Region IV Board of Game meeting wraps up early

WASILLA — “I want to express my admiration and thanks for a job well done to Board of Game members and to department staff for efforts in addressing some difficult issues and creating new hunting opportunities for moose, caribou and bears in the Region IV area,” stated acting director Doug Vincent-Lang of the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation following the end of business at the Region IV Board of Game meeting Thursday evening.

He also thanked the board for establishing several new youth hunts to ensure Alaska’s hunting heritage is passed on and for granting protection against disease for the state’s sheep, goat and musk ox populations. Moments later, chairman Ted Spraker gaveled the meeting closed a day early.

In all, about 82 proposals dealing with wildlife issues ranging from modifying hunting season dates to creating new winter hunts and prohibiting certain species of pack animals from being used for big game hunting were addressed.

“Arguably, the three most contentious issues we dealt with involved the GMUs 11/12/13 Community Subsistence Harvest Hunt structure, authorizing some adjustments to the predator control management program and addressing the baiting and/or snaring of brown bears in GMUs 13 and 16,” commented Nate Turner, Board of Game vice-chair, in an interview after the meeting.

Board of Game member Teresa Sager Albaugh, in that same after-meeting interview, offered that “a longstanding concern of the board, and an issue which will become more problematic with time, involves the conflict between state game management directives and conflicting federal policy mandates on federal lands in Alaska.”

Spraker said this will become one of the top five problems the state board must deal with in the near future.

“Perhaps the largest problem we see looming on the horizon involves providing hunting opportunities for Dall sheep,” he said. “Resident and nonresident demand is growing and the resource is finite. Without adoption of the Department of Natural Resources guide concession program, managing future seasons and bag limits for all big game animals will become challenging for the Board of Game in order to continue providing hunt opportunity while protecting the health and viability of these valuable wildlife resource.”

Bob Mumford, a Board of Game member from Anchorage, when asked his thoughts on the tone of the meeting said, “There was a relaxed atmosphere at this meeting in spite of the seriousness of the issues discussed. That might have been due, in part at least, to the small public turnout attending the meeting.”

Spraker added that he had expected to see around 100 members of the public in attendance, but only counted perhaps 40 people on any given day.

“Greater public interest in the issues and more public testimony would have been appreciated in developing solutions to these often complex wildlife concerns,” Spraker said.

Bruce Dale, Division of Wildlife Conservation Region IV supervisor, echoed Spraker and Mumford’s comments. “Public participation is critical to the decision making process in wildlife management.”

Dale had high praise for the Board of Game.

“This is a really good board and all the members, even the newer folks still learning and coming up to speed, ‘get it,’” Dale said. “All the members work hard to dig into the data in order to understand the issues and they do their homework in order to be well versed on the ramifications of proposals.”

He also said all the board members did a fine job of explaining their thought processes in supporting or opposing proposals for the record. This point is crucial in developing a good record of why the Board of Game took specific actions if a lawsuit were filed over these actions at a future point, he said.

Several new hunts were created and other already established hunts saw allowable numbers of harvestable animals increased. Predator control programs were adjusted in a few game management units and all the antlerless moose hunts and “hot spot” hunts were reauthorized. This expansion in hunting opportunity is a direct result of the common-sense management approach the Division of Wildlife Conservation has used for the past dozen years or so, Spraker said.

Turner commented that the Board of Game, over time, has taken a different approach toward better wildlife management beginning with the Alaska Legislature and Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration and continuing to the present day. The Board of Game continues to look ahead to anticipate potential issues of concern and begin addressing those issues before they become major problems. Several Board of Game members interviewed credit Spraker as being instrumental in continuing to affect this philosophical change in wildlife management strategy. Spraker modestly added that he believes following the intensive management wildlife statutes and regulations is the best approach toward managing Alaska’s wildlife populations into the future.

To learn the specifics of changes the Board of Game made to seasons, bag limits and other actions involving moose, caribou, bears, sheep, wolves, coyotes, and small game in this Region IV meeting, contact Fish and Game in Palmer and ask for a summary of Board of Game actions. Because of the number of proposals addressed and the significance of some of the changes made, allowing the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation, a week or two to clarify information for public understanding is appreciated.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.