion carries, 4 thank you Eva. 5 6 Let's go ahead and go on to Number 7, 7 reports. Council member reports. We'll start with Mr. 8 Bill. 9

10 Yes, Eva. 11 12 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 13 I just wanted to confirm if the Council was approving 14 just the draft winter 2018 minutes, there also 15 beginning on Page 22, the followup teleconference 16 meeting that the Council had held. So I just wanted to 17 confirm if you were reviewing both sets in that 18 approval. 19 20 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: I believe so, to 21 my understanding. 22 23 Just a minute, Eva. 24 25 (Pause) 26 27 MS. PATTON: And the followup 28 teleconference meeting minutes, and, again, this was 29 the May 3rd teleconference the Council convened, 30 specifically, to make a recommendation on the fisheries 31 special actions for the Kuskokwim. 32 33 (Pause) 34 35 MS. PATTON: And that's on Page 22, 36 that set of minutes begins. 37 38 (Pause) 39 40 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: So it sounds 41 like, Eva, that they're going to approve for both of 42 them on this motion. 43 44 MS. PATTON: Thank you. 45 46 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: All right, moving 47 right along. The time now is about 2:10, we're going 48 down to the reports, so let's go ahead and get into the 49 Council member reports. We'll start with Mr. Bill. 50






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1 (Pause) 2 3 MR. BILL: No, thank you. 4 5 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Aloysius. 6 7 MR. ALOYSIUS: I don't have anything to 8 report because I've been out of touch so much because 9 of illness since March so I'm sorry I just don't have

10 anything to report. 11 12 Thank you. 13 14 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. 15 Aloysius. 16 17 Mr. Charles. 18 19 MR. CHARLES: Thank you, Madame Chair. 20 This is James Charles from Tuntutuliak. We've had a 21 lot of meetings throughout the summer and we go to 22 working group meetings and InterTribal Fish Commission 23 meetings to and supported these actions that was made 24 last year or early this year. It was when we had the 25 spring meeting here in Bethel. And as you see on Page 26 22 of your -- of the, what you call it, agenda items, 27 there was people call-in from Tuntutuliak, my village, 28 and they were concerned about fishing spring, that time 29 most of those people were concerned about having fresh 30 fish in spring. And they wanted me to make a proposal 31 to this outfit and to the Department of Fish and Game 32 also and so I did. You will see the proposal or that I 33 made for the village that time and there was Henry 34 Lupi, Adolph Lupi and Lincoln's wife, and Tom Charlie 35 and others that were listening that time and they 36 wanted me to make the proposals and so I did. And I 37 appreciate what you did to me and help me with the 38 proposal and so Fish and Game and Fish Wildlife Service 39 went down to fix the markers at Tuntutuliak River, too, 40 and they did a good job, and we thank you for doing 41 that. And people in spring went out fishing and got 42 some whatever they need, even pikes and burbot and 43 whitefish and little kings too. And that helps people 44 get some food they want in springtime. 45 46 Thank you. 47 48 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. 49 Charles. So I'll give a quick update from the last one 50






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1 that we had. Bird hunting this year was about a half a 2 week longer than last year. Our blackfish, we missed 3 the run, the spring run. Lush fish this spring were 4 bigger. Greens, they were fast blooming so we had to 5 pick them quick, especially the (In Yup'ik). Our 6 gardens this year, it was a long winter so it was hard 7 to defrost..... 8 9 MR. ALOYSIUS: Ray is next.

10 11 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Huh? 12 13 MR. ALOYSIUS: Ray is next. 14 15 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Oh, you wanted to 16 go to him? 17 18 MR. ALOYSIUS: You're the Chair, you 19 have your report..... 20 21 MS. KENNER: No, you don't. 22 23 MR. ALOYSIUS: .....after the..... 24 25 MS. KENNER: No, you don't. 26 27 MR. ALOYSIUS: .....the rest. 28 29 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Oney. 30 31 MR. ONEY: Thank you, Madame Chair. 32 Ray Oney, Alakanuk. 33 34 For the Lower Yukon, for fishing, we 35 had a late start right at the beginning, right after 36 breakup. Fishing came in late, probably second, third 37 week in June when you started picking up fish. As far 38 as the outcome for fishing, for both subsistence and 39 commercial, I think it was a good year for fishing on 40 the Yukon again this year, even though the kings came 41 in a little late we were fortunate enough to keep the 42 kings for subsistence fishing. We were thankful for 43 that. I'm sure all the people all up and down the 44 Yukon were very thankful for that, I think, through all 45 the years of sacrificing their time and effort for the 46 last 20 years, I guess it has finally paid off to 47 finally see hopefully the kings return in abundance as 48 we move forward. 49 50






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1 So thank all the people all up and down 2 the Yukon for sacrificing their time and their efforts 3 in trying to restock the chinook salmon. 4 5 Like I said it was a good year for 6 fishing all up until fall time. Right now people are 7 looking out for (In Yup'ik), I guess they're making 8 their way into the Yukon now. And people are still out 9 and about trying to catch their moose.

10 11 And also birds are flying so people are 12 out and about and getting ready for the winter. 13 14 Thank you. 15 16 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. 17 Oney. Mr. Peters. 18 19 MR. PETERS: Yeah, my name is Michael 20 Peters and I'm from Marshall. But Y2, I think the 21 fishing was kind of slow at start but, you know, people 22 been very conservative in my area and I think one of 23 the main things on these emergency openings, like what 24 I mean emergency openings for people to fish, I think 25 the management was very conservative. They let the 26 people know in my area when there's going to be an 27 opening for like subsistence and stuff like that. And 28 I think, you know, it's always a question about the 29 numbers that pass through sonars and trying to be very 30 conservative about the fish that pass through our area. 31 And I think in, not just Marshall, but on some of these 32 proposals that are coming up, like Marshall Tribal 33 Council, Ohogamiut, and I'm -- like Russian Mission and 34 Pilot Station and St. Mary's and Mountain Village is 35 very -- I'm glad that the tribal council will have an 36 opportunity to voice their opinion on some of these 37 proposals that are going to affect them. And I would 38 like to thank the management for taking that into some 39 consideration for my people that live in my area. 40 41 And the weather change, I think another 42 question would be like on the -- it's been a rainy 43 season and I think possibly or, you know, look into the 44 moose season because some people they didn't quite 45 catch their moose and if possible if management could 46 look into an opening for the people that didn't catch 47 their moose in my area and that's something to look 48 into in the future because that -- you know, try to 49 keep it short and, you know, we always try to be very 50






