McGrath Predator Control Proposal Short on Details and Public Input

Group Faults Game Department for Evading Public Review

(02/26/2003) - ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Defenders of Wildlife today raised serious concerns with the predation management plan offered by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) for Unit 19D-East in the McGrath, Alaska area. Though the ADF&G document provides brief background and information on moose studies in that area, it includes no details on the proposed plan to kill wolves or relocate bears. Despite the lack of hard information in the proposal, the agency has only given the public 11 days to comment on this document before the Board of Game deliberates on a full plan at aspecial hearing in Anchorage March 6th.

"How can the public comment on a plan without a plan in just a week and a half? Predation management spells predator control in Alaska, and the public needs to weigh in heavily on any specific decisions to kill wolves and bears to increase moose for hunters, especially when the moose population in that area appears to be growing, not declining," said Joel Bennett, a hunter, former Board of Game member and Defenders of Wildlife Alaska representative

Bennett and Karen Deatherage of Defenders' Anchorage office were present at a Board of Game meeting on Unit 19D East earlier this month, at which time ADF&G recommended implementing a plan to kill wolves using helicopters by mid-March, and relocate both black and grizzly bears in April. Bennett has concluded that Governor Murkowski's office derailed public review of this specific plan to implement predator control in order to minimize public input and controversy. Bennett also raised concerns that Murkowski intends to implement a much larger plan for predator control than the "experimental" area proposed by ADF&G.

The text of the plan is available at Alaska Department of Fish and Game  under News & Releases.

Defenders spokespersons faulted not only the public process of this plan, but also the lack of recent science behind it. For several years, residents in McGrath and surrounding villages have urged the state to kill wolves and bears in hopes of boosting local moose numbers. In 2001, an Adaptive Wildlife Management Team reviewed the McGrath moose data at that time, and recommended some predation control to help boost the moose population.

A new, more thorough survey conducted after this decision, however, found twice as many moose in the area as previously thought, and ADF& G halted predator control plans. On November 6, 2001, former ADF&G Commissioner Frank Rue noted, "The new data corrects earlier population estimates and indicates the moose population around McGrath is not declining and in fact may be starting to grow again. The new population numbers lead me to conclude that lethal predator control measures are not warranted and subsistence hunting should be allowed to continue."

Because of insufficient snow cover, there have been no moose surveys this past year, and scientists believe that the moose population is continuing to grow due to mild winters and habitat changes caused by a large fire in the area last year. Without current surveys, scientists believe the impact on moose numbers by predator culling would be impossible to discern.

"Any claim down the road that the moose population has increased because they killed wolves and relocated bears will be meaningless because they have no current information on numbers of moose. Our fear is that they will try to credit future predator control for the past growth of the moose population in this area," said Bennett.

Deatherage, a member of ADF&G's Aniak Moose Management Planning Team, believes that the locals will best benefit by allowing the current increase in moose populations to continue without a drastic manipulation of the ecosystem.

"By letting nature run its course, subsistence users in that area can help to guarantee the long-term sustainability of moose populations to feed their families. Killing predators in the short run will not accomplish this and could actually cause the moose to grow beyond the habitat's capacity," Deatherage said.

Deatherage also noted that implementing predator control in this area will set an bad precedent for managing moose populations throughout Alaska, and could easily result in a statewide ‘wildlife farming' policy that a majority of Alaskans don't want. In addition, she noted the possible damage to the state's economy that would occur if a tourism boycott is waged over state-sponsored wolf control, a strategy that was effective in halting control programs in 1993.

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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation’s most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat.  With more than 430,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on environmental issues.  For timely information on environmental issues, visit www.defenders.org and subscribe to DENLines, a free e-mail alert newsletter.

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Contact(s):

Joel Bennett, (907) 276-9453
Kim Delfino, (907) 276-9453