A HUGE WIN FOR ALASKA’S BEARS
Today is a historic day for Alaska’s bears! 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!
Proposal 21 which enacted the Mulchatna bear control program was “unlawfully adopted and, therefore, void and without legal effect.”
Read on to learn more about the Mulchatna case, what this ruling means for Southwest Alaska’s bears, and how you can continue to stand up for Mulchatna!
A HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to our Wildlife Defense Fund. We couldn’t have done this without your support. There’s still work to do, so please continue to donate to Alaska’s wildlife and find out how you can help ensure Mulchatna never happens again here.
A Quick Timeline
In January 2022, ADFG submitted Proposal 21 at the spring Board of Game meeting. The proposal requested the Board extend the existing wolf control program for Mulchatna onto Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. The Board deliberated on Proposal 21 in a closed-door meeting, rewrote it by an amendment, and then carried it 7-0. There was no chance to comment on the amended proposal. The amended proposal, among other things, allowed predator control of both wolves and bears, despite the Board having no data on how many bears are in the area. The goal set by the program was to kill every bear, regardless of age or sex, within a nearly 3,000 square mile “control area” each year.
Nothing further was heard about the Mulchatna predator control program until March 2023, on the last day of the Board of Game meeting in Soldotna. There, ADFG reported about the development of the predator control program and presented their Operational Plan. The plan stated that ADFG would fly a nearly 3,000 square mile area in the Tikchik Basin and aerially shoot every wolf, black bear, and brown bear they saw, regardless of sex and age class. They estimated 15 to 25 brown bears would be killed.
In May and June 2023, ADFG completed their first cull, killing 94 brown bears, as well as 5 black bears and 5 wolves.
In Spring 2024, ADFG completed its second year of the Mulchatna predator control program, killing 81 brown bears and 14 wolves. The program was set to continue until 2028.
As a result of proposal 21, 180 bears were killed in two years.
Alaska wildlife alliance STEPS IN
After the first cull in 2023, AWA filed a lawsuit in Alaska Superior Court against the Alaska Board of Game and Alaska Department of Fish and Game for unlawfully adopting the bear control program.
First, AWA claimed that the Board failed to provide procedural due process under Art. 1, Sec. 7 of the Alaska Constitution; and second, that the Board did not adhere to the constitutional requirement in Art. VIII, Sec. 4, of the Alaska Constitution, requiring that replenishable resources (i.e. bears) of the State be managed according to the sustained yield principle.
While waiting for the lawsuit to move through the courts, Alaska Wildlife Alliance filed an injunction in 2024 to halt the control program until the case had been heard. The injunction was denied, and the State killed 81 brown bears in 2024.
On March 3rd, Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the State of Alaska held oral arguments on the case. The courthouse was packed with Mulchatna bear supporters. During the arguments, the State admitted that ADFG does not have black or brown bear density estimates in the control area.
The court rules in AWA’s Favor
On March 14th, a ruling was submitted in favor of AWA on both due process and the sustained yield principle!
Alaska Wildlife Alliance wins on Due Process
Alaska Wildlife Alliance had argued that the Board violated due process when they amended the original proposal (which involved wolves on federal land) to a new species and geography (bears on state land), without any public notice or opportunity to comment.
The Court agreed.
“No mention was made by ADFG about bears or extending a bear removal program on state managed lands. Based on the actual notice provided by the BOG to AWA regarding Proposal 21, this court finds that the notice provided to AWA by the BOG about the intended regulatory action of the BOG was not sufficiently informative and failed to comply with required due process standards under Art 1, Sec 7 of the Alaska Constitution…” (Decision, page 6.)
Alaska Wildlife Alliance also argued that this due process violation stripped Alaskans of the codified “Opportunity to be Heard”. The Court also agreed.
“In an administrative proceeding in Alaska, being heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner is the cornerstone of procedural due process. AWA and the public have a right to comment on regulatory proposals that impact them before they are adopted. The BOG substantially changed the subject matter of a proposal without allowing AWA further reasonable opportunity to be heard. As a result, AWA’s due process rights were violated.” (Decision, page 7.)
Alaska Wildlife Alliance wins on Sustained Yield
Because the proposal was drafted over a lunch break, no data on current bear populations was presented to the Board before they passed an aerial gunning program. In fact, the Department has never conducted a bear abundance survey in the control area, so the impacts to bears are unknown.
The Court agreed with AWA’s assessment that the Board of Game drafted and passed the proposal with no information about bears in the area, including no evidence that bears were a factor in Mulchatna caribou decline.
“This Court is persuaded, based on a thorough review of the BOG proceedings that took place during January 2022, that the BOG failed to engage in the kind of analysis required by the Alaska Constitution and established by the Alaska judiciary. Having carefully reviewed the record and the arguments advanced by the State, it is apparent that the State did not have the adequate, relevant population studies or any genuine data about bear sustainability in the area of the control program prior to adopting a proposal that would have an obvious impact on the constitutionally protected public resource.” (Decision, page 8.)
“Addressing the sustainability of a constitutionally protected resource like bears almost certainly requires the BOG to engage in more than a rudimentary discussion about a bear population or engage in conclusionary opinions when considering a proposal to initiate a program calling for the unrestricted killing of bears.”
“Other than the anecdotal evidence in the record…there is no credible scientific evidence in the record or discussion by the BOG to support the conclusion that bears could be killed sustainably.” (Decision, page 9.)
The Court thus found that the Proposal which enacted the Mulchatna bear control program was “unlawfully adopted and, therefore, void and without legal effect.”
Read the full decision here, or below.
What does this mean moving forward?
This is a HUGE victory and we are so grateful for every member’s support. This was a David and Goliath-style lawsuit and we couldn’t have done it without the pro bono support of Joseph Geldhof and Joel Bennett, our amazing Board and volunteers, and of course our loyal members— thank you!
The issue has been remanded back to the Board of Game. There is the possibility that the Board issues a special meeting to try re-establishing the control program. If this happens there will be very little notice so please follow us on our socials and subscribe to our newsletter to receive an Action Alert for any upcoming Mulchatna engagement opportunities. We will need you there, so check your inboxes. We’ll provide a toolkit for ways to engage whenever there’s an opportunity.
We have a small but dedicated staff —your membership support keeps us focused on the programs. Fundraising takes us away from these programs so a really great way to support this work is to donate or get others to donate—we are so grateful for your support and rest assured your donations go straight to our wildlife programs.
You can also to sign up to volunteer —we need all sorts of talents so please sign up and we’ll reach out
Finally, our attorneys Joe and Joel have been working tirelessly on this lawsuit for years without any pay— they volunteer all their hours. Please help us thank them by writing a note to nicole@akwildlife.org (or mail at PO Box 202022, Anchorage, AK 99520) and we’ll pass it along.