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1 understanding about these changes in this global 2 warming situation because it really affects the people 3 where I live. 4 5 Thank you. 6 7 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. 8 Peters. 9

10 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 11 12 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Eva. 13 14 MS. PATTON: If I may just make a quick 15 request. For everybody, both in our audience and our 16 Council members, if you can silence your cell phones so 17 they're not ringing. Yeah, you can put it on mute or 18 buzz. And then for folks on teleconference, it's 19 pretty quiet out there but just a reminder, often 20 there's a lot of background noise, so if you'd put your 21 phones on mute, you can push star-six that'll mute your 22 phones. And then for folks that are calling in from 23 offices, if you get a call while you're on 24 teleconference, please just disconnect from the 25 teleconference otherwise we get muzak in the background 26 and we don't have a way to alert you because you're on 27 hold. 28 29 So, thanks, everyone, appreciate it. 30 31 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Eva. 32 33 Mr. Bill. 34 35 MR. BILL: Yeah, Quyana. (In Yup'ik) 36 putting on your hearing aide, your -- if you have one. 37 I'll do mine in Yup'ik. 38 39 INTERPRETER: I'll just do mine in my 40 Yup'ik language. I've been saying this before, that I 41 know you guys are probably tired of me saying this, but 42 we go seal hunting down at the Bering Sea, those that 43 live along the coast, and all these folks that are 44 coming here to the facility of the Kuskokwim River Bay 45 and when before -- before the longliners came, the big 46 ships came to the Kuskokwim Bay area, we used to catch 47 good healthy bearded seals and there was no issues with 48 their skin and so everything like that, but present 49 time the seals that we catch back home, they are just 50






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1 not bearded seal but we have other fish that we catch, 2 we also catch the fish out in the Bering Sea and they 3 have now lesions and spots on them, they're not -- and 4 there's a lot of fish that are washing up on to our 5 shores,that never happened before. And those things I 6 have -- and I know some of these fish come into the 7 tributaries out in the coastal areas and so, therefore, 8 the powers that be say that those are not for catching 9 and I know that -- we know that the commercial

10 fisheries, when they catch these things, they do not 11 make -- they do not make reports of the bycatch that 12 they say and I know we gave the Bering Sea Fishermen's 13 Association and told the -- and when the two people 14 that were working on the big longliner trawlers out 15 there, when we bring up salmon to the companies their 16 response was that they do not know what the salmon are. 17 And so they do not say salmon because they are afraid 18 that their season will be cut short and so far we do 19 need to get together and have a united effort because 20 these salmon that are coming into the Kuskokwim River, 21 the fish that are coming into the Yukon area, that are 22 coming to the Norton Sound, I know that they go out to 23 the Bering Sea, all these fish. 24 25 And the longliners are -- or not the 26 longliners, the trawlers out there are really 27 decimating, just not the salmon itself, but the feeding 28 grounds of the -- because we eat these -- we feed these 29 for our families, we feed for -- these are food for our 30 children. 31 32 Before we get into an emergency 33 situation regarding the Bering Sea we do need to do 34 something, and I know my forefathers used to tell me 35 that they are worried that we will come into famine or 36 low fish numbers and I keep telling this over and over 37 again every year and do people not listen to me when I 38 say this or is it -- or are we waiting until it's the 39 last emergency effort because if we do react to these 40 low numbers it will be just too late and so we really 41 do need to get -- we really need to get our house in 42 order before we come into this emergency situation with 43 the salmon population. And this is for our future. 44 This is for our families, our communities and we need 45 to get ready for our children. 46 47 And these are the issues that we need 48 to take up. And when I think about these things, and I 49 -- I see in the future, the young people coming -- 50






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1 growing up into manhood, and I know that they have not 2 said this but I think they will say this when they are 3 getting older and bigger and they will say that, did 4 not our forefathers work on our future on our behalf, 5 and that's the danger that I always think about, is 6 that they may think that we did not do our time and 7 effort for their future. And so it is paramount that 8 we need to work together and we need to really engage 9 each other looking at the food that we provide for our

10 children. 11 12 I know that I am -- and I know that the 13 fish that we catch now and the seals that we catch now 14 have lesions and what not, and they're washing ashore 15 dead and we have never seen that. And I know that a 16 lot of the agencies are saying that they cannot do 17 anything about these areas, that it's not within their 18 scope of work but we need to make it our scope of work 19 and so everything can be addressed -- we can all 20 address this issue and we can make it better. 21 22 Quyana. Thank you very much. Okay, I 23 just wanted to bring that up like I do every year even 24 though nobody seems to be listening. 25 26 Thank you. 27 28 MR. BILL: Thank you. 29 30 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Quyana, Mr. Bill. 31 32 I guess I'll start back up. 33 34 So the bird hunts for this past spring, 35 they were a half a week longer than last year. 36 Blackfish we missed the run for spring time, they 37 usually come in spring time and fall time. Lush fish 38 were really big this year. Our greens were fast 39 blooming, like the (In Yup'ik) this year and (In 40 Yup'ik) were pretty fast. Our gardens were long 41 frosted around the -- the ground was super hard and we 42 couldn't get our garden in fast enough that it -- they 43 didn't grow fast enough. 44 45 The moderate weather, though it was 46 very humid this summer. Salmon drying was kind of hard 47 even with tarp and heaters going and trying to do it in 48 the garage. 49 50






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1 We went out fishing during the chinook 2 harvest this year. We quit after the first drift 3 because we were catching just way too much kings in 4 ratio. We caught like all kings and maybe one or two 5 reds and that was about it and I said, no, we're done. 6 My family doesn't target kings specifically because we 7 believe that kings need to go to the spawning grounds, 8 for them to come back the next year, and then also 9 those that really need kings, such as my elders, I

