Click here to submit your comment by march 10th in support of the nEW RULE
On January 9, 2023, the National Park Service proposed regulations prohibiting the most extreme urban hunter tactics approved by the state on National Preserves. The proposed rule would prohibit urban sport hunters from the following on National Preserves:
Using bait (donuts, grease soaked bread, etc.) to hunt brown bears.
Killing bear cubs or sows with cubs.
Killing of wolves or coyotes, including pups, during the denning season.
Killing of any wildlife in order to reduce the numbers of native species for the purpose of increasing the numbers of harvested species (i.e., predator control).
Important note: This rule only restricts sport hunting practices. Federally qualified subsistence users are not restricted by this rule.
key points
Map developed by National Parks Conservation Association
Sport hunting by urban hunters is permitted in the more than 22 million acres of National Preserves in Alaska. Hunting regulations for urban hunters are generally set by the state of Alaska’s Board of Game (the Federal Subsistence Board sets regulations for rural subsistence hunters). For more than 20 years, the Board of Game has pushed aggressive hunting methods and longer season lengths that target bears and wolves as an unofficial “predator control” strategy aimed at artificially and temporarily increasing moose and caribou populations. This manipulation of wildlife populations is expressly prohibited by National Park Service (NPS) management policies.
From 2001-2014, NPS objected to over 60 proposed regulatory changes by the Board of Game that would make it easier to kill bears, wolves and other predators in national preserves. The Board of Game adopted the proposals in each case. As a result, NPS was forced to adopt regulations in 2015 to ensure national preserves are managed consistent with NPS policy and federal law. NPS only adopted the rule after more than 25 public meetings and overwhelming support from the American public.
In 2020, a new administration illegally overturned the 2015 rule. Today, sport hunters are allowed to bait brown bears, kill bear cubs or sows with cubs, and kill wolves or coyotes, including pups, during the denning season on Alaska’s National Preserves. Therefore, NPS revisited and redid its rule aimed at protecting wildlife on national parklands from overharvest by urban sport hunters.
This Rule Does Not Apply to Rural Subsistence Hunters
The NPS prohibition on these predator control methods applies ONLY to urban sport hunters. Federally qualified rural tribal members carrying out traditional hunting practices and other rural subsistence hunters are NOT subject to this rule.
The NPS has evaluated this proposed rule under the criteria in Executive Order 13175 and under the Department's Tribal consultation and ANCSA Corporation policies. This proposed rule would restrict harvest methods for sport hunting only; it would not affect subsistence harvest under Title VIII of ANILCA. NPS reports that feedback from Tribes and ANCSA Corporations indicates that these harvest methods are not common or allowed in many areas by the State. For these reasons, the NPS does not believe the proposed rule will have a substantial direct effect on federally recognized Tribes or ANCSA Corporation lands, water areas, or resources. Consultation and communication with Tribes and ANCSA Corporations is ongoing and feedback will continue to be considered by the NPS throughout the rulemaking process.
THIS RULE WILL Protect People and Wildlife
Bear baiting is the practice of leaving food in a pile to attract bears to make it easier to hunt them. But baiting habituates bears and many other animals to human food, making the bears more likely to seek out people and creating potentially dangerous situations for nearby residents and park visitors who may be hiking, fishing or camping in the area.
Bear bait stations may be used when authorized seasons are open, generally April 15 to June 30 and July 1 to October 15, which can overlap with the primary visitor season. There has been a notable increase in demand for bear bait stations where the take of brown bears is also allowed at black bear bait stations. For example: in Game Unit (GMU) 12, requests for bear bait stations increased by 78%, and in GMU 20E the request increased by 93%. For the most part, adverse impacts to non-hunting visitors are expected to occur during these times. Some visitors would likely avoid signed bear bait station areas because of safety issues and because they would not want to interfere with an authorized hunt situation, although some visitors may be attracted to viewing the bears at the bait stations leading to increased safety issues.
According to NPS, feedback received to date from Tribes and ANCSA Corporations indicates baiting bears is not a common activity in or near national preserves and not something done commonly by local rural residents. Many of the entities voiced support for prohibiting baiting altogether, limiting bait to natural items, increasing buffer zones around developments, or requiring a permit. On the other hand, a minority—mostly entities affiliated with the Wrangell-St. Elias area—recommended continuing to allow sport hunters to harvest bears over bait, including with use of processed foods like donuts and dog food.
this rule bolsters the State’s Economy
This effort to maintain natural predator populations is in the state’s economic interest. Wildlife viewing is one of the primary drivers of Alaska tourism, with over 75% of visitors to Alaska hoping to see a brown bear. Partially because parks protect wildlife, more than 2.7 million people visited National Parks and Preserves in Alaska pre-covid. Park visitors spent over $1 billion in local gateway regions and supported over 17,000 jobs.
The State’s liberalized harvest methods and seasons on predators such as bears, wolves, and coyotes, inside and outside of preserves could reduce predators occurring inside parks and monuments, resulting over the long-term in a drawdown of natural populations of large predators inside park areas and opportunities to view and study them. An example of a possible drawdown effect on visitor viewing of wildlife has been recently demonstrated in Denali National Park and Preserve where renewed trapping of wolves immediately north of the park is correlated with a notable reduction in visitor viewings of wolves along the eastern half of the Denali Park Road (NPS 2013b). The percentages of visitors seeing wolves on bus trips in the area decreased from 44% in 2010 to 21% in 2011 to 12% in 2012 to 4% percent in 2013 (NPS 2013b).
Take Action
To support National Preserve wildlife, please submit comments to the Park Service supporting the proposed rule. Comments on the proposed rule must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 10, 2023. Commenting is easy and takes less than 5 minutes!
Click here to access the comment platform
Type your comment in the text box with your information and submit! Feel free to copy the template below for your comment:
“My name is ______ and I live in _____. I support the National Park Service proposal to amend its regulations for sport hunting and trapping in Alaska's national preserves (RIN) 1024-AE70) because…”
Additional resources
The table below provides a summary of Proposed Rule prohibitions. This table applies to the taking of wildlife in national preserves except for subsistence uses by local rural residents pursuant to applicable Federal law and regulation. In other words, these restrictions only apply to sport hunters who are not local rural residents. The following would be prohibited:
Click here to view the Cost Benefit Analysis for the rule (see table below as excerpt):
