Notice of Draft LEIS Availability and Public Comment Period

Date: December 24, 2008
Contact: Allison Banks, Public Information Officer, 907-697-2230

Glacier Bay NP Releases Gull Egg Proposal

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve on Friday released a draft legislative environmental impact statement in which the National Park Service proposes to authorize a limited harvest of glaucous-winged gull eggs in the park. Public comment on the draft is open until March 6, 2009.

The harvest would be managed cooperatively by the NPS and the Hoonah Indian Association, the federally recognized tribe of the Huna Tlingit. The park is part of the traditional homeland of the Huna Tlingit, who traditionally harvested eggs there prior to the park’s establishment in 1925. The practice was curtailed in the 1960s as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and federal regulations prohibited it.

The draft legislative environmental impact statement responds to the Glacier Bay Resource Management Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-455) in which Congress directed the NPS to determine whether egg harvest could occur in the park without impacting gull populations.

The NPS is considering three alternatives; a No-Action Alternative which would not allow egg harvest and two alternatives which would authorize limited traditional harvest of glaucous-winged gull eggs. The preferred alternative (Alternative 3) would authorize harvest of gull eggs at designated locations in the park on two dates in early summer.

Public meetings are planned in five locations in January and February; all are between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

January 13          HoonahHoonah City Hall

February 2          Anchorage          ZJ Loussac Library

February 3          Juneau                 Centennial Hall

February 4          Gustavus             Gustavus Library

February 5          HoonahHoonah City Hall

The document is available online at the park planning web site. Hard copies are available by mail by contacting Mary Beth Moss, 907-317-1270.

Comments on the document may be sent to Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, Attn. Mary Beth Moss, P.O. Box 140, Gustavus, AK 99826 or by e-mail. Comments can also be posted on-line at the park planning web site.