10 prefer them, so we went out and we gave some of our 11 kings to the elders and my mom. 12 13 Chums were changing fast this year. We 14 were worried about what that kind of meant. We were 15 catching a whole bunch of rotten chums right below 16 JoePeets (ph) during silver season, which is really 17 weird. 18 19 Whitefish, there was really huge broad 20 whitefish that were caught with our kings this year. 21 Usually you don't catch them until after the kings run. 22 23 Hardly any humpbacks this year. 24 25 Berries were really great with the 26 weather. They were really big and huge. I think it 27 was because it was so humid. 28 29 This fall season our silvers were hard 30 to fish. We went out six hours a day, we only caught 31 maybe one or two an hour, if that. We tried sometimes 32 going two times a week or we went every week. We were 33 thinking maybe we kind of hit them a little too hard 34 when we were conserving for chinook salmon. 35 36 Blackfish were running -- the fall run 37 of blackfish was really small, they were like maybe 38 like that big (indicating). 39 40 Berries, like I said they were really 41 huge, especially the blackberries, cranberries and 42 blueberries that we found. 43 44 We didn't catch a moose this year so 45 we're going to try for the wintertime. 46 47 We did go bird hunting, fall season, 48 there was lots of geese, lots of cranes, but hardly any 49 swans. We didn't -- we only saw, maybe like one flock 50






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1 of 12 swans, which was really unusual, especially for 2 the area we go hunting in. 3 4 And as for the Chair report, we had 5 some letters that we had sent out. I believe Ms. Eva's 6 going to go over these in the next section -- oh, 7 welcome, Mr. Andrews. 8 9 MR. ANDREW: Thank you. I just got in

10 late. They kept telling me five minutes and then it 11 took over four hours at the airport. 12 13 (Laughter) 14 15 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Did you want to 16 go ahead and do your Council report, or do you want a 17 couple minutes to settle down. 18 19 MR. ANDREW: Let me settle down for a 20 second. 21 22 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Okay. All right, 23 Eva, would you be able to go over the letters that were 24 sent out, or received, I think the wildlife proposal 25 actions. 26 27 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair and Council. 28 Just to confirm you were talking about the special 29 actions? 30 31 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: (Nods 32 affirmatively) 33 34 MS. PATTON: Yeah, and actually we'll 35 be reporting on the special actions later in the 36 meeting. We have a section on the agenda..... 37 38 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: If you look at 39 the agenda it's right underneath Chair report. 40 41 MS. KENNER: It is the next thing on 42 the agenda. 43 44 MS. PATTON: Oh, okay, you're talking 45 about the .805(c) report. 46 47 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Yeah, this one. 48 49 MS. PATTON: Okay. Yeah, we will cover 50






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1 that, most certainly. I don't know if we -- I know you 2 wanted a breather there, John, but if we want to 3 complete the Council member reports, and then we'll get 4 into the nuts and bolts of the Board's action. 5 6 MR. ANDREW: Okay. Okay, I'll get 7 started then. My name is John W. Andrew. I'm from 8 Kwethluk, Alaska. My Native name is (In Yup'ik). 9

10 And for this summer salmon, a little 11 tough because we only had four openings, three in July 12 -- no, three in June and one in July, and after they 13 pulled off the restrictions people weren't going after 14 them too much because right where I live the water was 15 practically high all summer long and raining and windy. 16 It was pretty hard -- it was a challenge to put up our 17 fish during the traditional way. When you start 18 smoking, I take for two or three weeks at a time but 19 the younger generation's age, some of it do it in one 20 day, fast smoke them in some small smokers but when you 21 do that we lose something there, the traditional taste 22 and it tastes way, way different. 23 24 But on our fishing times, people that 25 did go out, they did well this summer when they were 26 catching them. First opening was a little slow. The 27 first opening we were just going for a taste of fish 28 and sharing with the villages -- at the village and our 29 fish camps. The second opening, about the same, but a 30 little bit better. But on the third opening, towards 31 the end of June, we did good. One morning I did 60 32 chums and reds and I gave them to my neighbors, one -- 33 I know I gave 60 to one fish camp and they were pretty 34 happy. That afternoon I went out and got a little over 35 40, mostly chums and reds and a very few jacks. And 36 then -- I still gave them away, I gave them all away to 37 a couple of households at the village. A lot of people 38 -- people in their homes needed it more than I did but 39 on the fourth opening in July I harvested about 30 for 40 my own family and gave out the extra, what I don't 41 need, to my neighbors. And after -- some of them -- a 42 few households were doing some for -- mostly chum 43 salmon, reds, in July, then after the middle of July 44 they weren't going after salmon too much because they 45 were complaining about the wet weather half the time 46 and half the times it's a little too high and too much 47 debris floating on the Kuskokwim. 48 49 But other species, fish was -- species 50






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1 -- I think people that try to go out and harvest them 2 on the tributaries and lakes, they did good on 3 whitefish and a few -- and the first time in a long 4 time I see salmon going to the lakes because it's 5 constantly high. When I told some friends I have over 6 at Fish and Wildlife they were -- I think they were 7 kind of surprised we were seeing them in the lakes 8 because it was pretty -- my late father used to say, 9 well, whenever you have a summer of high water, some of

10 them go into non-spawning streams, they go in and stay 11 for awhile, and when they do come out, they go up the 12 tributaries. But I really think sometimes -- sometimes 13 they do get lost, they end up in those non-spawning 14 streams. 15 16 But those whitefish, they did good. 17 18 In August, latter part of August and 19 Septe -- during moose season we were catching some 20 broadfish up in the (In Yup'ik) in those lakes, the 21 first time in a long time seeing them come out early 22 because those beaver dams were flooded, they were going 23 over them -- or going out to the -- migrating out the 24 Kwethluk and then out to the Kuskokwim. There's still 25 a few of them coming out right now. 26 27 On birds, not too many -- not too many 28 people go after them, only some young guys go out and 29 hunt a few duck -- mostly small birds, mostly ducks, 30 very few geese and they do that for elders in the 31 village. The first ones, whatever they get, they 32 always try to give them to -- share them with the 33 community members. 34 35 On the moose, area-wise, only one -- 36 they got their limit in about seven days, but on the 37 Kuskokwim where in my area by the Y, and it was pretty 38 slow, and the moose were moving and they were staying 39 way back in the hills, or further back off the river, 40 and right now I kept hearing some boys, they were 41 starting to catch them back in Zone 2 area, they were 42 starting to move. Whenever migratory birds start 43 migrating up there, we hear them calling up there, some 44 of the moose start moving and going down to the rivers. 45 46 And some people tell me they've been 47 having trouble with nuisance bears this summer, raiding 48 their fish camps, mostly brown bears, hardly any black 49 and hardly any black bears. 50






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1 On berries, I think our berry pickers 2 were very happy this summer, practically everything was 3 growing everywhere on the Tundra. 4 5 And that's all I got for now. 6 7 Thank you. 8 9 Quyana.

