Call to Order and Roll Call
The 3rd meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Tourism, Small Business, and Information Technology was held on Friday, August 18, 2017, at 1:00 PM, Knox County Sportsplex. Representative Tommy Turner, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Representatives Diane St. Onge, Co-Chair, and Tommy Turner, Co-Chair; Senators Perry Clark, Rick Girdler, Ernie Harris, and Reginald Thomas; Representatives John Blanton, Larry Brown, John Carney, Matt Castlen, Jeffery Donohue, Chris Fugate, David Hale, Chris Harris, Angie Hatton, Richard Heath, Dan Johnson, Kim King, Michael Meredith, Melinda Gibbons Prunty, Bart Rowland, and Jill York.
Guests: Debbie Spencer, Jerry Stacy, Commissioner Greg Johnson, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Deputy Commissioner Karen Waldrop, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Secretary Don Parkinson, Kentucky Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet; Jeff Harper, Kentucky Farm Bureau.
LRC Staff: Chip Smith, and Emma Mills
Welcome
Representatives Turner and Blanton welcomed various guests to the meeting, including a class from Knott Co. Central High School, Knott County Tourism Director Chris Amburgey, Hindman Mayor Tracy Neice, Knott County Judge Executive Zachary Weinberg, and number of citizens from the area.
Rails to Trails in Kentucky
Representative Chris Fugate, Jerry Stacy (Emergency Management Director for Perry County), Debby Spencer (WMTH Corporation) and Mike Miller (Kentucky River Area Development District) spoke on behalf of the “Rails to Trails” project taking place in Eastern Kentucky. The “Rails to Trails” project was created by House Bill 156, which passed during the 2017 legislative session, in order to invest state dollars in eastern Kentucky with the creation of the Kentucky Mountain Regional Recreation Authority (KMRRA). Debby Spencer pointed out that while 16 counties were needed to pass resolutions agreeing to take part in KMRRA to make the project viable, 18 counties have already passed resolutions to participate in the project; three more counties are anticipated to join shortly.
Ms. Spencer discussed the make of up KMRRA Board of Directors and how it would function. The KMRRA Board will be made of annually rotating members due to the number of interested parties. Ms. Spencer also discussed the practical implications of the creation of the KMRRA, such as:
· taking on the liability of trail usage from the landowners
· writing and administration of grants
· maintenance and policing of trails
· marketing and advertising of trails
· oversees sales of 1-day, multi-day and annual passes to trails
Ms. Spencer made the specific point that KMRRA wants willing landowners to participate and that the authority “shall not acquire property through the exercise of power of eminent domain.”
Ms. Spencer has reviewed similar authorities in Virginia and West Virginia. West Virginia's Authority has 7 public OHV trails totaling nearly 600 miles and sold over $1.7 million in permits in 2016. Over 96 percent if the permit sales were to riders from outside the region. Since 2013, Virginia has opened five public OHV trails totaling just over 300 miles with over $18 million in private investment, creating nearly 300 new jobs. Last year, WV and VA received ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission) funding for their trails. In order to be fully funded, the KMRRA will need to push for both ARC and AML (Abandoned Mine Land) grants. Grants, however, cannot be submitted until the KMRRA board meets. A KMRRA board meeting is called by the local governments involved.
Once grants money has been secured, Ms. Spencer would like to push for a detailed business plan that includes an inventory of all existing and potential trails in all participating counties to determine “low hanging fruit” and priority projects for greatest initial gain for making KMRRA self-sustaining. Kentucky has nearly 300 miles in public trails that could be integrated into KMRRA. Ms. Spencer would like a comprehensive plan that includes willing landowners from the start, instead of counties planning out trails without prior consent of landowners which could be a waste of money. If grant money is secured and a comprehensive plan is put forward, KMRRA could be self-sustaining in 2-4 years based on projected earnings from trail permits sold in Virginia and West Virginia. Projected expenses of starting the trails, again based on expenses incurred by the state of Virginia, Ms. Spencer says that required equipment would cost about $740,000. If the applications for federal grants are approved, KMRRA will not be asking for any state money to fund the project.
Jerry Stacy wanted to reiterate Ms. Spencer’s emphasis on acquiring funding for the trail project. Mr. Stacy has received a lot of positive feedback from landowners about trails running through land in Perry County. He feels like this project is an opportunity for Eastern Kentucky to see some economic growth. Ms. Spencer points out there will be a variety of trail permit options, including ATV trails, hiking trails, and possibly equestrian trails, as well as rock climbing, zip lines, and arch viewing trails. They feel that this variety of tourist activities will get “heads in beds” in lodges and area hotels.
In response to a question from Chairman Turner regarding the current funding on the work being done on KMRRA, Ms. Spencer confirmed that all work being done on the project is voluntary.
