The time has come.
On October 26th, 2020 Alaska Wildlife Alliance and former Board of Game member Joel Bennett, represented by the Law Office of Joseph W. Geldhof, filed a lawsuit against the Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and the State of Alaska. This lawsuit seeks to prevent unsustainable trapping of wolves on Prince of Wales Island in violation of Article VIII, Section 4 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska. After two long years and multiple attempts by the State to dismiss this case, we are going to trial.
WHY DOES THIS CASE MATTER?
Genetically distinct Alexander Archipelago wolves are only found on the islands and coastal mainland in the Alexander Archipelago, a network of more than 1,000 islands, glaciated peaks and deep river valleys in remote southeast Alaska. This region also contains the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in North America, with some of the largest remaining stands of old-growth, temperate rainforest in the world. But the wolves are under continued threats from industrial logging, overharvest from trapping, and large-scale habitat loss. The Alexander Archipelago wolf population reached a historic low in 2015 when only 89 were left.
In the fall of 2019, the State of Alaska estimated that Alexander Archipelago wolf population had grown to ~170 wolves (range of 147-202 wolves). Instead of managing wolf trapping conservatively, the Board of Game opened a no-limit two month season on wolves. There was no limit on the number of wolves a trapper could kill, no limit on the number of trappers who could trap, and no limit on the number of wolves that could be killed throughout the season. In local meetings before the season started, ADF&G asked that trappers “moderate their effort” – that suggestion was the agency's only in-season management.
The results of this hands-off approach were devastating.
At the end of the trapping season, the Division of Wildlife Conservation released a report announcing that 165 of the estimated 170 Alexander Archipelago wolves were killed by traps during the season. That number did not include illegal and unreported kills or natural deaths.
We immediately filed two emergency petitions to close the upcoming trapping season until the State updated the population estimate. The Commissioner of Fish and Game, Doug Vincent Lang, denied those petitions. So, we brought the issue to court.
After two long years and multiple attempts by the State to dismiss this case, we are finally going to trial. This week, we are holding the State of Alaska accountable to their Constitutional obligations to manage Alexander Archipelago wolves sustainably.
We need your support to speak for wildlife, including these special wolves, in court.
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Meet our team of volunteers speaking up for Alexander Archipelago wolves in court
Co-Plaintiff, Joel Bennett
Joel Bennett lives in Juneau, Alaska and served on the Board of Game for 13 years for four different governors. Joel is an attorney, hunter, and one of Alaska’s primer wildlife film makers. He is known for films such as "Admiralty Island Fortress of the Bear”, Discovery Channel’s "Mountain of the Snow Leopards", and the History Channel’s "Tougher in Alaska".
Legal representation, Joe Geldhof
Joe has been a lawyer in Alaska for over forty years. He has successfully litigated a number of constitutional cases, including disputes over election law procedures, attempts to borrow a billion dollars by the State of Alaska and how funds are allocated according to the Alaska Constitution. Geldhof has a variety of experience with natural resource issues in Alaska; this is the first lawsuit he has worked on related to Alaska’s “sustained yield management” constitutional provision.
Witness, Dave Persons
Dr. Persons designed research and instigated the work to develop the methods for estimating wolf populations currently used by ADF&G on Prince of Wales Island, and was the principle investigator assigned to study wolves and predator-prey dynamics in the region for 22 years. He has multiple peer-reviewed publications on predator-prey dynamics in the region.
Witness, Matt Kirchhoff
Matt has worked as a Wildlife Biologist for State and Federal agencies in Alaska for over 35 years, developing expertise in old-growth forest ecology, Sitka black-tailed deer, and the Marbled Murrelet (a tree-nesting seabird).
Witness, Natalie Dawson
Natalie has spent over a decade working as a research biologist in southeast Alaska, where she eventually received her PhD studying the charismatic mesofauna on Tongass Islands, focusing on endemic mammals.
If you are interested in watching the trial you can stream the hearings here: https://stream.akcourts.gov/. To listen by phone, call 1-800-768-2983 then dial a specific conference codes associated with the courtroom or judge. Judge Schally, Access Code: 4634801#. To attend in person, visit the Dimond Court House in Juneau.
Thank you to the AWA members who made this lawsuit possible!