10 11 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. 12 Andrew. And I'm glad you're here to join us. 13 14 Eva. 15 16 MS. PATTON: Madame Chair. And thank 17 you Council members. I always learn so much from 18 listening to you and your elders and thanks for those 19 who have joined us here, too, coming from your 20 community and your tribes. 21 22 So as Alissa was starting to move on, 23 you'll see on Page 27 is your .805(c) report from the 24 Federal Subsistence Board. And this is the Board's 25 report back to the Council on the action that the Board 26 took, and this was their April meeting, to address 27 Federal Subsistence wildlife proposals. And this comes 28 as part of the Chair's report. As the new Chair, 29 Alissa attended that Federal Subsistence Board meeting 30 to relay the Council's recommendations to the Board. 31 32 It's called .805(c) because this is in 33 ANILCA, again, the Council's were created under ANILCA. 34 Report to the Federal Subsistence Board and the 35 Secretary of the Interior on recommendations, the take 36 of fish and wildlife and also customary and traditional 37 use and other matters related to subsistence. 38 39 And as you'll see on Page 27, so this 40 is the Board responding to the Council, to let you know 41 which proposals that were adopted by the Board that the 42 Council had recommended, and in what cases the Board 43 did not, essentially, take action as the Council had 44 recommended. And in those cases the Board is 45 responsible to explain the reasoning why a proposal was 46 not adopted and there are several reasons they have to 47 consider, conservation of fish and wildlife species; 48 sound management practices of fish and wildlife 49 species; and to ensure that subsistence needs are met 50






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1 for all groups. And so in some case there might be a 2 recommendation that the Council sees will work for 3 their particular region but may have an impact on other 4 subsistence users and so the Board considers that 5 strongly as well. 6 7 So, in general, the Board defers to the 8 Council's recommendation except for if there's a case 9 under those circumstances, and then they explain the

10 reasoning why. 11 12 So this year the Board accepted the 13 recommendations of all the Regional Advisory Councils 14 in whole or with modification in 46 out of the 52 15 proposals where the Board took action. 16 17 The Board adopted the Yukon Kuskokwim 18 Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council's 19 recommendation on the following proposals. This will 20 be a little bit of a review, because a lot of time has 21 passed since that April Board meeting and when the 22 Council made these recommendations. 23 24 So they adopted WP25-26, which was to 25 establish a new hunt area and may be announced season 26 for moose in Unit 17C. And so in some cases the 27 Council had recommended to reject a proposal and the 28 Board concurred with that. So that was the case here. 29 30 WP27 is to establish customary and 31 traditional use determination for muskox in Unit 18 for 32 residents of Unit [sic] Island -- residents of Nunivak 33 Island, and, again, the Board rejected this proposal on 34 the recommendation from the Council. If you'll recall 35 the Council received feedback from the proponents that 36 had submitted this proposal, that they wished to not 37 adopt it themselves and the Council concurred with 38 that. 39 40 Then we have WP -- wildlife proposal 41 29, to lengthen the moose season by one month in Unit 42 18 remainder, and that was adopted, as the Council 43 recommended. 44 45 And Wildlife Proposal 30 to shorten the 46 season and decrease harvest limit and possession limit 47 for ptarmigan in Unit 18, and that was adopted with OSM 48 modification. If you'll recall the bag limit was 49 reduced but the season was not changed, which was the 50






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1 recommendation from both numerous communities and 2 feedback that because of the migration of ptarmigan out 3 to the coast, that would affect the coastal communities 4 more, and so the Board concurred with the Council's 5 recommendation to adopt that proposal with the 6 modification to not change the season. 7 8 On Page 28 you'll see the Board's 9 action differed from the Council's recommendations on

10 the following proposals: 11 12 Proposal 21, which was to change the 13 harvest; limit two caribou throughout the Mulchatna 14 Caribou Herd and consolidate the hunt, and that was 15 adopted with OSM modification. 16 17 Proposal 28, to add a winter may be 18 announced season for moose in Unit 18, Goodnews Bay, 19 was adopted with OSM modification. 20 21 Proposal 31 to shorten the caribou 22 season in Unit 18 by 15 days, and that was rejected by 23 the Board. 24 25 And there were statewide proposals as 26 well, Proposal 51 to align Federal bear baiting 27 restrictions with State regulations, specifically the 28 use of biodegradable materials and that was adopted 29 with Board -- with OSM modification. 30 31 And you'll find where the Board did not 32 conclude with the Council's recommendation, the reasons 33 for not following the Council's recommendation, you'll 34 find starting on Page 29. And I won't walk through all 35 the details on that but if the Council has any 36 questions that we can address. 37 38 And I will add, at this time, these new 39 regulations that were passed by the Board in April of 40 2018, the Federal Register notice is still pending, and 41 so the Board makes those recommendations, they have to 42 go through a surnaming process in Washington, D.C., 43 both from Secretary of Interior and Agriculture and 44 that process has been somewhat delayed. Those 45 regulations were due to take effect on July 1st. 46 Currently, the old regulations and the old regulation 47 book are still in effect. But these new regulations 48 have not yet been implemented. So that's still on hold 49 and we will certainly be letting the Council and all 50






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1 the communities know as soon as that Federal Register 2 Notice is finalized, and then there'll be a new Handy- 3 Dandy, new wildlife book coming out, and that's ready 4 to go with the new regulations in it. 5 6 So it's a little confusing because 7 there's a delay in when those regulations would take 8 effect. 9

10 Thank you. 11 12 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Did you guys want 13 to take a five minute break, or you guys want to keep 14 going. 15 16 10. We'll go and have a quick minute 17 break. 18 19 (Off record) 20 21 (On record) 22 23 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: All right, folks, 24 we're going to call this meeting back to order, it's 25 exactly 3:00 o'clock. 3:00 o'clock. I'll give you a 26 minute to scramble back to your seats, we want to try 27 and keep on task today and make sure we get through our 28 agenda items, although we do love visiting with each 29 other. 30 31 (Pause) 32 33 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Okay, for next on 34 the agenda, we have tribal engagement, Mr. Orville 35 Lind, who's the Native Liaison for OSM. 36 37 Thank you, Mr. Lind, take it away. 38 39 MR. LIND: Quyana, thank you. Camai. 40 Can you all hear me back here. 41 42 (Laughter) 43 44 MR. LIND: Yeah. 45 46 MR. ALOYSIUS: Pull your mic closer to 47 you. 48 49 MR. LIND: I don't want to sit down too 50






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1 much, but, anyway, thank you again for this 2 opportunity. Thank you Bethel people. Nice weather up 3 here. A little warm. I thought it was going to be 4 cooler, good thing I didn't overdress. But, anyway, 5 I'm glad to see you folks, good to see you guys all the 6 time, and especially being involved in the resources, 7 the management of the resources. 8 9 Quyana.

