Consideration of Sheefish Spawning Areas on the Kuskokwim River for ACEC Nomination to the BLM: Follow Up Report

June 13, 2014

 

Georgetown Environmental Coordinator, showing off a sheefish

By: Kate Schaberg, GTC Environmental Coordinator

At a Georgetown Tribal Council (GTC) meeting held in February 2014 with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding the cleanup of the abandoned Red Devil mercury mine, the GTC became aware of various studies that had been conducted on the Kuskokwim River related to mercury in fish tissue.  Matt Varner of the BLM presented information to the GTC, during which, he discussed fish movement and tracking on the river, and mentioned a possible spawning ground that has not been documented before.  The GTC was under the impression that the spawning ground was for sheefish, which later turned out to be false.

In May 2014, the GTC was contacted by the BLM who, as part of its Bering Sea – Western Interior Resource Management Plan (RMP) update, is seeking nominations for Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).  Nominations are being accepted until August 29, 2014.  According to the BLM, “ACEC designations highlight areas of BLM-managed public land where special management attention is needed to protect important historical, cultural, and scenic values; fish or wildlife resources, or other natural systems or processes; or human life and safety from natural hazards.” 

 Sheefish are a culturally significant fish species along the Kuskokwim River; they are harvested for subsistence use by many, especially in the middle and upper river.  Sheefish are often caught before salmon in the spring, and offer an opportunity for fresh fish early in the season.  In recent years, king salmon have been in decline and there has been an even greater shift in harvest patterns away from king salmon and more toward whitefish and other salmon species.  Sheefish spawning grounds have very specific needs and occur in small numbers on the Kuskokwim River, as has been documented over the last five years by Lisa Stuby.  Because of this, the habitat in and around the existing spawning grounds needs to be protected, to allow for future productivity of the species.  For all of these reasons, the GTC members and the GTC environmental committee felt that the areas of sheefish spawning on the Kuskokwim would fit the criteria for relevance and importance, which are necessary to be considered as an ACEC by the BLM, and decided to go forth with the nomination process.  The first part of this process was to conduct research on the topic, the area, and to gather necessary materials for the nomination.

After further contact was made with Matt Varner, it was realized that the area brought up at the February meeting was not, in fact, for sheefish.  It was instead for burbot.  In the meantime, I contacted Lisa Stuby, a research biologist who works for the Sport Fish Division of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) in Fairbanks.  In November of 2012, she published a report on sheefish spawning grounds on the Kuskokwim River (FDS12-65), which provides detailed information about spawning areas documented on the Kuskokwim River. 

Stuby documented three spawning locations on the Kuskokwim River for sheefish as noted in the study, located on the Tonzona, Middle Fork and Big River, all located in the upper Kuskokwim River area.  These are the areas the GTC intended to nominate for ACEC consideration (circled in green on map below).  Once the spawning locations were identified, next it needed to be determined what type of land they were located on. In order for the area to be considered for ACEC nomination, it needs to be on “BLM-managed public land”, as noted above.  Lisa Stuby provided the coordinates of fish locations from her study for dates occurring from 2009-2013, and those were plotted against land status in the region.  I created the map below, which shows that in fact, all three sheefish spawning areas are located on Native land.  For this reason, the areas cannot be nominated for ACEC consideration. 

That being said, it is our hope that special protection will still be given to these areas.  It is our understanding that Lisa has worked very well with the native villages and Tribes in the area, and has received a lot of local input and knowledge for her projects.  She has indicated that those living in the area have a strong desire to protect these spawning areas due to importance of the resource. A copy of this documentation of our efforts/findings has been provided to the villages in the area, so as to avoid any duplication of the effort.  We will also provided a copy to the BLM, despite the fact that the area cannot be nominated for ACEC consideration.  Perhaps the areas can still be considered when determining various uses for the land within the Bering Sea Western Interior RMP. 

After contact with several local residents in the upper Kuskokwim River, I have come to find out that they will be sharing their local knowledge about the areas to the Army Corps of Engineers and others, in hopes that the pipeline planned for the potential Donlin Gold mine will not affect these areas.

As a follow-up step, I will also meet with the GTC to find out if they are interested in researching the possible burbot spawning area referenced by Matt Varner, as a potential nomination for ACEC consideration.  However, based on internal conversations, it is believed that the area described is also located on Native land.

Are you aware of any areas on the Kuskokwim that might fit the criteria for ACEC nomination?  If so, contact me at 907-274-2195 and we will certainly look into it!