Saying Alaska Natives have done their part to preserve waterfowl habitat, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich wants to change the federal duck-stamp program, potentially hiking fees for most hunters while exempting rural Alaskans.
Under the decades-old law, migratory waterfowl hunters must buy a duck stamp in addition to a state hunting license. Billed as "one of the most successful conservation programs" on the planet, most of the effort's proceeds have helped lease or buy some 5 million acres of habitat for waterfowl breeding and wintering.
But Begich notes that the stamp's cost, which is set by Congress, hasn't been raised since it was set at $15 in 1991. Since then, rising real estate costs have eroded the program's buying power, diminishing the wetlands acreage the program can administer. A proposal to raise the cost of duck stamps to $25 failed last year, although the conservation organization Ducks Unlimited supports the hike to help protect waterfowl habitat.
Controversial requirement
The federal duck stamps have been controversial in rural Alaska, especially among mostly Alaska Natives who filled larders with waterfowl long before there were federal and state governments to regulate hunting.
In recent years, Native villages and organizations, whose leaders say they aren't sport hunters but hunt to survive, have said they'll keep hunting ducks without buying the duck stamps, even if fined.
Some Alaska Natives have said the cost of the stamp can be a burden in cash-strapped rural Alaska, home to one of the nation's poorest census areas and remote villages with few jobs. Others have refused on the grounds that the stamps aren't part of their traditional hunting practices.
Begich's bill, introduced today and dubbed the Migratory Bird Habitat Investment and Enhancement Act, was quickly scheduled to be heard for the first time next Tuesday in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Other conservation and hunting bills will be heard at the same time, including one from a Mississippi senator allowing duck stamps to be purchased online.
Instead of Congress raising the price of the duck stamp, which looks like a postage stamp, the bill would allow the Secretary of Interior and the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission to adjust duck-stamp costs. It would also give them the ability to exempt some hunters, including Alaska subsistence hunters, from purchasing the stamps if it has a "minimal effect" on the program, according to a press release from Begich.
The Alaska Federation of Natives, a powerful advocate for Native interests, has called for an exemption among subsistence users who hunt waterfowl and collect eggs, said Begich.
Rural Alaska residents qualify as subsistence users under the federal subsistence program. There are tens of thousands of rural residents, but not all would buy duck stamps. Most are Alaska Natives, and many rely on wild fish and game for much of their food.
Longest residents of the land
Alaska is home to the nation's largest collection of federal land set aside for conservation, land traditionally occupied or used by Alaska Natives before it became federally owned.
"These Alaskans have done their part for wetlands conservation with many of their traditional lands set aside in wildlife refuge status for the protection of waterfowl and other wildlife species," Begich said.
Begich and fellow Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced legislation in 2010 to exempt subsistence hunters from buying duck stamps.
That proposal failed because it was never voted on, said Julie Hasquet, Begich's spokeswoman.
Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com