Group Questions Board of Game McGrath Predator Plan
Wolf Killing and Bear Relocation called "Misguided and Unjustified"
(03/12/2003) - ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Defenders of Wildlife voiced strong opposition today to a plan endorsed by the Alaska Board of Game to conduct lethal predator control in an attempt to boost moose populations in the McGrath area. The plan will kill up to 40 wolves in a 520 square mile area by gunning from helicopters, airplanes and other mechanized vehicles and relocate up to 30 black and 5 brown bears over 100 miles from the area. Helicopters will be the main method used. Control will occur for up to four years, removing animals as they return, and at a minimum will likely cost at least $100,000-160,000 the first year."This plan is fraught with flaws because of incomplete data, dubious sociology, and is overwhelmingly opposed by the public, including hunters and rural Alaskans," said Joel Bennett, senior Alaska representative for Defenders of Wildlife and a former member of the Board of Game. "It’s a typical Alaska predator control program that’s been criticized by National Academy scientists who believe that control efforts should not proceed while other factors are involved, making it impossible to measure the plan’s effectiveness."
Bennett argued that the current situation is in no way of sufficient biological gravity to justify this drastic action. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the moose population in the area is at a low density but is considered stable and not declining, similar to many other moose populations in interior Alaska.
Alaskans voted overwhelmingly by initiative in 1996 to reject airborne wolf hunting by the state except in the case of a biological emergency, a high standard that Bennett believes a majority of the public still supports, and which is clearly not met in this case.
Defenders also called into question the scientific basis for the plan because no current up-to-date moose survey has been done for the area. The last Department survey was done in the fall of 2001 and found almost twice as many moose in the area as had been previously counted, indicating the scope of error that is possible from one year to the next. In fact, moose numbers may be increasing in the area due to a series of mild winters and habitat regeneration from a large forest fire a year ago.
The purported goal of the control program is to increase the number of moose that local hunters can get for subsistence food. Bennett noted that, while Defenders is sympathetic to subsistence uses, the Board of Game made no analysis of actual need in this case. In fact, moose hunters in the area already have a hunting success rate that is twice as high as the statewide average, demonstrating that moose are available. If demonstrated subsistence need is not being met, Defenders has urged state officials to consider providing access to alternative resources such as caribou to make up any deficiency.
"The current plan represents a return to predator control policies that we haven’t seen in this state for nearly 20 years," Bennett said. "The only sure result of this plan will be to generate another black eye for Alaska nationally, and lead to the same kind of harmful tourist boycott that was waged against the state back in 1992."
Bennett called the plan misguided and unjustified and said it will set a bad precedent for managing moose populations throughout Alaska, jeopardize the sustainability of wolves and bears in the area, and further erode Alaska's reputation as being a wise steward of its resources.
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