A new way to manage game resources?

On March 4 in Wasilla, the state Board of Game (BOG) will begin deliberating on proposed hunting regulations.

Last fall, the BOG implemented a Unit 13 Nelchina caribou registration hunt for this year. All 3,200 applicants will receive a permit.

Now the board is considering whether to add a community hunt program (CHP) to this Nelchina plan — not quite the same as the 2009 Ahtna community hunt that was clearly residency based and ruled unconstitutional. However, this year’s complex CHP regulations, if approved, would allow a totally new modus operandi for the BOG.

This year the board proposed only one CHP, allotting only 300 caribou from the harvestable surplus to groups that agree to practice Ahtna’s tribal harvest traditions. Those traditions include salvaging certain portions of the animal (fat, kidneys, stomach) for human food, ceremonial sharing, and other specifics. The CHP requires detailed reporting about these matters to the state. A “Draft for External Review” describing the requirement is available at wc.adfg.state.ak.us/division_info/chp_copper_basin.pdf.

All these conditions could and should be accomplished voluntarily by individual members of the group or tribe. Each member could register and automatically receive a permit, like the other 3,200 individuals have already done. Proxy hunting is allowed.

I urge groups/tribes to define and enforce their own regulations rather than calling upon the state to define and enforce them.

The proposal’s complex language appears to allow overlapping cultural CHP’s, (Ahtna, Chickaloon, Eklutna) in future years — all having potentially separate seasons, bag limits and cultural requirements defined and enforced by the state.

This year it’s only 300 caribou. What will be allotted to CHP’s in future years? More than 200 tribal groups exist in Alaska.

The state has successfully struggled to raise the harvestable surplus of caribou in the Nelchina area, above the Tier II situation. If the proposal passes, then all harvestable surplus could be impacted to favor CHPs established for advocates who already have a substantial priority on all federal lands (over 60 percent of Alaska) plus appropriate trespass control on millions of acres of private land.

When equality is no longer the standard, how much inequality is justifiable?

Please consider submitting written comments opposing the CHPs by Feb. 18 so they can be included in the BOG members’ workbooks. But later is better than never. Better yet, please attend and personally testify before the BOG when it meets at the Lake Lucille Inn from March 4-10.

Fax testimony to 907-465-6094; e-mail testimony is not accepted. Mail written comments to: ATTN Board of Game Comments, ADF&G, Board Support Section, P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526.

Please consider:

1. Opposing proposal No. 50 (see “Spring 2011 Proposal Book,” p. 65-69, submitted at request of the Board of Game).

2. Supporting proposal No. 48, a repeal of any CHP hunt (see proposal No. 48, p. 64, submitted by Alaska Outdoor Council).

Mary Bishop has lived in Interior Alaska since 1961. She is a board member of the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund, the sister corporation of the Alaska Outdoor Council.