Alaska News

Copper Basin tribal group gets new power over wildlife

An Alaska tribal group has new powers that will allow it to manage wildlife — including moose and caribou hunts — for tribal members on federal lands in a region that includes the Copper River basin and parts of two national parks.

The U.S. Department of the Interior this week signed a management agreement with the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission, a five-year-old consortium of eight tribes that aims to manage and develop fish, wildlife and plant resources in the region.

The goal is to elevate the role of Ahtna tribal members in management of subsistence hunting and trapping. Moose and caribou in particular remain highly valued wild foods for the Athabascan people in a region that includes large swaths of federal land: parts of Denali and Wrangell St. Elias national parks and preserves, Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and scattered Bureau of Land Management parcels.

The agreement is a demonstration project. It's the first in the nation signed since Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced in October at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention a new directive for federal land managers to work more closely with tribes.

"As Alaska's population has grown, the Ahtna people have borne the brunt of increasing hunting pressure on their traditional lands because these areas are fairly accessible to much of the Railbelt region, home to 70 percent of Alaska's population," Michael Connor, Interior deputy secretary, said in a written statement. "This agreement is an effort to help preserve their traditional way of life, put food on the table and improve wildlife habitat and populations for everyone."

The tribal management authority over seasons, permits, bag limits and the like will only extend to rural tribal members, and only on federal lands. Other rural residents who qualify for subsistence hunts will follow separate federal subsistence rules. That means tribal members who live in urban Alaska won't be able to hunt under the tribe's rules, said Karen Linnell, executive director of Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission.

Jewell's order recognizes that tribes have special historical and cultural connections to federal lands and waters, and that members have traditional knowledge dating back generations.

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"It's gigantic. It's huge. It's the first step in correcting something that was promised 45 years ago," Linnell said. That's when Congress was debating the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, with a focus on land rights. Protections for subsistence didn't make it into the final legislation, but were made part of the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. A key aspect of the subsistence element — preference for rural residents — conflicted with the state Constitution.

That limits the Federal Subsistence Board to overseeing subsistence hunts on federal public lands, where it gives priority to rural residents.

Likewise, the tribal authority is limited to federal lands. Details on what the tribal hunts will look like, and how they will differ from federal- or state-run hunts, are yet to be worked out, Linnell said.

One possibility is a new caribou hunt in Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Linnell said. "Based upon healthy populations and accessibility."

Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott said the new agreement is a good move toward greater collaboration in game management.

Ahtna's tribal commission and the Department of Interior included the state in the development of its agreement, Mallott said in a written statement.

The tribal commission has a small staff, relying on outside consultants for key roles including biologist. Now it will be hiring its own, Linnell said.

The work will also include improving habitat. Already Ahtna has been testing specialized equipment to clear corporation lands and encourage fresh plant growth to support moose.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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