A weakening of hunting regulations in national preserves in Alaska is not expected to significantly impact populations of bears and wolves in those areas, according to an environmental assessment/NPS file
National Park Service staff, who have been asked to relax sport hunting regulations for wolves and bears in national preserves in Alaska, are relying on the state of Alaska's position that increased hunting of the predators will not have an overall impact on their populations. But the regulatory changes likely would reduce opportunities for wildlife viewing and degrade wilderness character in the preserves, the Park Service adds in an assessment of the rule changes.
According to an environmental assessment (attached below) released Thursday for public comment, "increased hunting of predator species neither reduces predator populations nor increases prey populations."
"While an increase in the number of wolves taken between May 1 and August 9 is expected under the proposed action, the increase is expected to be small and would have little to no population-level effect on wolves," the document said.
The proposed regulations, which would align Alaska national preserves with state rules that were implemented to suppress carnivore numbers in order to increase game populations, were requested by the Trump administration. The practices, which the Park Service banned in 2015 and which are now set to be legalized, would allow:
* Taking any black bear, including cubs and sows with cubs, with artificial light at den sites
* Harvesting brown bears over bait
* Taking wolves and coyotes (including pups) during the denning season (between May 1 and August 9)
* Taking swimming caribou
* Taking caribou from motorboats under power
* Taking black bears over bait
* Using dogs to hunt black bears
The environmental assessment, open for public comment through November 5 at this site, evaluates the possible impacts of the changes. While the document notes that bear baiting led to a high percentage of bears taken from Kenai Peninsula hunting areas, "(b)ecause baiting on most national preserves would be more difficult, the percentage of brown bears taken over bait under the proposed action is expected to be lower..."
The EA did note, however, that, bears drawn to baits could become habituated to human foods and so possibly create problem bears.
"The proposed action would also result in conditioning of bears in areas where bear baiting occurs to human foods, which could lead to altered behaviors at a local scale that have the potential to increase the likelihood
that more bears are taken in defense of life and property," it said.
The Park Service also noted that the state of Alaska has promised to close hunting seasons and/or reduce bag limits if "harvests were to increase beyond sustainable levels..."
While changing the regulations would provide longer seasons for hunters, it also could impact visitors who come to view wildlife in the national preserves and adjacent national parks.
"Due to the potential for a decrease in the number of predators in specific, localized areas, visitors could experience a decrease in opportunities to view wolves and bears depending on the time of year and location, especially along access corridors. In such instances, those visitors could experience a corresponding increase in the opportunities to view prey species," the EA said. "A study of viewing opportunities of wolves in Denali National Park from 1997 - 2013 demonstrated that increased harvest of wolves outside the park was associated with reduced sightings inside the park.
"... Overall, while viewing opportunities depend on a number of factors, localized reductions for opportunities to view wolves are expected compared to opportunities that currently exist, due to the increase in take of wolves expected under the proposed action. Because of their low reproductive rates, bear populations are easily reduced by hunting and recover slowly. Depending on a number of factors including the number of bears taken and their location, localized decreases in opportunities for visitors to view bears could also occur."
There also would be an impact on "wilderness character" under the proposed action, "because ecological systems may be altered by the take of additional predators, which could reduce numbers of predators and increase numbers of prey in localized areas. The additional take of predators and the practice of bear baiting would also affect wildlife behavior. ... In addition, the presence of bear bait stations and associated debris would degrade the undeveloped quality of wilderness."
The proposed amendments to regulations would only apply to hunting on Alaska national preserves. National Parks in Alaska would not be affected by the proposed changes. The EA is a separate document from the proposed rule, which the Park Service released for public comment on May 22. The comment period for the proposed rule will be extended to match the deadline for comments on the EA.
Comments may also be mailed or hand delivered to:
Sport Hunting and Trapping in National Preserves EA
Alaska Regional Office, EPC
Comments will not be accepted by fax, email, or by any method other than those specified above. Bulk comments in any format (hard copy or electronic) submitted on behalf of others will not be accepted.
Comments
For what it is worth my state has had most of these proposed regulations in place for decades and while i may not agree with how "sporting" a few of them are, there is no debate that wolf, bear and coyote numbers are far higher than they have ever been. Deer populations have suffered greatly as have efforts to reintroduce elk and moose, primarily due to the wolf population which is now nearly triple the original stated objective and from animal rights groups so far successful goal of stopping any hunting season. Note, we do not have brown bears in our state.
Where is your state, Wild Places?
WI, we don't allow shooting bears in their dens but over bait and with dogs is about the only way people hunt bear. The number of permits issued each year has been steadily climping as have over all numbers and their range.
Sorry, duplicate post
I live in Alaska and also have worked for the NPS. What gets lost in some of the debates about hunting or applying Alaska's policies to parks in the state is this. It seems that the fact that we are talking about the killing of sentient beings that conciousness and can feel pain and suffer, etc., is forgotten. Policies that permit the killing of wolf pups in their dens or alpha males or females are barbaric. The same is true for baiting bears.
Conservation in parks is not only about populations of animals, but also the treatment of individual animals.
We ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH J. D. LEMONS' thoughts: There are law enforcement rangers within the NPSwho not only Hunt but are Poachers within the Park System; we have found trap lines within high countrysites in Crater Lake NP placed there my either locals or park employees. Crater Lake NP recorded a significanttheft/financial loss of ammo; these tragic realities occur more commonly when the Park is without any serious Leadership in the higher ranks.Historically, study how the early NPS MANAGEMENT KILLED, TRAPPED ALL PREDATORS and contemplate howScientists with Integrity, like Adolph Murie were treated in Denali for their ecological understanding of the Valueof Predators; The lack of respect for wildlife by NPS MANAGEMENT is a Sad Park of NPS Culture. There areother examples too as we witness wild genetically pure bison sold for slaughter from Yellowstone in favor of thelocal cattle ranchers. NPS has made no attempt to provide more winter range when adjacent lower elevationproperties were available for sale.