10 11 Thank you. 12 13 So I'm going to go ahead and give a 14 very brief, a very simple part of the consultation that 15 I'm in charge of at Office of Subsistence Management as 16 the Native Liaison. I am the primary contact for those 17 229 Federally-recognized tribes, 13 corporations, up to 18 200 village corporations, when it comes to subsistence 19 issues, I am the contact for consultation. 20 21 Now, I like to start off with 22 consultation, an Alaskan tradition. Well, folks, all 23 this is saying is that, you know, in the old days we 24 used to sit in a house in a circle and talk about 25 stuff. My dad was a chief way back and he was a chief 26 for a very long time and whenever an issue would come 27 up, even then, about maybe finding trash in the stream, 28 he would call a meeting together, we all sit in a 29 circle, inside the big circle house and talk about it. 30 So, consultation, it hasn't changed, but maybe for a 31 few bigger words, and maybe some numbers, but it still 32 remains the same. Consultation is very important. 33 34 You know, it's a communication style of 35 trust, responsibility, you know, and when we -- we also 36 have a shared responsibility also. 37 38 When we do consult, remember, we're 39 trying to have a meaningful and a really productive and 40 effective communication between both sides and 41 everybody. In our case we, sometimes, meet with 42 parties. For example, one thing that blew me away last 43 year, is when we started to consult with the 44 InterTribal Fisheries Commission and realized 33 tribes 45 and so there and with the Fish and Wildlife Service and 46 all the other people involved, what a tremendous 47 gathering and it turned out, in my eyes, to be a very 48 productive. People heard from each other and talked 49 about stuff and kind of worked things out for the whole 50






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1 summer. And, so, again, consultation is very, very 2 important. 3 4 Okay, and we're going to go into the 5 meat and potatoes now, as to why. 6 7 Go ahead. 8 9 So we're dealing with -- again, all of

10 the major culture groups, the Yup'ik, Athabascan, 11 Inupiaq, Aleut, Tlingit, Haida, Eyak, Tsimshian. 12 13 I believe that's everyone. 14 15 Again, we have a consultation -- tribal 16 consultation is actually Office of Subsistence 17 Management Policy and it is a form of communication 18 that emphasizes, again, trust, respect, and shared 19 responsibility. It is an open, free exchange of 20 information and opinions among parties, which leads to 21 mutual understanding and comprehension. Again, 22 consultation is integral to the deliberative process 23 that results in effective collaboration and informed 24 decisionmaking. 25 26 Again, that's just saying that we're 27 going to converse with all parties involved and come up 28 with a plan or discussions that are both meaningful, 29 and effective amongst all parties. 30 31 Next. 32 33 Again, we're required by Executive 34 Order 13175, I'm not going to go into a lot of details 35 here. Again, I want to keep things simple. But those 36 are the websites. When you consult with tribal 37 governments, when you consult with ANCSA corporations. 38 And, again, it's just good business practice. What it 39 does, is it builds positive relationships with 40 everybody; in your community, your tribal leaders, 41 officials, corporate leaders, again, this process 42 honors the government to government relationship we 43 have with tribes and sovereign nations. 44 45 Next. 46 47 Who do we consult with. Again, 48 government to government. We recognize sovereign 49 dependent nations. Again, we're based on 200 years 50






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1 plus a political interaction with the treaties, 2 international treaties, obligations, promises by the US 3 government. They're the Federal trust responsibilities 4 to tribes. The US government has a responsibility to 5 protect tribal trust. 6 7 Now, it's a little different on the 8 ANCSA corporation side. We have government to 9 corporation. And, again, it was mandated in 2004 and

10 2005 appropriations, legislations. Again, that does 11 not have no trust responsibility. 12 13 Next. 14 15 The DOI distinguishes the Federal 16 relationship to ANCSA corporations from the government 17 to government relationship between the Federal 18 government and Federal recognized Indian tribes, in 19 Alaska, and elsewhere. And this policy does not 20 diminish in any way the relationship and the 21 consultation obligations towards Federal recognized 22 Indian tribes. I want to mention also, you know, in 23 our whole nation there's 567 Federal tribes in our 24 nation, Alaska has 229 of those. 25 26 Next. 27 28 To the extent of concerns -- oh, I'm 29 sorry, Bob, did you have a question. 30 31 MR. ALOYSIUS: Yeah, why do you..... 32 33 REPORTER: Bob. 34 35 MR. ALOYSIUS: .....use the word, 36 Indian. 37 38 REPORTER: Bob, your mic. 39 40 MR. ALOYSIUS: There is no such Indians 41 in all the world. 42 43 REPORTER: Bob. Bob. 44 45 MR. ALOYSIUS: There's no Eskimos in 46 all the world. Those are just rubber stamps by 47 agencies of the Federal government that don't know -- 48 don't know the difference between one tribe or another. 49 50






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1 MR. LIND: That's an important point, 2 Bob, and I relate to that. When I was doing this 3 presentation, this is what exactly comes from the 4 Register so that's why it's in there. The next time I 5 address it I won't even say Indian tribes, I will say 6 Alaskan tribes, how about that. 7 8 Thank you, Bob. 9

10 MR. ALOYSIUS: Why -- why don't you do 11 some..... 12 13 REPORTER: Bob. Bob, put your mic on. 14 15 MR. ALOYSIUS: .....research and call 16 each -- call each nation what it is. We're not Yup'ik, 17 we're Yup'iaq. You ever hear the northern Inupiaqs 18 call themselves Inupiat, no, way, Inupiaq, yeah. And 19 we're Yup'iaq, we're not Yup'ik. So you have to do 20 some research and get the names right. 21 22 MR. LIND: Thank you. Thank you, Bob. 23 I appreciate that. 24 25 As you know I've only been on here 26 three years but I'm learning a whole bunch from you 27 folks, I appreciate that. 28 29 MR. ALOYSIUS: And the other thing is 30 where are the Inui -- the Pribilof people, (In Native). 31 32 MR. LIND: Aleut. 33 34 MR. ALOYSIUS: They're not Aleut, 35 they're (In Native). 36 37 MR. LIND: Yeah, just like Alutiiq is 38 (In Native). 39 40 Quyana, thank you. 41 42 So we'll continue, to the extent of the 43 concerns expressed by the tribes and ANCSA corporations 44 substantially different, departmental officials shall 45 give due consideration to the right of the sovereign 46 and self-governments of Federal recognized Alaskan 47 tribes. 48 49 Next. 50