Following a question from Chairman Turner regarding who will be policing the trails, Mr. Stacy noted that Virginia’s trail authority is contracted with the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department. Ms. Spencer also noted that West Virginia has full time employees patrolling the trails. An option could be to use county deputies already employed to patrol the trails; KMRRA would fund that portion of their job duties.
In response to a question from Representative Chris Harris regarding why the counties had not called a meeting yet, Ms. Spencer confirmed the 16 county threshold had only passed the previous Friday, so there just had not been enough time to call a board meeting.
In response to a question from Senator Clark, Ms. Spencer confirmed the organization had not be in contact with the Department of Transportation regarding the trails because it needs the KMRRA board to meet to have the authority to involve other state entities.
Responding to a question from Representative Hale, Ms. Spencer confirmed that other counties contiguous to the initial 18 counties participating in the project can pass a resolution from their county governments confirming their wishes to participate and bring the resolution before KMRRA, which would then vote on whether to let the counties participate.
Co-Chair Dianne St. Onge’s iterated supporting of potential horse trails as part of the trial project. Ms. Spencer noted there is a 100 mile looped trail system already in place through 4 separate counties.
In response to a question from Representative Carney inquiring if any revenue would be available for use by the school systems. Ms. Spencer thought that the permit funds would be dedicated to the trail system, but the project could provide additional sales tax revenue that could benefit the local school districts. Mr. Miller confirmed there will be an economic impact study that would address that question in the future once the KMRRA board meets.
In an additional question from Representative Carney regarding how revenue will be distributed, Mr. Miller thought that in whichever county a tax is generated would remain in the county and probably not distributed throughout all of the counties.
Kentucky Hunting, the Elk Draw, and Asian Carp Migration
Speaking on the topics were Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Greg Johnson, Deputy Commissioner Karen Waldrop, and Commissioner of the 7th District Paul Horn; Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Secretary Don Parkinson and Chief of Staff Frank Jemley. Commissioner Johnson also introduced several division directors in attendance.
Commissioner Johnson began with statistics regarding hunting and fishing related tourism. He noted there are more than 700,000 hunting and fishing license holders in the state. Recently, the Outdoor Industry Association announced that the economic impact of outdoor recreation in Kentucky totaled $8.8 billion dollars in 2016. The outdoor recreation industry also supports 120,000 jobs and generates $756 million in state revenue. As a reminder, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, as a department, receives no general fund revenue; all operations are supported by hunting and fishing license sales, federal match money and boating registration dollars.
Elk
From 1998 – 2002, the first elk herd was reintroduced to Kentucky, numbering 1,540 elk. The current elk herd is officially the largest herd east of the Rocky Mountains at nearly 10,000 animals. Kentucky has also become a “donor state”, meaning elk originating in Kentucky have either migrated or have been intentionally moved into Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia. The permit lottery system, otherwise known as The Elk Draw averages about 700 hunting permits per year. In addition, to the draw, the department provides for 10 “Youth Permits”, 10 “Commission Permits”, and 44 “Land Owner” permits.
Commission Permits are provided to 501C3 Non-Profits specializing in outdoor education and youth outdoor education. Such permits have been raffled off as fundraisers for anywhere from $8,000 to $100,000 to benefit the non-profits organizations.
Land owner permits are awarded in two ways. If a land owner of 5,000 acres or more enroll in the department’s Hunter Access Program, making their land publicly available for elk hunting, the land owner will be rewarded one “either sex” elk tag. For small land owners there is a voucher program, where if hunters are allowed on the land to hunt and harvest a bull (2 points) and a cow (1 point), once the landowner reaches 20 points the landowner will also receive a tag. In addition, there is a trapping program for small landowners as well. This program allows Fish and Wildlife to trap elk on land provided by the owner. Again, two points for a bull elk, one point for a cow. The objective is to evaluate and possibly relocate elk to parts of Eastern Kentucky that could support elk herds but have none.
In response to some questions from the community, Commissioner Johnson discussed a “preference point” system, which is the permit system preferred in the western United States. Due to the relative small size of Kentucky’s herd, the preference point system would not distribute the permits as fairly as the current lottery system. The Commissioner also discussed a new aspect of draw instituted this year, which is if a hunter wins a lottery permit in the Elk Draw, the individual will now have a 3 year wait period before entering the draw again.
Fish and Wildlife is also looking into options to make the lottery draw more transparent. The Commonwealth Office of Technology performs and certifies the Elk Draw, but the Department of Fish and Wildlife is looking into going with an outside organization to perform certify the draw at a public venue somewhere in eastern Kentucky.
Finally, Commissioner Johnson reviewed the research projects involving Kentucky’s elk herd, which is the most researched elk herd in the United States. One current project is to evaluate the department’s current population model, which estimates the number of animals in the population.
