President’s Message

Greetings from Kodiak,

I hope this message finds you healthy and prosperous in the New Year!

It has been a very good year for APHA. For the second year in a row, we have sold out of our Dream Hunt Raffle tickets. We are also down to just 150 tickets left for our Marco Polo Hunt Raffle that we do in partnership with the Alaska Wild Sheep Foundation! Over the last 3 years, these two raffles have become significant fundraisers for APHA. Thank you to our staff, Conservation Partners, and members who have worked so hard to sell tickets, and of course a tremendous thank you to all the individuals who have purchased these tickets. We could not do this without you.

On the Legislative front, APHA were honored to give our 2021 Legislator of the year award to Senator Josh Revak. Senator Revak has been a tireless advocate for sound wildlife management in the Alaska Senate. This last year he championed a bill, SB22, that would permanently remove the sunset provision for the Intensive Management (IM) Surcharge. The IM Surcharge has been in place since the beginning of 2017, and has resulted in a reliable funding source, that when matched with Pittman Robertson funds, has allowed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to continue to build active management programs that are effective, dependable and benefit all Alaskans. Sen. Revak’s bill passed the legislature and was signed into law this last year.

I was privileged to present former Representative Registered Guide #222, Mel Gillis, the 2021 Simon Waugh Award. Representative Gillis joined an exclusive list of Alaskan Guides who have received APHA’s most prestigious award. To the best of my knowledge, Representative Gillis is one of only 3 Registered Guides that have ever served in the Alaska Legislature. He joins Senator Ken Fanning and Governor Jay Hammond as being a hunting guide legislator! In addition to this, Representative Gillis is the first person, in the history of APHA, to receive both our Legislature of the Year award (2020) and our Simon Waugh Award. Never one to sit around and rest on his laurels, Representative Gillis is still hard at work on guide issues.

As always, our staff have worked extremely hard for APHA this last year. Deb Moore, our Executive Director, continues to work tirelessly on our behalf, she is truly the glue that holds our association together. Deb was joined in the office this spring by Chelsea Adler. Chelsea has been quick to come up to speed, and primarily manages the membership and our hunt raffles. Unfortunately, this last year, Angie Bloomquist had to step back from her paid position with APHA to focus more on her and her husband’s guide business. We will miss her in the office but are thrilled that she has agreed to stay on as our Board Secretary. Thor Stacey, our Government Affairs Director and State Lobbyist, is always working hard in Juneau. He coordinates all our state and federal efforts and never ceases to strategize how to move APHA forward. A special thanks to our Vice President Wayne Kubat, Wayne gives generously of his time to our association, and is easily our hardest working board member.

Lastly, I would like to encourage all our members to participate in this winters Board of Game (BOG) meeting cycle. APHA will hold several Legislative and Regulatory Committee (L&R) meetings in the lead up to the BOG meetings. We use these L&R meetings to develop our policy and to craft good proposal comments. The success of these efforts is directly tied to the participation of our member who are knowledgeable in the affected areas. Please be on the lookout for meeting notices!

Sincerely,

WINTER 2022 SAM ROHRER

President, APHA