Over 100 Scientists and Academics Agree: Alaska's Board of Game Ignored Scientific Recommendations for Recent Predator Control Programs

Report Cites Flaws in Board Process: Planning Teams, Study Plans and Relevant Data Missing from Predator Control Programs

(01/06/2005) - Anchorage, AK - The Alaska Board of Game's seven predator control programs are significantly flawed because they do not use scientifically-based standards and guidelines to design, implement, and monitor them, according to a recent report. The report, "Biological Standards and Guidelines for Predator Control in Alaska: Application of the National Research Council's Recommendations," was authored by Dr.Victor Van Ballenberghe and supported by 123 scientists and academic wildlife professionals, including Defenders of Wildlife.

The report evaluates how well the Board of Game incorporates the National Research Council's recommended biological standards and science-based management techniques into Alaska's recent predator control programs. Governor Tony Knowles commissioned the original study in 1995. The review was completed by the National Research Council in 1997 at a cost of $318,000.

"Arguably, most of the important biological standards and guidelines recommended by the National Research Council have not been followed. There is now less attention to experimental design and monitoring of results and more reliance on anecdotal and qualitative information," said Van Ballenberghe. "This approach risks unexplainable or unclear results at best, and wasted or failed efforts at worst."

"Management of bears and wolves, as with other wildlife, must be based on sound science if it is to be effective in achieving the desired goals, as well as in the use of tax payers' money," stated Dr. Dave Klein at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and member of the National Research Council study.

According to the report, the Board of Game simply ignored science-based information to implement one of its aerial killing programs. Van Ballenberghe wrote, "The Board of Game approved predator control in one area against the advice of the Department of Fish and Game biologists who indicated that they lacked key data to justify the program."

One-hundred twenty three scientists and wildlife professionals agreed with Van Ballenberghe's findings and signed onto a letter which was sent with the report to Governor Frank Murkowski and the Alaska Board of Game today. The letter calls for a return to "sound experimental design and monitoring so that the results of any predator control program can provide reliable data for policy and management decisions."

"It's our hope this collective effort will refocus the Governor's and Board's decision-making process on true science and objective evidence, and not on wild ideas and uneducated guesses," stated J. Christopher Haney, Ph.D., conservation scientist at Defenders of Wildlife.

Four recommendations are supported by all of the letter's signatories:

• Implement predator control only within an adaptive management framework;
• Monitor all predator and prey numbers following predator control using proper scientific methods to demonstrate clear outcomes;
• Avoid implementing programs that are not likely to be successful;
• Avoid using artificially-inflated historical peaks for game population levels as management goals.

The letter concludes that the track record of successfully managing high wildlife populations in Alaska is weak and warns that negative, long-term consequences may outweigh short-term increases in game populations.

A copy of the report can be found online at Biological Standards and Guidelines for Predator Control in Alaska: Application of the National Research Council's Recommendations

A copy of the letter can be found online at Letter to Governor Murkowski

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Contact(s):

Vic Van Ballenberghe, (907) 344-1613
Karen Deatherage, (907) 276-9453
David Klein, (907) 474-6674
William Lutz, (202) 772-0269