Group proposes major changes

WASILLA — Members of the Mat-Su Fish and Game Advisory Committee are pushing a proposal that could turn portions of the Nelchina-Upper Susitna Game Management Area into a non-subsistence hunting region.

The advisory committee’s proposal will be heard at joint meeting of the Alaska boards of Fish and Game to be held Oct. 5-8 in Anchorage.

“Basically, we would take Nelchina moose and caribou out of the subsistence arena,” advisory committee Chair Denny Hamann said last week.

Hamann said he believes the current Tier II permit system in Unit 13 is unfair to hunters from around the state. He argued that residents of the area, which includes portions of the Copper River, Matanuska and Susitna River basins, is no longer made up of residents who primarily rely on subsistence hunting to survive.

“The bottom line is, people in the Copper River Valley, 99 percent of them hunt at Costco like the rest of us do,” Hamann said.

Hamann said state law makes it clear that subsistence hunting can only be allowed if the majority of residents in an area need subsistence to continue their way of life.

“State law says very specifically that has to be a huge part of their economy and their way of life for it to be a subsistence area,” he said.

The area being proposed to be taken out of the subsistence hunting arena includes the areas of Unit 13A, 13B and 13E bound by the Glenn, Richardson and Parks Highways.

Hamann wants the state to find that the area no longer qualifies as a subsistence area because of changes in demographics and income levels since the area was designated for subsistence use more than a decade ago.

“There’s a lot of things that have happened in 15 years,” he said.

The issue likely will pit urban hunters from Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley against their rural counterparts to the north. Hamann said that, to be fair, the area should no longer be subject to the Tier II permit system — which awards permits based on a specific set of criteria — and open to all Alaska hunters.

“It would end up as a drawing hunt for everyone in the state,” he said.

The issue likely will face stiff opposition from subsistence users in the region, and Hamann said he’s expecting members of the Ahtna, Inc. — the Native corporation which serves the region — to be vocal in opposition to the proposal.

“I know the opposition is going to be there in force,” he said.

Ahtna, Inc. President Ken Johns was out of the office and unavailable for comment until Wednesday.

Hamann said anyone who feels as if the area in question should no longer be considered a subsistence area should attend the board meeting, which will be held at the Coast International Inn beginning Oct. 5.

The Mat-Su Fish and Game Advisory Committee will next meet Oct. 3 at MTA building in Palmer at 7 p.m.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

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