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1 So when is consultation required. 2 3 Well, the DOI policy on consulting with 4 tribes directs agencies and bureaus to consult with 5 Federal recognized tribes when taking action that may 6 have a substantial direct effect on a tribe. Now, this 7 is, to me, really the meat and potatoes. When there's 8 proposals that come forth that are very, very 9 important, and several things that link to a proposal

10 coming from a village or a tribe here in Alaska, it's 11 the way of life, and it's the way to come together and 12 really start to work on a, how you say, something 13 that's going to work for everybody, trying to find a 14 balance close to what will please both sides and it's 15 very difficult to do sometimes. But, again, coming 16 together just to talk about stuff and hear everybody at 17 the table speak is a good thing. 18 19 And, then, again, at the bottom you'll 20 see conversing and consultation is needed at early 21 stages, when policies, programs or other activities 22 that may affect tribes are being considered by the 23 Federal government, consultation is an ongoing process 24 that may require repeated meetings or other forms of 25 communication as the process continues. And I will add 26 to that also is that this is an open book policy as far 27 as the implementation guidelines, which hopefully all 28 tribes have, if not, I will give you another copy. I 29 know at the all Council meeting everyone was provided 30 with that. It's also on our website. But, again, it 31 just gives us direction, it's our guide, again, to get 32 that meaningful and effective consultation process. 33 34 Next. 35 36 Practical tips, department actions 37 include, but are not limited to the regulations, 38 rulemaking, guidance, legislature proposals, grant 39 funding changes, operational activity that may have a 40 substantial direct effect on a tribe. 41 42 Next. 43 44 On matters including but not limited 45 to, tribal cultural practices, lands, resources, or 46 access to traditional areas of cultural or religious 47 importance on Federal managed lands. Again, the 48 consultation, once we start a dialogue between the 49 Federal and tribal representatives takes place before a 50






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1 decision is made. Simply making a presentation about 2 an agency plans to do is not consultation. 3 4 Next. 5 6 Again, before the consultation, as many 7 of you know, you've heard me call you in the office or 8 email you or fax you, explain the purpose of the 9 consultation, determining if the tribe is interested in

10 consulting on this action, decide on a mutual 11 acceptable date, which sometimes can be difficult, but 12 you guys have been really great, you know, I only have 13 like maybe three potential dates that I throw out 14 there, I talk to the Staff, OSM Staff to see if they're 15 available first, I talk to RACs to see if they're 16 available and then we come up with a final date. 17 Again, it's also -- I'm very flexible on those. 18 19 Develop a format for the consultation. 20 Develop a draft agenda, collaboratively with the tribe. 21 Ask how council meetings are typically conducted so you 22 can prepare Fish and Wildlife Service Staff, include 23 appropriate representatives, Federal representatives 24 who are decisionmakers, official representatives of the 25 Federal recognized tribal governments, tribal chair, 26 chief or official designated official. 27 28 Next. 29 30 And, again, before the consultation, I 31 prepare a letter, inviting the tribes to consult two to 32 three weeks before a proposed date. Now, I know last 33 year we had a concern that we had one consultation that 34 was actually taken after the public hearing, and that 35 was only because I'm the only Native Liaison in the 36 office and once I'm gone there's not much that can be 37 done unless they call me and contact me, I had family 38 issues that I had to attend to and that was the only 39 time that we had a consultation after the public 40 hearing. There might have been one other time, I'm not 41 too sure on that one. But, again, the tribal chair, cc 42 contacts to administrators or environmental cultural 43 staff. Most of the time when I talk to folks, it's 44 either the Admin staff there or they'll contact me 45 after they get a letter. Incorporate project or 46 activity description, whatever the proposal is on, or 47 if the activity is on proposals or special actions, 48 that type of deal. Include the date and place of the 49 meeting on the letter, include draft meeting agendas. 50






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1 Unless it's specifically on that topic, and then send 2 information describing the action as early in the 3 process as possible, with enough detail to fully inform 4 the tribe. 5 6 Now, again, these consultations happen 7 in agreement with the tribe first. I want them to be 8 available to talk to our Staff when it does happen. 9 But also I want to make sure that we have a couple

10 Federal Subsistence Board members available so that the 11 tribes can talk directly to the Federal Subsistence 12 Board members per policy. 13 14 Next. 15 16 During the consultation, again, we 17 assign note takers. Our Staff has wonderful note 18 takers, I'll tell you what, I enjoy working with our 19 Staff here at OSM because we have a lot of great note 20 takers, much better than I am, but I'll tell you what, 21 it helps a lot. 22 23 Describe the agency action. Again, be 24 brief. We outline the potential impacts to tribal 25 interests from the Fish and Wildlife Service's 26 perspective. If the process is longterm, again, our 27 Staff will describe timeline and identify key decision 28 points. Again, we ask the tribes if they need more 29 information, listen and record tribes perspective of 30 potential impacts or concerns. Reach a consensus when 31 a tribe can have their official comments to the Fish 32 and Wildlife Service, and if they're submitting in 33 writing and offer to consult as needed. Where the 34 tribe says, okay, Orville, we really didn't get 35 something across to you, we want to consult again, and 36 I'll make it happen. 37 38 Next. 39 40 After the consultation, we prepare 41 draft notes following the meeting. Approve notes to 42 the participating tribes that will be available to the 43 tribes on the consultation on the Subsistence website, 44 and they are on there. When they're completed, they're 45 provided to the website and most folks that have a real 46 good signal in the villages can actually access that, 47 some can't. Fulfill any comments -- commitments as 48 soon as possible. Keep the tribe informed as progress 49 is made, especially projects that are longterm. 50






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1 Include tribal guidance as an integral part of agency 2 decisionmaking. I like that because it's red and it's 3 important and it's valuable to the tribes. Log tribal 4 consultation administrative record into the Fish and 5 Wildlife Service's sharepoint and the website. So 6 every time I've completed a tribal consultation or 7 ANCSA consultation, the transcripts arrive, I take the 8 transcripts and make a summary out of the transcripts, 9 because when it's recorded sometimes it's

