Funding Request for Subsistance Lawsuit, May 2008

Since its inception in 1976, the Chitina Dipnetters Association (CDA) has advocated for a sustainable Copper River Salmon run and for the ability of Alaska residents to harvest salmon in the Chitina dipnet fishery. We have worked with the Governor, the legislature, state agencies and other interested parties, and have testified before the Alaska Board of Fisheries. These actions have resulted in these benefits to dipnetters:

• Continued ability to harvest salmon by dipnet
• A state land survey to determine public access to the Copper River within the fishery;
• Elimination of the $25 Chitina dipnet permit fee
• Restraint of commercial fisheries openings off the mouth of the Copper River to allow early spring salmon escapement
• Repairs of damage at O'Brien Creek caused by the 2006 hundred-year flood
• Increased harvest allocation as numbers of dipnetters increased
• A presence at Board of Fisheries meetings to defend our submitted proposals and to oppose those proposals that are detrimental to the dipnet fishery

At the CDA annual meeting in April, due to the continued inability of the State of Alaska to reestablish full public access to the Copper River at O’Brien Creek and the refusal of the Alaska Board of Fisheries to re-designate the Chitina dipnet fishery as a subsistence fishery (as was intended by the legislature when it passed the Alaska Subsistence Law), members voted to create a legal fund to get a legal opinion as to whether a lawsuit on these two issues is arguable and, if so, to proceed. CDA has amassed documentation on both issues and we feel that we have a strong case for both.

The CDA Board of Directors is sending this letter to all 2007 Chitina dipnet permit holders requesting support to initiate legal action. In 2004, due to the efforts of the CDA, the state legislature removed the $25 Chitina dipnet permit fee and we ask that you donate some of this $100 cumulative savings to our legal fund. If you feel, as we do, that the harvest priority afforded by subsistence designation and renewed full public access to the Copper River at O’Brien Creek is worth the fight to regain, then please donate what you can to get this legal action started.

For a donation of $25 or more, we will include a one-year $10 CDA membership. If you wish to donate to the legal fund or just become a member, send your check to the address below. Please indicate on your check whether it is for membership or the legal fund. If more funds come into the legal fund than needed, the excess may be used for other CDA activities, i.e., travel expenses.

We are also requesting that you include your email address or phone number so that we can contact you when dipnet issues require our collective voice. Such an issue is convincing the State to reopen the road from O’Brien Creek to Haley Creek for vehicle traffic.

CDA is a purely volunteer-run organization, and we are dedicated to the preservation of the dipnet fisheries in Alaska. Visit our website at www.chitinadipnetters.com.

Wishing you a successful and safe 2008 dipnetting season,

Chitina Dipnetters Association
1002 Pioneer Road
Fairbanks, Ak. 99701
Byron Haley- CDA President
Ph. 456-4426