After an Anchorage Superior Court judge struck down a state program that kills bears in order to help caribou hunters, the Alaska Board of Game is proposing a new version of the program.
According to a public notice published Friday, the board will meet in July in Anchorage to consider changing the state’s predator control program to allow the killing of “brown and black bears in addition to wolves to aid in the recovery of the Mulchatna caribou herd.”
Alaska’s predator control program, implemented in various places across the state, involves killing predator animals in an attempt to boost prey populations for hunters.
The Mulchatna caribou herd’s population has declined dramatically in recent decades, from about 200,000 in the 1990s to about 15,000 as of 2024, according to estimates published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Hunting from the herd has been banned since 2021, and the department believes that predation by bears is preventing the herd from expanding to a size that will support hunting.
Critics of the program have said the decline is more likely due to other reasons, including a rapidly changing habitat, disease and past overhunting. Climate change is leading to more woody plants growing on the tundra, affecting the caribou, which eat lichen.
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance filed suit against the state in 2023, arguing that ADF&G’s implementation of the predator control program with regard to Mulchatna was unconstitutional.
In part, the alliance argued that the state failed to study the implications for the area’s bear population, which includes animals that live part of the year in the Katmai National Park and Preserve.
That case resulted in a court order against the state, which attempted to continue the bear kills through an emergency regulation. Judge Christina Rankin found the state had acted “in bad faith” when it kept killing bears despite a restraining order against ADF&G.
The court is now considering whether it should hold state officials in contempt.
Meanwhile, the new public notice shows the state is attempting to authorize the bear kills in a different way that could be effective ahead of next spring’s caribou calving season.
“To correct the court-identified administrative issues, the Alaska Board of Game will hold a special meeting in July to discuss the restoration of the Intensive Management Program, as the administration is committed to protecting rural subsistence resources,” said Shannon Mason, a spokesperson for the ADF&G.
“Our predator control program, supported by local users, communities, advisory committees, and the Alaska Federation of Natives, had already shown success with improved calf survival and herd growth. As we have said before, halting the program now, in its third year, jeopardizes our progress. That’s why we’re pursuing our options to ensure the program can continue under Alaska’s intensive management statute,” she said.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered a freeze on new state regulations earlier this year, but Mason said by phone that the new predator control program is not subject to that freeze because the new regulations are an extension of an effort that was underway before the freeze took effect.