10 unintelligible, they can't understand a name or the 11 language and in some cases the names get mixed up, the 12 places get mixed up, so I make sure that the summary is 13 a good honest product of what actually was transcribed. 14 And, again, that information is found on our website. 15 Now, the log of tribal consultation is we have a 16 database where we go into and I have to put this 17 information into this database to where it's recorded 18 in our Fish and Wildlife Service database. 19 20 Next. 21 22 When is consultation required on ANCSA. 23 Well, again, direct agencies, bureaus to consult when 24 taking action which will have a direct effect on ANCSA 25 corporations. Again, it's best to do our corporation 26 consultation separate from trial consultations. 27 28 Next. 29 30 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Orville, can I 31 ask why? 32 33 MR. LIND: Because the government to 34 government is Fish and Wildlife Service to Federal 35 recognized tribes, that's government to government. 36 The consultation between ANCSA and us is just 37 government to corporations, which don't have -- are not 38 responsible for the tribal trust part. Am I right? 39 40 MS. PATTON: Correct. Through the 41 Chair. The ANCSA consultation was actually part of a 42 Congressional addition, yeah, so that's why it's a very 43 separate history from the government to government 44 consultation with the tribes but we are, as an agency 45 -- Federal agencies in Alaska are required to consult 46 with ANCSA as well. 47 48 Thank you. 49 50






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1 MR. LIND: Thank you, Eva. And, again, 2 it's similar as a tribal consultation, again, 3 department action is -- with regulations, rulemaking, 4 policies, guidance, legislature proposals, grant 5 funding formula changes, again, operational activity 6 that may have substantial direct effect on ANCSA 7 corporations. 8 9 Next.

10 11 Again, with the land, water resources, 12 or resources, any activity that may impact the ability 13 of the ANCSA corporation to participate in the 14 departmental programs for which it qualifies. 15 16 Next. 17 18 Again, just some information. 19 20 We have 12 regional corporations, I 21 said 13 earlier, and approximately 180 village, plus 22 village corporations. And, again, there's your 23 website, you can find that information -- more 24 information on. 25 26 Next. 27 28 Just to identify, the 12 regional 29 corporations, Ahtna, Aleut Corporation, Arctic Slope, 30 Bering Straits, Bristol Bay, Calista, Chugach, Cook 31 Inlet, Doyon, Koniag, NANA, Sealaska. 32 33 Determine which corporation may be 34 impacted by agency action, again, regional and/or 35 village, call and ask for a point of contact, describe 36 agency actions, invite corporations to consult on 37 actions. It's an ongoing process for me because of 38 tribes and corporations have some turnover during the 39 year, it is a real task to keep our ongoing list 40 updated. And I appreciate calls from the Regional 41 Advisory Council Chair or members saying, hey, this 42 person is vacant now and that type of deal. So while I 43 try to get the information out to the people that are 44 really there. And, again, it's a task that is ongoing 45 day to day, to keep track of who's who. And being the 46 Native way, we want to contact this person, we want to 47 be able to talk to that person, and not someone that we 48 don't know who changed maybe. 49 50






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1 Okay, next. 2 3 Again, toward the end of the ANCSA 4 corporation consultation will describe agency action, 5 explain purpose of consulting, determine corporations 6 interested and consultation, decide on a date, format 7 consultation, develop the agenda and, again, include 8 appropriate representatives. Again, we need to have 9 two or more Federal Subsistence Board members on that

10 consultation. 11 12 Next. 13 14 Again, during that ANCSA consultation, 15 we have the -- again, agency action, describe it, be 16 brief, we have potential impacts to corporate interests 17 from Fish and Wildlife Service perspective. Again, if 18 the process is longterm, we describe timelines and 19 identify decision points, and ask if the corporation 20 needs additional information. Just keeping tabs on 21 everything. 22 23 Go ahead. 24 25 After the consultation, again, the 26 notes are prepared, we have an actual LT team in our 27 office, we -- after I put together the review or the 28 summary of the consultation from the transcripts, we 29 have to approve that. They have to look at everything 30 to make sure it's exactly what happened on the record, 31 and that way -- and if it doesn't, people are nice 32 enough to call us up and say, hey, I didn't go to 33 Washington, or that way, or something like that. And, 34 you know, so we try to keep as honest and to the truth 35 as possible on those summaries. Again, we fulfill any 36 commitments as soon as possible. 37 38 Next. 39 40 Here's the fun part. Discussion, 41 questions, comments. Go ahead. 42 43 MR. CHARLES: How about the dates..... 44 45 REPORTER: James. James. 46 47 MR. CHARLES: .....can you use..... 48 49 MR. LIND: Your mic. 50






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1 MR. CHARLES: Can you use any date on 2 -- you were talking about a couple of pages back, I 3 think, on the date, can you use any date or..... 4 5 MR. LIND: As long -- Mr. Charles, as 6 long as -- I usually get the date, time that -- 7 remember, we had talked about this before, I called you 8 and said what date would you like, that has to come 9 from the tribes first. Yeah. And I think you were

10 going to be traveling too at that point so we kind of 11 made it flexible, you know, to have that consultation 12 on the fisheries proposals, so, again, the date is 13 decided by the tribe really. And I have to match that 14 with the OSM Staff being available and also the Federal 15 Subsistence Board members that are available. So it 16 has to come together. 17 18 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Peters. 19 20 MR. PETERS: Orville, you know, that's 21 really a lot of good information in a short time of 22 period and you should let our Chairman know because as 23 you know the Yukon is very long and what -- this 24 longterm, you know, look into how could we get more 25 money or take that to tribes into some consideration 26 about their goals and needs and, you know, to work it 27 out, you know, that's very good information. And thank 28 you for giving us that information. 29 30 MR. LIND: Thank you, Mr. Peters. You 31 know we're trying to work our best for you folks out 32 here. We try our best. 33 34 Quyana. 35 36 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Lind, would 37 it be okay if the audience asks you a question? 38 39 MR. LIND: Absolutely. 40 41 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Go ahead. 42 43 MR. PARENT: I'll defer to the elder. 44 45 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Go ahead. 46 47 MR. BILL: I have something to say. 48 49 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Lind, Mr. 50






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1 Bill. 2 3 MR. BILL: I want to ask you something 4 before you take off. 5 6 MR. LIND: Okay. 7 8 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mr. Lind. 9 Orville.

