Our reflections on the March 2020 Interior and Eastern Arctic Board of Game meeting
*Note that some photos may be disturbing to viewers
Each year, the Board of Game hears proposals on wildlife management recommendations in rotating regions. See Alaska Wildlife Alliance comments on this year’s proposals. You can also see a full list of Board votes here — a full meeting summary will be released by the agency in coming months. To see the full matrix of public comments, click here. Below are our takeaways from the March 2020 meeting in Fairbanks.
Bear Baiting is expanding and becoming more liberalized
Photo of bear bait station posted on Alaska Outdoors Directory forum
Bear Bear baiting is a method of hunting that is prohibited in many states, but permitted in Alaska. The practice involves luring bears to food bait-piles, often recorded by trail cameras, then shooting them from tree stands.
It is vital for bear baiters in Alaska to understand the potential effects of their actions, including on people’s overall perceptions of hunters and hunting. As in other states, active hunters are just a small percentage of the total population in Alaska. Equally important is the fact that even though the bulk of our population is not against hunting, a substantial percentage of Alaskan hunters do not support bear baiting. Besides mentioning food-conditioning and safety issues, some cite the lack of adherence to "fair chase" tenets as a reason for their lack of support.
There is no statewide meat salvage requirement for brown bears killed over bait, as exemplified in the 2018/19 Proposal 159, which passed last year.
2. Climate change is missing from the conversation
While some proposals changed hunting seasons to anecdotally align with changing climatic seasons, ADF&G biologists and the Board of Game never mentioned climate change explicitly throughout the meeting. Many testifiers noted climate change, but this was never addressed or acknowledged by the Board as a scientific consideration in their management decisions. Note that this year, the Board made management decisions on the Arctic and Interior regions of Alaska, including setting bag limits, methods & means, and seasons for hunting the Central and Western Arctic caribou herds, Porcupine Caribou herd, muskox, wolves, bears, furbearers, and more species whose habitat is impacted by climate change.
Western Arctic Caribou herd crosses the Kobuk River. Photo by Kobuk Valley national park FWS.jpg
Map of Porcupine Caribou herd range from U.S. Dept. of Interior/Biological Science Report USGS
3. Intensive management programs were reauthorized
The Board reauthorized Intensive Management programs in the Upper Yukon–Tanana Predation Control Program, Unit 19D-East and 19A. State sponsored “intensive management” practices include baiting brown bears, same-day airborne hunting of bears, and harvesting wolves and coyotes during denning season.
Currently, 97% of Alaska is deemed appropriate for IM (5 AAC 92.108). Intensive Management programs are active in Game Management Units (GMU) 9B, 17B, 17C, 19A, 13, 19A and 19D; they are inactive in GMUs 9C, 9E, 12, 20B, 20D, 20E, 25C, 15C, 16 and 21E; and they have expired in GMUs 1A, 3, 9D, 15A, 20A, 20D and 24B.
This photo was published in an ADFG pamphlet “Understanding Intensive Predator Management in Alaska,” part of the Department’s efforts in 2012 to educate the public about controversial practices that have been controversial. Photo by Steve Dubois, ADF&G.
Other areas with predator control outside Intensive Management programs include Unit 10 (Unimak) and Unit 26B (muskox). At any one time, predator control under these programs encompassed 5 − 11% of Alaska’s land area. All programs include efforts to reduce wolf populations and three programs attempted to also reduce bear populations. In designated Predator Control Areas, efforts include agency shooting of bears and wolves from helicopters, snaring of bears, shooting female brown bears accompanied by cubs, land and aerial hunting of wolves by the public, and carbon monoxide poisoning of wolf pups in dens.
4. No protections for denali wolves on state land
Thanks to our amazing network of members and supporters, the Board received 71 written comments and over ten in-person comments in support of Proposal 152, which would have established a partial seasonal closure to wolf hunting and trapping on the Stampede Corridor to protect Denali wolves during the breeding season. Denali National Park biologists presented their data, testified, and made themselves available to Board members throughout the meeting but were not approached or asked questions. On the last day of the meeting, the Board of Game unanimously opposed the proposal. Their arguments were:
Visitors don’t really want to see wolves, they’d rather see the mountain.
The burden on the two trappers impacted by this partial closure (they still have access to wolf hunting and trapping in the area before February, and full season access just a few miles to the north, east, and south) outweighs the desires of over 370,000 people who have petitioned for these protections since 2017.
There is no biological emergency, as deemed by Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and therefore the management should “favor wildlife harvest”.
Even though this was a proposal from the public to request a change in State management on State land (and that the State had previously granted protections to this wolf population), Chairman Spraker concluded this proposal was “federal overreach” and disregarded it with disparaging and off-the-record aggressive comments to NPS staff.
“Give an inch, take a mile”. If the Board conceded to non-consumptive use in this proposal, those wishing to protect these wolves may ask for more in coming years. Note that many individuals, communities, and hunter-interest groups repeatedly submit proposals for their interests each proposal cycle.
5. The BOARD OF GAME PROCESS ISN’T WORKING FOR A LOT OF ALASKANS
Many Alaska Native communities and Tribe subsistence rights organizations also feel marginalized by the Board of Game process. The traditional hunting and fishing practices, which include the ceremonies that accompany these practices, provide for the social, cultural, spiritual, and economic well being and survival of Alaska Native people and communities. Alaska Wildlife Alliance is actively building alliances with these organizations and communities to work together to diversify representation on the Alaska Board of Game.
What can you do to help?
Two Board of Game members are up for reappointment and a third seat is uncontested. Given the Governor’s appointments in other state wildlife management positions, new Board members will likely favor more liberalized hunting geographies, methods, means, and seasons than current Board members. Therefore, Alaska Wildlife Alliance encourages writing to Governor Dunleavy in support of reappointing Stosh Hoffman and Tom Lamal to the Board of Game. You can contact the Governor by phone or email here, and should do so as soon as possible. Governor Dunleavy will put forward his nominations in early April.
Testify at the legislative confirmation of new Board of Game nominees. Alaska Wildlife Alliance will share information on testimony dates and contact information as soon as it is published by the State.
Consider running for your local Board of Game Advisory Committee. Elections are held in June, and we are strongly encouraging members and supporters to run! If you would like to learn more about the Advisory Committee process, please contact Nicole at nicole@akwildlife.org for details.