In response to a point from Representative Blanton regarding some of his eastern Kentucky constituents feeling as if the lottery is unfair to the residents supporting the elk herd, Deputy Commissioner Waldrop pointed to the late season elk draw for local hunters that is designed to deal with nuisance elk and/or to manage the number of cows in specific areas. For participants of The Elk Draw that are not picked in the initial draw, residents of specific counties can be redrawn to take part in the late season hunting.
Responding to a question from Senator Harris about why the department limits the number of permits to 700 with a herd of 10,000 animals, Commissioner Johnson pointed to the population dynamics of elk are different than other animals such as deer. An elk cow will only have one calf at a time where as a doe typically has two, sometimes three, offspring at a time. Also, eastern Kentucky still has a vast amount of land that could sustain elk. The Department of Fish and Wildlife limits the number of permits in order to boost the elk numbers throughout the region.
In response to questions from Representative Johnson about the ideal population number of elk in the region, Deputy Commissioner Waldrop discussed how the department must try to balance the health of the herd with not having so many elk that they become a nuisance to the human population. The department is more concerned with moving parts of the herd into unpopulated areas of eastern Kentucky than it is with achieving a specific number of elk. Ms. Waldrop does not think the herd will grow exponentially as it has done since introduction, but are looking at a 6 percent growth rate.
Deer
In 1927, Kentucky has a deer population of around 1,000. From 1945 – 1999, the state actively tried to restore the numbers of the deer herds. There are deer hunting opportunities in all 120 counties. Commissioner Johnson noted that Kentucky has one of the best quality deer herds in the United States and has also been recognized as one of the top 5 locations for deer hunting in the country. The deer herd has an economic impact of $553 million in the state and the industry provides 13,000 jobs.
The current deer herd in the state runs from 800,000 to 1,000,000 animals. This number will fluctuate with based on the amount of natural food on the ground; the more the animals travel to find food, the more vulnerable they are to hunting. Throughout the state, regardless of zone, hunters are permitted only 1 antlered buck per season. The numbers for permitted does fluctuate between the zoned areas, which is based on herd population by county.
Commissioner Johnson warns that with improved numbers in the deer population comes the increased likelihood of disease and deer collisions. Due to the increase in deer related accidents, the department is considering liberalizing the numbers of permitted deer kills on a county by county basis. To that end deer working group has been established to evaluate events impacting the deer population. For example, the working group has been following an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease affecting the deer herd in Kentucky. The disease is caused by a fly that lives around water. Basically, an infected deer dies from internal bleeding. This working group is made from a wide variety of interested parties, including legislators, hunters, citizens, Farm Bureau, and urban constituents to provide feedback on herd management. The working group has discussed items such as deer permit modifications, expansion of hunting methods, and liberalization of zone intakes.
In response to a question from Representative Rowland regarding deer infected with epizootic hemorrhagic disease, Deputy Commissioner Waldrop confirmed that officers or biologists will euthanize infected deer and collect blood samples to send off for testing.
Responding to Representative Blanton’s concerns about epizootic hemorrhagic disease possibly contaminating a cattle water supplies on farms, Ms. Waldrop did not believe the disease would contaminate the water, but it would be best to remove a carcass from a water source as quickly as possible.
In response to a comment from Representative Michael Meredith regarding the differences between zones 2 and 3 specifically between Edmonson and Butler counties, Deputy Commissioner Waldrop says that typically the distinction between the zones is the number of days (16 days in Zone 2, 10 days in Zone 3). She reiterated that the department is seriously considering liberalizing hunting restrictions throughout the state, which may address concerns in those particular counties.
Responding to a question from Representative Larry Brown about concerns with consumption of deer possibly infected with epizootic hemorrhagic disease or what to do if an individual were to find an infected deer, Ms. Waldrop confirmed the disease is not transmissible to humans or family pets, however one would not want to consume a deer with a secondary bacterial infection. If confronted with a sick deer, it is legal for an individual to euthanize the deer but the Department of Fish and Wildlife does need to be contacted either by calling or filling out a form on the website.
Responding to a question from Representative Johnson about the efficacy of deer whistlers on a vehicle, Commissioner Johnson and Deputy Commissioner Waldrop confirmed there is no evidence the whistlers affect deer.
Representative Gibbons-Prunty added a comment that western Kentucky is indeed seeing the same deer related problems as some of the Zone 1 counties.
Bears
Historically, logging in the U.S. and Kentucky negatively affected bear habitat and bear numbers. There was a period from 1970 to 1990 that West Virginia and Virginia were removing nuisance bears, possibly into Kentucky. There are sections of Kentucky that have a relatively high population of bears, or core bear range. These areas in Kentucky have established practices people follow in order not to attract bears such as special containers for food and trash and not leaving pet food readily available. Bears do appear in other parts of Kentucky though not as frequently. Most bear sitings outside the core bear range are two year old males that have been kicked out of their family group.