10 11 MR. LIND: What? 12 13 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: He's going to ask 14 you something. 15 16 MR. LIND: Oh, go ahead. 17 18 MR. BILL: Who is the Federal 19 Subsistence Board? 20 21 MR. LIND: There are, I believe -- Mr. 22 Tony Christian is the Chair, we have Bert Frost from 23 the National Park Service, we have -- help me out. 24 25 MS. PETRIVELLI: Gene. 26 27 MS. KENNER: Hey, I think the only way 28 -- this is Pippa Kenner, and I work for OSM. 29 30 I think the best way to describe it is 31 that the Board is made up of the Regional Directors -- 32 the regional leads for the five Federal agencies in 33 Alaska, four of which that manage land and the other is 34 the BIA. 35 36 So it's the Regional Director or 37 Forester for the Forest Service of those agencies. So 38 it's Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Park 39 Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. And then 40 in addition to that we have a Chair, who is a citizen 41 of the State, it happens to be Tony Christianson from 42 Hydaburg, and we have two public members who represent 43 subsistence users, and right now one is Harry 44 Bower..... 45 46 MS. PATTON: Charlie Brower. 47 48 MR. LIND: Charlie. 49 50






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1 MS. KENNER: Oh, excuse me, Charlie 2 Bower, sorry. 3 4 MS. PATTON: Brower. 5 6 MS. KENNER: And then the second one is 7 Rhonda Pitka from Beaver. 8 9 MR. BILL: One more, sir. Are there

10 any Alaska Natives on that Board. 11 12 MR. LIND: We have three -- four. We 13 have one from BIA, we have one from -- let me 14 think..... 15 16 REPORTER: Hydaburg. 17 18 MR. LIND: Hydaburg. One from Beaver 19 and one from Barrow. 20 21 MR. BILL: Thank you. 22 23 MR. LIND: You're welcome. 24 25 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mary. Mary, is 26 your questions or your comments about this? 27 28 MS. NANUWAK: (Nods affirmatively) 29 30 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Yes, okay. 31 32 MS. NANUWAK: I wanted to make a 33 suggestion, you know, every time somebody is presenting 34 somebody disrupts their presentation. I don't see 35 anywhere on your agenda that you can go into small 36 groups and discuss these things, which is helpful. And 37 also if you have a specific item to discuss, the steps 38 you're going to take into working on on that issue, 39 that helps a lot. And then how you're going to -- 40 discuss how you're going to take care of that. And 41 also as you go, you cross them off. That's a big time 42 saver. 43 44 Also definitions. Definitions. 45 Everyone seems to have their own definition of 46 everything, and I'm no exception. So whereas 47 beforehand, if you want the same definition -- 48 definitions, again, that helps. It seems like everyone 49 tends to have their own definitions and then like we're 50






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1 all grown up to adults, we can like all wait until the 2 speaker's done and do away with this unnecessary 3 disruptions. 4 5 Also listening is a really important 6 form of communications. There's two ways to 7 communicate, verbal and listening, of which listening 8 is the most important. 9

10 And, again, when they present -- and 11 I'm bringing these up because it seems like every 12 meeting I go to it's the same old, same old, same old, 13 and when it is a procedure like this, you're reading 14 off, I mean like that really turns me off, because 15 you're not observing the actions or the reactions of 16 the other Council members as well as the public and 17 then like when somebody has a question, I don't think 18 anyone should stand up to go to that person to answer 19 their questions because..... 20 21 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Mary. Mary. I'm 22 sorry, to interrupt you but you need to keep your 23 comments just specifically to this. 24 25 MS. NANUWAK: Well, it does fit into 26 this. 27 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: To a point it 28 does, but when you're going to be antag..... 29 30 MR. NANUWAK: So like I said if you got 31 small group sessions this would take care of a lot of 32 things, I think, I believe. 33 34 That's my comment. 35 36 And I'm always impressed when Native 37 peoples are presenting, they don't have their books, 38 they don't have their computer to rely on because they 39 already know what you're talking about, that, to me, is 40 very impressive. Although to non-Natives, their 41 Western Science, they're talking -- traditional 42 knowledge. I will tell you of the two sciences I 43 depend more on the traditional knowledge, because 44 that's someone from one standing and it takes very 45 special people to bring those to people, because we 46 really never forget anything that we've heard or 47 learned, even when we're little babies. Small 48 children, things will go around, they all crawl in the 49 room and running around, they saw everything, they 50






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1 heard everything, and then things we learn as children 2 tend to stay with us the rest of our lives. And also 3 helps to learn as many languages as you can, not that 4 you become a perfect linguist in every language, just 5 even a few sentences, maybe even a word, that helps 6 because I'm sure like you've all heard some things said 7 in one language and even a question, you can return as 8 a ah-ha, so. 9

10 Doi. 11 12 Quyana. 13 14 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Thank you, Mary, 15 for your comments. 16 17 I believe you're Mr. Parent. 18 19 MR. PARENT: Yes. 20 21 MADAME CHAIR ROGERS: Okay. Keep your 22 comments strictly to his presentation. 23 24 Thank you. 25 26 MR. PARENT: Marvin Parent with the 27 Marshall Traditional Council and this is directed for 28 Mr. Orville Lind. 29 30 I have a question in regards to 31 consultation and needs. Tribal versus corporation. We 32 have a looming issue with the Donlin Creek Mine and our 33 tribe -- I want you to know, it is opposed to the 34 Donlin Creek Mine at this time, how do you weigh the 35 needs between the corporations and the tribes and how 36 do you deal with the conflict that is looming in the 37 future here? 38 39 Thank you. 40 41 MR. LIND: I can only share this -- 42 thank you for that, Marvin, but I can only share this, 43 is that, the weight has to come from both tribes and 44 the corporations themselves. And that point is 45 established and they want to consult with the Federal 46 government and that's where my play comes into. I know 47 there's looming concerns, not only with the Donlin 48 Mine, but also with the Bristol Bay Pebble Mine, and I 49 get so many calls saying, hey, listen, when can we 50






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1 start the process and I say, well, you know -- this is 2 what I say, I say first of all, the request for 3 consultation has to come from you. If there is 4 assistance, you know, from your corporations, from 5 people that are leaders, you know, make sure you 6 converse with them, consult with them, and then we can 7 start the process. It is very important for you to do 8 that. Again, it directly impacts your resource and 9 your people, so it has to happen.

10 11 Thank you for that.

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