Fall 2003 – Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE/2003 ANNUAL REPORT
BY TRISHA HERMINGHAUS, AQRC PRESIDENT

During the last year, the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition has continued to work toward our mission of protecting the rights of Alaskans to quiet places for recreation.
The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition:

expanded its board of directors by adding four new board members.
sponsored a lecture, “The Science of Soundscape or Listening to our Public Lands: the Denali Experience,” by Shan Burson, a soundscape technician collecting data in Denali National Park.
continued to distribute the Motorized Conflict Form. Use the Conflict Form to report conflicts with motorized trail users, then send the form to AQRC. Well forward the report to the appropriate agency and keep a copy for our records to help document trail conflicts. The report can be found on our Web site at www.quietrights.org.
followed the issue of snowmachines in Denali National Park and responded to the draft National Park Service Denali Backcountry Management Plan.
signed on to a letter drafted by Lynn Canal Conservation in Haines that supports a Bureau of Land Management request to do mountain goat studies in the area to help the agency make better heli-skiing decisions.

submitted comments to the U.S. Forest Service in response to two proposals by Chugach Powder Guides. The Powder Guides asked for both a one- and a five-year permit to land heli-skiers in areas of the Chugach National Forest and create heli-skiing staging areas for their helicopter guide service.
monitored and commented on the Chugach National Forest Management Plan.
conducted Winter and Summer Days of Listening. The responses from the Winter and Summer Days of Listening highlight the noise people encounter as they recreate, as well as their attempts to find quiet places for recreation. AQRC is looking at being more specific in the upcoming year in the kinds of data we collect (see article above).
has written letters to comment on the Iditarod National Historic Trail requesting that the U.S. Forest Service consider setting aside areas specifically for quiet recreation on this historic trail.
commented to the U.S. Forest Service regarding granting a permit to land helicopters and conduct dog-mushing tours on the Godwin Glacier near Seward.
continues to work with our regional contacts to monitor quiet rights issues around the state.

YOUR IDEAS WELCOME FOR CHANGES TO ANNUAL DAY OF LISTENING
BY TRISHA HERMINGHAUS

For the past three years, the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition has conducted Winter and Summer Days of Listening. Over the years, we have had a diminishing return on the number of participants in the Day of Listening, so the AQRC board members discussed whether or not we should continue sponsoring this event.
Some of the positive benefits from the Day of Listening have been to increase our members level of awareness of both the natural and the disturbing machine sounds, as well as an increased interest in the work of AQRC by our members and the media. The Day of Listening data show interesting results, but perhaps should be modified to give us more precise information.
Possibilities:
In looking toward the future, we are considering various possibilities for finetuning the way we collect data on the Day of Listening. In the months ahead, look for news about our ideas as we plan for the 4th Winter Day of Listening.

“QUIET ALASKA” SLIDE SHOW TO BE FEATURED
AT THE AQRC ANNUAL MEETING OCTOBER 9
BY SUSAN OLSEN

Noted Alaskan photographer and author Kim Heacox will make a slide show presentation, “Quiet Alaska”, at the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition’s annual meeting on Thursday, October 9, 2003. It will be held at the BP Energy Center from 7 to 9 p.m.
The annual meeting will also include the:

sixth annual Cacophony Awards
results of the board election, and
President’s Report on the organization’s activities this year.

Light refreshments will be served and the PUBLIC is invited.
Kim Heacox arrived in Alaska in 1979. He has worked as a naturalist and backcountry ranger in Glacier Bay, Denali and Katmai National Parks. In 1985, he took up freelance writing and photography. A fascination with natural history has taken him on assignment to Africa, the Galapagos, the Arctic and the Antarctica. He has twice won the Lowell Thomas Award for excellence in travel journalism, and his book IN DENALI won the Benjamin Franklin Award.
Kim has authored and/or photographed ten books and is presently working on two more. He has extensive experience as a public speaker and has acted as spokesperson for such organizations as the National Park Service, Outward Bound, Zegrahm and Quark Expeditions, National Geographic Society, World Wildlife Fund and Alaska Conservation Foundation, among others. Kim lives in southeast Alaska with his wife Melanie, their sea kayaks, a vegetable garden, and the rain.
For more information, call Susan Olsen at 277-9968.

BALLOT FOR BOARD ELECTIONS 2003-2004
If you cannot come to the Annual Meeting, please cut and mail, before Oct. 9, 2003, to AQRC, PO Box 202592, Anchorage, AK 99520 or e-mail quietrights@yahoo.com. Current Directors running for re-election for a two-year term (vote for 4):

Libby Hatton	yes___ no___	Bob Randall	yes___ no___
Susan Olsen	yes___ no___	Page Spencer	yes___ no___

The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition is a statewide nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization of approximately 600 members and supporters which is dedicated to protecting the rights of Alaskans to quiet places for the benefit of recreationists, home and cabin owners, wildlife, businesses and future generations. The objective of the organization is to obtain a fair and balanced allocation of Alaska’s public lands for both non-motorized and motorized users. The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition was started in 1997.

2002-2003 AQRC BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Trisha Herminghaus, President	Ted Moore
Bob Randall, Vice President	Lenore Morford
Jim Adams, Secretary	Susan Olsen
Barbara Parker, Treasurer	Terri Pauls
Cliff Eames	Cindy Schraer
Elizabeth Hatton	Page Spencer
Tom Meacham
Board meetings are held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Alaska Center for the Environment, 807 G Street. If you are in Anchorage, please feel free to attend. In any case, please share your ideas and concerns.

REGIONAL CONTACTS:
AQRC’s “ears” in their local communities. Each is contacted before the monthly board meeting so that AQRC is made aware of, and can lend support to, local quiet rights issues. The regional contacts appreciate hearing directly from members and supporters in their communities.

Ruth McHenry	Copper Center
Stan Justice	Fairbanks
George Figdor	Haines
Nina Faust	Homer
Sue Schrader	Juneau
Mark Luttrell	Seward
Pam Robinson	Talkeetna
Michael Allwright	Wrangells/McCarthy
Dan Elliot	Mat-Su

Dear Friends of Natural Quiet,
The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition is entirely supported by your dues and donations. We use your money primarily for printing and postage to keep members informed of issues needing attention. We are all volunteers. Please check your mailing label. Your last donation date is on the label. (Let us know if it is incorrect.) Please join the effort to keep quiet living and recreating an option in your favorite places by sending dues (and donations too) at this time. Thank you.