The controversial predator control measure adopted by the Board of Game over the summer is facing a new legal challenge. The latest Mulchatna bear-culling program is the state’s attempt to increase the population of Western Alaska’s struggling caribou herd.
is facing a new legal challenge. The latest Mulchatna bear-culling program is the state’s attempt to increase the population of Western Alaska’s struggling caribou herd. Environmental groups filed the lawsuit in the state Superior Court and seek to strike down the program entirely, arguing that the measures adopted by the Board of Game experience the same flaws as the previous program.
That previous program had been approved in 2022 and was overturned earlier this year. According to the lawsuit, the state violates the sustainable yield clause in two different ways. According to environmental groups, the Board of Game erred by not issuing a minimum population threshold for the predators. “They did not identify any minimum population objectives for bears, brown or black bears,” board president for the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, Carol Damberg, said. “How do you sustainably manage any population without having a minimum population objective?” Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang, one of the defendants in the suit, says specific numbers aren’t required under the sustainable yield clause. “We routinely manage a lot of bear populations across the state without having specific thresholds for bear numbers or having bear surveys,” Vincent-Lang said.The second violation argued in the suit is that the plan continues until 2028 with no trigger to suspend the program if bear populations get below the threshold needed for long-term sustainability within the nearly 44,000 square miles where the culling takes place. “They have shot almost 200 bears now, and they still don’t have a population objective for what’s left,” Damberg explained. “And, they don’t have any sustainability objective for what the minimum number of bears that we need to have a sustainable population. And that’s a population that lives in perpetuity for the next generation and can sustain itself.” The Commissioner argues that the most recent Board of Game meeting, where the program was reinstated, saw the Alaska Department of Fish and Game provide new data to address the concerns listed in the lawsuit. Additionally, the department addressed concerns regarding the size of the program, which Damberg described as “roughly the size of Kentucky.” “We are taking bears off a very small area of the overall bear range in this area, and we’ve convinced that we haven’t yet seen any impact on sustainability of bears in the area,” Vincent-Lang explained. ”We don’t know exactly where the caribou are going to calve every year. So, we have a large area where they historically calve, but we only operate in the calving areas.” Damberg notes the size of the range puts the boundary edges up against many different parks and refuges where bears could unwittingly wander into the control region, being culled in the process. “It is five miles from the border of Lake Clark National Park. It’s 30 miles from the border of McNeil and Brooks Range, which are both highly world-renowned bear viewing areas. It borders Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, and it also borders Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge,” Damberg said. While the boundaries do run up against the political boundaries, Vincent-Lang says, management of animals falls to the state. ”Once the bears are coming into the predator control area, we consider those as part of the larger bear population, and taking a small number of them in the overall context isn’t hurting sustainability bears on overall landscape,” Vincent-Lang explained. ”The bears that are in federal land don’t belong to the federal government. They’re part of the state. The state manages wildlife.” The legal battle over the predators is to help bring the Multchatna Caribou Herd back to sustainable levels for subsistence users. The state argues that they’ve seen improvements in the numbers of the herd. “We implemented it for two years, we saw significant improvements in calf survivals of the caribou,” Vincent-Lang said. The environmental organizations say other factors are to be considered and dealt with before resorting to unchecked killing of bears. “ are not the driving force behind the decline of the herd, nor is it the driving force behind why it’s not increasing. It’s habitat, its climate change, its brucellosis, the disease that’s still working on that population and only occurs in that population of caribou herd,” Damberg concluded.Pack of dogs accused of killing another dog captured, according to AACCDunleavy claims legally-binding South Korea pipeline deal is near, lead LNG developer disagrees
Caribou Alaska Department Of Fish And Game Alaska Wildlife Alliance Lawsuit
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
First Alert Weather: Freezing rain and snow potential to close the weekendToday's Alaska weather forecast from Alaska's Weather Source.
Read more »
First Alert Weather: Most hazardous weather of the weekend moves in overnight into Monday morningToday's Alaska weather forecast from Alaska's Weather Source.
Read more »
Winter Storm Warning As 12 Inches of Snow To HitTravel in Michigan and Alaska may become very difficult, especially during commutes, the NWS has warned.
Read more »
Alaska regulators order Hilcorp to pay nearly $700,000 for gas injections at North Slope fieldThe Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says the fine is justified for enduring, unauthorized injections of enriched gas at a Prudhoe Bay satellite oil field.
Read more »
Alaska regulators order Hilcorp to pay nearly $700,000 for gas injections at North Slope fieldThe Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says the fine is justified for enduring, unauthorized injections of enriched gas at a Prudhoe Bay satellite oil field.
Read more »
Alaska sports notebook: Swayman continues strong NHL season start, Anchorage beats Kenai River in NAHLThe latest news and notes from across the sports landscape in the 49th state.
Read more »