Give new wildlife director a chance

To the editor:

I am writing about Corey Rossi’s appointment as the new director of Division of Wildlife Conservation.

I say give him a chance to show what he can do. I have seen the state that our game is in now and I don’t like it.

I am a longtime Alaskan, and have seen the decline every year. Caribou and moose in Southcentral and the Interior have not been able to rebound after some of the so called Fish and Game programs. As time has passed our game resources have grown less and less. I used to see thousands of caribou when traveling from Hick’s Creek to Tok, now if you are lucky there might be a lone straggler.

I’ve seen 300-plus moose on the Eklutna Flats and all over the Valley. I don’t see the abundance that there was when I was growing up on a homestead in Wasilla. We ate moose, harvested black bears and grizzlies, wolves and fox. Back then the Fish & Game had a predator control program that gave us a moose on the table and wildlife to watch along the highways.

John Otcheck

Palmer