Staff reports give public insight into scientific management practices

WASILLA — One of the reasons to attend a Board of Game meeting, in addition to participating in the creation or modification of hunting regulations, is to hear staff members’ scientific reports on the animal populations of concern.

The current meeting — which continues at the Best Western Lake Lucille Inn in Wasilla through Feb. 20 — will see the Board of Game address various aspects of sheep hunting and the issues that accompany that activity.

Two reports were presented on this topic, with a third available as a written document “regarding subsistence harvests and uses of Dall sheep in Alaska.” The first, “Trends in Alaska Sheep Populations, Hunting, and Harvest,” provides a good overview of the current status of sheep hunting in Alaska. This presentation accompanied a sheep hunting survey titled, “Sheep Hunter Preference Survey Results.” This second presentation laid out the perceived problems participants experience while sheep hunting. Most of the sheep proposals are asking for some form of remedy to address these perceived issues.

The other “hot” topic of the Wasilla meeting concerns the Community Subsistence Harvest hunts in GMU 13 for both moose and caribou. A presentation titled: “Unit 13 Moose and Caribou Hunts Update,” gives an excellent summary of the recent history and development of the current community subsistence harvest program. This provides information for board decisions on addressing the status of these hunts.

This writer particularly enjoyed watching the presentation on upland birds. The report, “Statewide Upland Bird Monitoring and Unit 13 and 15C Ptarmigan,” contained a summary of the recent information Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been gathering to aid in better management of these spruce grouse and ptarmigan populations.

The recent research is adding to a base of information developed by Dr. Robert Weeden back in the 1950s. Dr. Weeden was one of my professors during my studies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Some of the other presentations involved adding property to the Palmer Hay Flats refuge, a status report on the Mulchatna caribou herd, a study on the effects of available protein on calf moose production, the current status of the wood bison reintroduction program, several reports on the status of various Game Management Units intensive management programs, and several area overviews involving the general status of game populations in that particular management area, noting any recent changes of import to the game populations.

All of these reports can be viewed online at 1.usa.gov/17jBZLJ. The listing also includes all the proposals being considered from the advisory committee, the public, the Department of Law, the Department of Public Safety, and Fish and Game comments on the proposals; record comments submitted during the meeting; and the agenda and roadmap of the meeting.

As proposals are deliberated and addressed, the results will be posted, usually within 24 hours of the action taken, on this same website.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who writes a weekly column for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.