Smith: “We tried and we failed to host the next Board of Fish meeting on Upper Cook Inlet here in Kenai and I hope that the Governor can find a fair candidate who’s familiar with Upper cook Inlet issues and can represent Kenai Peninsula residents.”
Local fisherman Megan Smith may get her wish with another Kenai Peninsula resident now applying for an open Board of Fish seat. Kenai Watershed Forum Executive Director Robert Ruffner applied last month.
Ruffner has been with the Forum since its creation in 1997, but announced in January he will be stepping down in late spring. He said he’s most proud of the work the Forum has done in clearing the Peninsula’s waterways…
Ruffner: “We’ve fixed something like 65 culverts on the Kenai Peninsula over the past 15 years and that’s opened up dozens and dozens of miles of habitat that was otherwise inaccessible to these fish.”
Roland Maw had been in the running for the seat, but withdrew his name in late February. Governor Walker now has two seats to fill this summer…
Gov. Walker: “One of them’s not due yet and that one will not have to be due I don’t believe until June 1, actually I think both of them come up on June 1. One is vacant now, the other one is not, so there is one vacancy right now.”
Board Chair Karl Johnstone resigned after he learned he would not be reappointed and subsistence fisherman Orville Huntington’s term expires in June.