The Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened a new crossing near the mouth of the Pasagshak River, roughly 40 road miles south of Kodiak, the weekend of Oct. 24-25. It was met with no small amount of controversy. Some residents argue that Fish and Game skirted around opposition to put it in, and that the crossing could have unintended consequences. But others say the public deserves access to the adjacent state land.
Kodiak Fish and Game biologist Tyler Polum said the Pasagshak River crossing has been a long time coming.
“This has been a conversation most of my career here at Fish and Game," he said.
Vehicles used to be able to access the land running along the north and west sides of Pasagshak Bay via a public bridge, but Polum said the bridge collapsed back in the ‘90s. Without it, fishermen and hunters have been effectively cut off from accessing thousands of acres of state land.
Polum said solving that access problem became a priority for the department about a year ago.
“That coincided really well with our interest in providing increased public access for fisheries, and it helps hunting opportunities too," Polum said.
ADF&G obtained a permit for the crossing on Oct. 22. Until it was put in, the only way to access the shoreline along Pasagshak Bay without a boat was to drive across a private bridge that leads to the residential Pasagshak community. Some of those residents are not happy about the new crossing.
“It's all about the location. That's my biggest concern," said Brad Bonner, a property owner at Pasagshak who has fished on the river for nearly forty years.
Bonner said he’s not against the access itself, but that the crossing’s location could cause problems for locals and people going to the nearby spaceport.
“These guys come in with trailers, side-by-sides. Where are they going to park?" he asked. "Are they going to park on the side of the road when it gets busy in the summertime? It just wasn't really thought of."
Polum referred questions on how parking concerns would be addressed to Alaska State Parks, which owns the state recreation cabins and camp sites at Pasagshak. A spokesperson with Alaska State Parks did not respond to KMXT’s request for comment.
Bonner is also worried that putting a vehicle crossing in an area where fishermen stand shoulder-to-shoulder in large numbers during the summer could be dangerous and harmful to the fish. Pasagshak River is a thoroughfare for pink, chum, sockeye, and silver salmon.
Polum said the crossing’s location doesn’t interfere with salmon.
“There's no salmon that spawn in this area where vehicles will be crossing, and so that's not a concern," he said.
There are many other vehicle crossings through streams around Kodiak Island, including at the popular American and Olds Rivers.
Bonner also takes issue with the signage around the crossing. The permit prohibits vehicles weighing over 5,000 pounds from using the crossing, but that limit is not referenced anywhere on the crossing signs themselves.
The Kodiak State Parks Citizen Advisory Board has also voiced concerns. Larry Van Daele, the chairman of the advisory board, said their seven members discussed the crossing with Fish and Game and State Parks staff during a meeting in May, and requested a public comment period.
“If this is going to cause some grief to any member of the public, we want them to know what's coming," Van Daele said. "When you get it out in the open, oftentimes you can come up with better solutions.”
The next month Polum told the advisory board in an email viewed by KMXT that he would collect public comment via email and put out signage before Fish and Game installed the crossing.
But at the end of October, Pasagshak residents noticed a new sign had gone up along the river, designating a vehicle crossing. Polum said that Fish and Game's habitat division decided to move forward without public comment.
“For general permit crossings like this, there typically isn't a public comment period," he said.
In response the advisory board unanimously passed a motion opposing the crossing on Oct. 26. And Pasagshak residents like Bonner are trying to find other avenues to oppose it, including reviewing their legal rights.
But not everyone is against the crossing. Dave Knight, a Kodiak resident and former State Parks employee who used the crossing for the first time last week, said he was shocked to see how much state land had been inaccessible to everyone other than Pasagshak residents before it opened up.
“They've got these great trail systems back there," Knight said. "That's all public land that should be accessible for hunting, for recreation, for fishing. It's getting taken advantage of by a few people, and it sure seems to me like it's their private Idaho.”
Knight said it also makes other parts of Kodiak more accessible, like Lake Miam, a popular recreation spot for people with off-road vehicles west of Lake Rose Tead.
Polum said people will be able to use the Pasagshak crossing until at least the end of 2027, when the permit expires. He said Fish and Game will reassess the crossing at that point.