For the 2017 bear hunting season, the department has established 3 zones. Zone 1 is the core bear area. The quota is 50 bears per season. Kentucky’s bear population is increasing, thus the harvest quota has increased. Other activity involved catching and collaring female bears in order to count how many cubs are being born during the winter.
In response to a question from Representative Carney regarding the 50 bear quota, Deputy Commissioner Waldrop noted that this is the first year at the number 50; the quota for 2016 was 35, but the department anticipates the quota will be met.
Responding to a question from Representative York about bear safety, Commissioner Johnson did say that bears, if left alone, will avoid human contact if you happen to see one. Again, he noted that if bears have been sighted in your area, keep trash indoors or in a garage until it is time for collection, bring in any bird feeders or dog food that could tempt them. Ms. Waldrop emphasized that individuals should never feed bears in the area because they become used to humans quickly. Once they start being fed, they will not want to go away from readily available food and will become a nuisance.
Responding to a two questions from Senator Clark, Commissioner Johnson confirmed Kentucky has never had a bear attack. The Commissioner reiterated that bears were not stocked in Kentucky; the bears moved in from large populations in neighboring states.
Asian Carp
Per Secretary Don Parkinson, one of the two greatest challenges facing the Tourism cabinet in 2017 is Asian Carp, an invasive species of fish threatening the food chain of native species such as bass and crappie. Asian Carp can grow to 70 – 80 lbs. The Department of Fish and Wildlife is focusing on Kentucky and Barkley lakes due to the level of infestation. The department’s primary plan to deal with the species is by aggressive harvesting.
In response to a question from Representative Carney, Ron Brooks, Fisheries Director, confirmed Asian Carp are living in every tributary associated with the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers as far north as Louisville. Lakes Barkley and Kentucky are the only reservoirs known to have Asian Carp. The department’s plan is to impact the population by mass harvesting. Three processing centers exist in Kentucky and are looking to expand. In 2016, two million pounds of Asian Carp were harvested across the state. Commissioner Johnson noted Fish and Wildlife would like for the harvest to be around five million pounds from the lakes alone to keep the fish under control. The department is looking at a public/private partnership solution by recruiting a new fish harvesting and distribution company to help process the goal of more than five million pounds per year. An additional incentive to fishing Asian Carp is the state is offering five cents per pound in addition to the 15 cents per pound the processing center is paying for carp. The Department of Fish and Wildlife hopes these incentives will help kick-start a commercial fishing industry in western Kentucky focusing on Asian Carp.
In response to a question from Representative York regarding commercial fishing, Commissioner Johnson confirmed the current boat launch sites are sufficient for the types of fishing boats being used in Kentucky. He acknowledged the possibility of larger ramps for larger boats if needed in the future.
Responding to a question from Representative Gibbons-Prunty, Ron Brooks reviewed the origination of the Asian Carp problem starting with catfish farms in Arkansas in the 1970s. Asian Carp were seen as a biological solution to mitigate algae blooms in catfish ponds. Unfortunately, no one could foresee the problems the carp would cause if they got out of the fisheries. He noted there was no going back to the source of the problem, however, a large group of fishing programs throughout the Mississippi River Basin receive federal funding for preventing Asian Carp from expanding further up the Ohio River.
In response to a question from Representative Blanton on behalf of a constituent regarding the hiring practices of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Commissioner Johnson and Colonel Coffey explained the hiring process for the department and said they would look into the issue.
Guest Speaker
Mr. Roy Gent came before the committee as a concerned citizen regarding police officer and traffic safety on rural roads. Chairman Turner acknowledged his concerns and agreed to follow up with Mr. Gent and Representative Blanton about the issue.
Deer Insurance Claims
Jeff Harper, a representative from Kentucky Farm Bureau, spoke to the committee about deer related motor vehicle accidents and the economic impact for the insurance industry and the state. In 2016, Kentucky Farm Bureau had 7,553 deer related claims, amounting to more than $28 million in claims. Mr. Harper says Farm Bureau has hard numbers for vehicular insurance claims, but crop loss due to deer is harder to calculate. He did note there is currently a study taking place with the University of Kentucky regarding crop loss, which may shed some light on the economic impact across the state.
Mr. Harper went on to show his appreciation to the committee and the Department of Fish and Wildlife for its cooperation and his appreciation for the ideas coming out of the Deer Working Group.
Minutes
Having achieved quorum, the minutes of the July 5, 2017 meeting were approved without objection, upon motion by Representative Blanton and Seconded by Co-Chair St. Onge.
Announcements
Per Co-Chair Turner, the Interim Joint Committee Meeting on Tourism, Small Business and Information Technology will be held on September 21, 2017 at 1:00 p.m.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:22 p.m.