Wrangell man receives Excellence in Service Award from the Department of Fish and Game

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released the winners of the 2019 Excellence in Service Award earlier this month. Up to five members of advisory committees across the state are given this award each year. This year, David Rak was one of

the five recipients for serving as secretary of the Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee, according to the Department of Fish and Game, for "24 plus" years.

"I haven't gone back in my records to see how much 'plus' there is," Rak said with a laugh.

Rak joined the advisory committee because of an interest in how the rules and regulations surrounding hunting and fishing in Alaska

were made. There are numerous advisory committees across the state, made up of local volunteers, who help the state department make those rules and regulations. He was approached by Bruce Eagle to be secretary, who was the committee chairman back in the day. Harry Sundberg, the

secretary before him, had decided to retire. Being a government employee with the Forest Service, Rak said, Eagle thought he could handle the bureaucracy of being secretary.

"Nobody wants the job of secretary," Rak said. "I get elected each year. I could decline, but I don't because I think it's a good position."Since then, he has served with various chairpersons and committees. Each one has a unique style to running meetings and getting business done, he said, but he has enjoyed his time working with everyone. The majority of people on the committee are commercial fishermen,

he said, but many of them also love to hunt, camp, and fish recreationally, and they have been good people to work with. Receiving the Excellence in Service Award was a very good feeling, too, he added.

"I feel honored," Rak said. "It's all voluntary. It feels good to be recognized for volunteer service."

More than 700 people sit on 84 different advisory committees across the state, according to a press release from the Department of Fish and Game. Wrangell's advisory committee is made up of 15 members, plus two alternates.

The other four winners of this year's Excellence in Service Award are Charlie Lean of the Northern Norton Sound committee, Mike Crawford of Kenai/Soldotna committee, Moses Johnson of the Sitka committee, and Richard Burnham of the Middle Yukon committee. To learn more about the fish and game advisory committees, visit the Department of Fish and Game website.