The Alaska Board of Game (BOG) is responsible for making decisions regarding wildlife management in Alaska, including population and harvest objections and hunting regulations, which are then acted upon by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). Proposals are submitted by the public, ADFG, and Advisory Committees, and then deliberated upon by the Board, by region on a rotating basis with a three-year cycle (watch our whiteboard video to learn more!). This year, the Board accepted Statewide proposals. A public comment period was held prior to the Board deliberation meeting.
Alaska Wildlife Alliance attended the Statewide Board of Game Meeting, held in Anchorage in March, as a voice for Alaska’s wildlife, giving testimony, mobilizing public comment on proposals, and watching deliberations.
Overall, AWA submitted comments on 16 proposals. The Board of Game voted with us on 4 of those proposals, for a 25% success rate, and voted against us on 8 proposals, for a 50% failure rate. The Board ‘took no action’ on 4 proposals we commented on.
UPDATE ON MULCHATNA BEARS
On March 21, the first day of public testimony, ADFG petitioned the Board to adopt an emergency regulation to reinstate the Mulchatna predator control so that bear control could take place again this spring, despite the recent court ruling that it is unlawful. ADFG's request was published almost simultaneously with its announcement and can be found here.
The week prior, Judge Guidi of the Superior Court of Alaska ruled in favor of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, finding that the Mulchatna bear control program—through which the State has aerially gunned nearly 200 brown bears—was “unlawfully adopted and, therefore, void and without legal effect.”
Immediately following the announcement of ADFG’s emergency regulation, AWA put out an action alert, asking people to come to Anchorage to testify in person against the emergency regulation and to submit written comments (record copies) opposing it. Over ten public testimonies were given (on short notice, over the weekend!) and nearly 200 record copies opposing the emergency regulation were submitted.
Despite extensive public opposition, on March 27, the Board passed ADFG’s petition for an emergency regulation to reopen Mulchatna bear control for the 2025 season. After passing the emergency regulation, there was some discussion on holding the required hearing about adopting the regulation to open Mulchatna bear control at a later date to allow time for the public to comment. However, it was noted that the public does not have to be afforded the chance to comment on the passing of an emergency regulation.
The hearing was held immediately after the emergency regulation deliberations, and the Board voted to re-open Mulchatna bear control for this year. We expect the aerial gunning of Mulchatna bears to recommence in May.
Despite this disheartening news, we were blown away by the level of support we received from the public, both in the Board of Game meeting and online. On March 27, the Egan Center was filled with AWA members and other bear supporters to witness the deliberations and the decision to reopen the Mulchatna bear control program for 2025. We can’t thank you enough for your efforts and your support.
We will continue advocating for Mulchatna bears and are evaluating our next steps forward. Please stay tuned on our socials or our newsletter for the next steps.
To listen to audio from the emergency regulation deliberations, go to this audio player, and listen starting at 9:06AM, labeled ‘Hoffman moves to find an emergency as detailed in RC009’.
Statewide Board of Game Meeting Results
Hunter Education Requirements
The Board voted in favor of all proposals requiring more hunter education for certain species. Nonresident moose hunters will now have to attend a hunter orientation course; the class will only need to be taken once.
All goat hunters will also now need to pass an online mountain goat quiz prior to hunting. AWA supported this proposal; we believe that requiring additional education could reduce the take of nannys, help bolster the goat population, and involve hunters in goat conservation.
Lastly, all sheep hunters will now need to complete an online education course.
MIGRATORY BIRD PROPOSALS
The proposal for mandatory harvest reporting of sea ducks failed. The Board stated that Alaska regulations don’t require hunters to speciate their ducks and that this could create a registration hunt. AWA supported the intent of the proposal. Sea duck populations across the United States have fallen 30% since 1970; they remain in decline, and sea ducks are slow to reproduce.
The Board also failed a proposal to restrict the use of boats for hunting waterfowl and recommended that it be re-submitted at regional meetings.
SHEEP PROPOSALS
After much discussion, Dall sheep were added as a prey species under the Intensive Management statute, which could potentially open them up to predator control in the future.
ADFG submitted Proposal 101 to add Dall sheep to Intensive Management (IM) but were neutral to it and said they submitted the proposal to start the conversation, citing concerns over how difficult it would be to enact predator control and habitat enhancement in sheep areas.
AWA opposed Proposal 101 because we don’t believe that sheep qualify as a species that provides “high levels of human consumptive use” (a requirement to be added to IM) and should not be in the same category as moose, deer, and caribou. We worry that this proposal could set a dangerous precedent where any hunted big game species can be characterized as providing “high levels of human consumptive use”. We believe the scope of IM was kept narrow on purpose.
ADFG will bring population and harvest numbers for sheep to the Board on the regional cycles, starting with Southcentral next year.
AWA’s Position Paper on Predator Control and Intensive Management lays out our position on Intensive Management, as well as our recommendations.
The Board also closed the general sheep hunt (other than the subsistence hunt) in Unit 19C in western Alaska. Moving forward, a temporary draw hunt will be held for the next two years and a guide concession program will be implemented by 2028.
FURBEARER PROPOSALS
Furbearers statewide are now at an even more distinct disadvantage. Electronically enhanced night vision and forward-looking infrared devices can now be used statewide to take furbearers, including animals like beaver, coyote, fox, lynx, marten, mink, muskrat, and wolf.
Night vision goggles and FLIR devices allow trappers to more easily ID and locate animals through barriers such as snow and darkness. FLIR in particular detects infrared radiation emitted from a heat source and creates a picture instead of amplifying visible light. FLIR devices make it possible to detect the heat of animals against cooler backgrounds and are available in handheld cameras and cameras that can be attached to a smartphone, goggles, and rifle scopes.
AWA supports fair chase hunting and opposed this proposal. FLIR use in the Interior was only passed in 2024, and we didn’t have a full season’s worth of data to understand the impacts before it was passed Statewide.
The Board also ruled that traps and snares will not have to have identification tags attached to them, but mentioned it could be amenable to a future proposal that was collaborative between user groups.
Unfortunately, wolverines and wolves didn’t get a break either, and nonresidents can still use snowmachines to approach and pursue them.
BEAR BAITING
The Board failed both proposals to define “permanent dwelling” and “developed recreational facility” for bear baiting setbacks. They felt that it would complicate things and chose to leave the discretion to Wildlife Troopers.
CLEAN LIST
The Board voted to delegate power over the “Clean List” to the Commissioner of Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The Commissioner of ADFG can now manage the “clean list”, which contains all the mammal, bird, and reptile species that have been specifically approved for entry or possession in Alaska.
AWA believed that delegating power to the Commissioner would have a substantial negative effect on the public process of managing the clean list, and numerous public comments and advisory committees were opposed to this proposal.
Additional Resources
RC009 - Emergency Regulation on Mulchatna Bear Control
Record Copies (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Mulchatna Caribou Herd Intensive Management Report
Mulchatna Caribou Herd Nutrition and Disease Study
