U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is looking to stop a proposed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ban on some bear, wolf and coyote hunts on federal wildlife refuges in the state.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that an amendment to Sullivan’s Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015 would prohibit the federal agency from enacting hunting restrictions the agency announced earlier this month.
Federal wildlife officials on Jan. 8 proposed changes to hunting and trapping rules for national wildlife refuges in Alaska, covering about 77 million acres. The proposal includes bans on brown bear baiting, killing wolves and coyotes during the denning season and targeting bears with snares or traps.
Sullivan’s amendment is the latest move in a decades-long dispute over the U.S. government’s control of Alaska’s federal lands.
