OPINION: Alaska, not the federal government, is overreaching on game management

As a longtime Alaska resident and Denali Park employee, I wish to respond to the commentary, “Our next big fight — the erosion of Alaska’s wildlife management authority,” by Kenai Sen. Jesse Bjorkman.

Let’s discuss what Sen. Bjorkman is complaining about and what practices he is defending. In the 2020 hunting/trapping rule for Alaska’s national preserves, this rule allowed the following abhorrent hunting/trapping practices: killing grizzly/black bears over bait, flash-lighting and killing denning black bears, killing black bear females and cubs, killing adult wolves — and coyotes — and pups during the denning season, killing swimming caribou in lakes, ponds and rivers from motorboats, using dogs to track and help kill black bears.

For years, the National Park Service had adopted the state’s extended hunting seasons for the killing of wolves in Alaska’s national preserves, with high bag limits. According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game hunting/trapping regulations in game management units that intersect with Denali National Park and Preserve, up to 10 wolves could be killed per hunter and hunting seasons would begin on either Aug. 1 or 10, depending on which GMU intersected with the national preserve. This is during a time when wolf pups are out of the den but are typically using rendezvous sites, have limited mobility and are highly dependent on adult wolves. Additionally, this is when wolf pelts are worthless.

This, combined with Denali’s wolves being targeted and killed by hunters/trappers on adjacent state lands, has decimated visitor viewing of wolves since 2011; 2018 was the one exception. I know because I have worked in Denali for the past 35 years and take up to 52 passengers into the park at least five days a week.

For trappers, the bag limit was unlimited, with the season beginning as early as Oct. 1 or 15, or November, depending on the GMU intersecting with the preserve.

The above practices were intended to drop predator populations in favor of increasing ungulate populations for recreational/trophy hunters to shoot. This directly contradicts the primary mandates of the National Park Service of preservation, visitor enjoyment and providing naturally regulating ecosystems with full predator/prey relationships where no species is favored over another.

For the 2020 rule, 99% of the public comments were opposed to the above abhorrent practices, yet NPS rejected the overwhelming public sentiment in favor of hunting/trapping extremists.

In a lawsuit filed by Trustees of Alaska against NPS, a federal district court found that the 2020 rule was poorly reasoned, arbitrary and illegal. This decision forced NPS to revise this rule and accept public comment on it until March 27 of this year.

The 2023 Hunting/Trapping Rule corrects the most blatant abuses of the 2020 rule. I myself wrote in with 12 pages of comments and addressed some of the more insidious forms of regressive predator management that should be rejected.

This isn’t a case of federal overreach on federal lands, but attempted state overreach of wildlife management on federal lands. The District Court of Alaska, the 9th Court of Appeals and even the U.S. Supreme Court have rejected the State of Alaska’s and Safari’s Club’s unethical and extreme position.

The courts have consistently ruled that where there is a conflict of management between federal and state wildlife management on federal lands, that federal management takes precedence. Furthermore, if the State of Alaska, Safari Club and others actually respected the mandates of the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on federal lands, there would be no conflict.

The changes proposed by NPS for the 2023 Hunting/Trapping Rule only apply to recreational/trophy hunters/trappers, not subsistence hunters/trappers as defined by federal regulations.

If the hunting/trapping community wish for others to respect their culture, then their hunting/trapping practices must be practiced in an ethical and responsible manner. Second, they have to respect the culture of non-consumptive users who value live animals over dead ones. And third, they have to respect the mandates of federal agencies whose land/wildlife management may differ from the state of Alaska’s.

Culture is a two-way street, where both sides, non-consumptive and consumptive, respect one another. That is certainly not the case with the current level of state wildlife management, which overwhelmingly favors extremist hunters and trappers and their abhorrent practices. Such unethical practices, which even injure and kill pet dogs, lead to the justifiable sentiment of a “trap-free Alaska” and the defining and mandating of ethical practices.

For instance, if trappers and hunters were truly interested in respecting the wishes of non-consumptive users, they would support a comprehensive, year-round buffer for Denali’s wolves. If they were truly interested in respecting dog owners, they would support commonsense, 100-yard or more setbacks on multi-use ski/hiking trails, campgrounds, pullouts, parking areas, state recreational areas, etc., on a community and statewide basis. How can hunters/trappers expect any kind of respect when they monopolize and blatantly disrespect other forms of recreation and values?

Lastly, I fully support the NPS 2023 hunting/trapping rules as initially laid out, and wish to see NPS go further in returning and mandating ethical hunting/trapping practices in Alaska’s National Preserves.

Bill Watkins has worked in Denali National Park for more than 30 years as a driver/naturalist for the park concessionaire.

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