Within sight of almost half of all Alaskans lies a little known tidal estuary. Perched along Turnagain Arm on the northwestern Kenai Peninsula, the 27,000-acre Chickaloon Flats is the only part of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge that touches marine waters. It represents 7% of the total estuarine area in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, the two water bodies that form the peninsula. As such, it’s a small but important part of the Pacific Flyway for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl.
Read on for a full summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly of this year’s wildlife regulation changes in the Interior and the Western Arctic.
Comment by May 6th to secure enhanced protections for wildlife!
Catch our latest podcast interview on critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales!
Our Kenai Peninsula Coordinator, Teresa Becher, was just awarded a 2023 'Partners in the Spotlight Award' from NOAA fisheries! These national awards recognize partners who have expanded and enhanced recovery of the country's most imperiled marine species.
“Wolves are a charismatic top predator that have become a symbol of wildness for the conservation movement. Aldo Leopold famously wrote about the conflict between humans and wolves in his 1948 essay, ‘Thinking Like a Mountain,’ where he reflected upon shooting a wolf. Many historians credit this essay as a milestone in the modern-day environmental movement. To this day, wolves elicit an emotional response from so many of us. Love them or hate them, wolves attract a disproportionate amount of attention.”
Alaska Wildlife Alliance and our coalition partners celebrated a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision today that upheld a 2016 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service rule that enshrines the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s long-standing prohibition on brown bear baiting, along with its decades-long approach of managing the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area for wildlife viewing and education.
“We believe that the Fish and Wildlife Service is obligated to protect Kenai brown bears on the refuge and this opinion recognizes the agency’s authority to do just that,” said Nicole Schmitt, executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. “At a time when so many of Alaska’s wildlife protections are being rolled back, this ruling comes as a sigh of relief for all those who enjoy the Refuge and its wildlife.”
Stay informed! We just sent our newsletter with the latest on AWA's actions to protect wildlife. Learn how to become a citizen scientist to protect endangered beluga whales, join our petition to close the lynx trapping season in Chugach State Park, support our efforts to save the last Alexander Archipelago wolves on Prince of Wales Island, and more. Sign up for e-newsletters at the bottom of this page to be the first to know!
Now that NPS has reversed their stance against predator control, it will be legal to shoot brown bears over piles of doughnuts and grease; to shine artificial lights into dens to kill hibernating black bears and their cubs; to shoot wolves and coyotes, and their pups, during the denning season when their pelts are in generally poor condition; and taking swimming caribou using motorboats. Our lawsuit aims to stop that.
You can make a difference. Help save Alaska's wildlife by lending your voice to one of our campaigns or by donating to support AWA conservation efforts.
Sign up for the AWA newsletter and stay in the know about events, educational opportunities, and ways you can help protect Alaska's wildlife.
