History of Wolf Control in Alaska

Since passage of the Airborne Hunting Act, the Alaska Board of Game (BOG), a regulatory body independent of the Governor, has repeatedly adopted regulations that effectively evade or circumvent this federal law.

The following timeline demonstrate the state’s actions as well as provides a chronology of related issues preceding and following passage of the Airborne Hunting Act.

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1940’s and 50’s

Alaska has a long history of killing wolves by various means. Early in the 20th century wolves were hunted opportunistically by government agencies and individuals alike with virtually no controls. Adding to this, market hunters killed them by any method available to increase sales of moose, caribou and sheep. Beginning in 1915, bounties were offered to entice private individuals to eliminate large numbers of wolves. In the 1940's and 50's, prior to statehood, the federal government killed hundreds of wolves in Alaska each year through bounties, poison and ground and aerial shooting. The first aerial gunning of wolves occurred in 1948.

1960’s and 70’s

State-sponsored wolf control consisted mainly of aerial gunning, where wolves are either tracked from the air and shot by a gunner in an airplane or spotted from a plane and then shot after the gunner lands and immediately shot from the ground (land and shoot). Land and shoot was a legal practice to anyone holding a $15 trapping license or a $25 hunting license. The use of aircraft to shoot wolves became common in the 1960's and was widespread from 1967-1972. The effect of this expansive control was artificially high populations of moose and caribou.

In 1969, NBC aired a documentary entitled "Wolves and The Wolf Men" that depicted an aerial hunt of wolves in Alaska. Public outrage to the footage prompted passage of the federal Airborne Hunting Act in November 18, 1971 (Public Law 92-159, 85 Stat. 480). The act made it a crime for any person to utilize an aircraft to shoot, attempt to shoot or harass any bird, fish or other animal. The law is subsequently amended by Public Law 92-502, approved October 28, 1972 (86 Stat. 905) added to the 1956 Act a new section 13 (16 U.S.C. 742j-l), which is commonly referred to as the Airborne Hunting Act or Shooting from Aircraft Act.

After passage of the Act, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game ceased issuing aerial permits but extensive hunting and trapping by private individuals continued and in the mid to late 1970s, a number of state-sponsored non-aerial wolf control programs were initiated. At the same time, the state used a long-standing "trapping" season on wolves as a backdoor means of boosting wolf kills: Traditionally the annual wolf trapping season authorizes the use of guns to hunt wolves from the ground -- in the 1970s the state authorizes the use of "land-and-shoot" as an additional method of “trapping” wolves. While the Airborne Hunting Act prohibits shooting animals directly from airplanes and the use of airplanes to harass wildlife, it did not prohibit land-and-shoot hunting. This practice, much more efficient than ground-based trapping, causes the number of wolf kills to escalate.

Concurrent with the cessation of aerial shooting of wolves, much of interior Alaska experienced severe winters with deep snow in 1970-71 and 1971-72, resulting in sharp declines in many moose populations.

The low numbers of moose were blamed on predators -- namely wolves. Many people and organizations demanded that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) control wolves to help rebuild the moose population. On January 16, 1975, the Department announced that a population of wolves in a 2,400 square mile area known as Tanana Flats (GMU 20A) would be subjected to aerial hunting. The ADF&G set a goal of killing 80% of the wolf population (at the time estimated as between 136 - 272 animals).

On March 3, 1975, Defenders of Wildlife along with other plaintiffs filed a law suit against the ADF&G to stop the wolf control plan. Superior Court Judge Edmonde W. Burke granted a preliminary injunction to stop the plan, arguing that the program went beyond the Department's authority under the Administrative Procedures Act of Alaska. After the verdict, the ADF&G maintained that they could still issue aerial hunting permits to the general public and that Department personnel could take an unlimited number of wolves on their scientific collecting permits.

In March of 1979, the Board authorized wolf control in Units 19A and B and in two parts of Unit 21, all in the western Yukon-Kuskokwim area. Several groups filed actions in federal court that stopped all efforts until 1980, when the court ruled in favor of the state. The Department proceeded with wolf control programs in 6 areas in 1980-81 and 5 areas in 1981-82.

1980’s

After the state ombudsman ruled that wolf control must be done by regulation, thus assuring public input, the board authorized wolf control in Unit 12, and Units 20A and B, in the central and eastern interior of Alaska, but by Department staff only.

When Steve Cowper became governor in December of 1986, he prohibited all wolf control for the duration of his four-year term. This shifted attention to the practice of aerial land and shoot taking of wolves by members of the public, which had remained a legal method available to anyone holding a $15 trapping license or a $25 hunting license.

Because of its controversial nature, in 1987 the Board restricted land and shoot hunting to interior and western Alaska (7 Units) and in November of 1989 they required individual permits issued by the Department.

1990’s

In 1990, 12 members representing a diverse group of the Alaskan public were invited to participate in the Alaskan Wolf Management Planning Team which, it was hoped, would lay the 15 year controversy to rest.

Also in 1990, two polls conducted by Alaska Wildlife Association and the Alaska Visitors Association showed that 70% of Alaskans opposed wolf control efforts.

In December 1990, Governor Walter Hickel took office.

In November 1991, the Board restricted land and shoot wolf hunting by requiring shooters to be at least 100 yards from their airplanes. But the practice remained controversial due to its unenforceability.

In March 1992, the Board endorsed wolf control in three large areas, Units 12 and 20E, in the eastern interior, 20D, near Delta and units 11, 13, and 14, in the central interior.

In November 1992, the Board voted 6-1 to approve implementation plans for all three areas and a massive five-year aerial wolf control program where wolves would be gunned down from helicopters and fixed wing aircraft over approximately 19,400 square miles of the State in interior Alaska (specifically the Nelchina Basin, Tanana Flats/Alaska Range foothills, and Fortymile areas). The plans called for shooting 300-400 wolves the first year, with 100-300 a year to be taken in the next three to five years reducing wolves by 80 percent over an area of 20,000 square miles. Pilots would locate them from the air by following radio-collared members of the packs. The principal purpose of the program was to increase the moose and caribou populations in those areas for the benefit of sport hunters -- by reducing the wolf as a predator (See Draft 1992 Department of Fish and Game Regulations (Exhibit 1) at 8 ("the program objectives for this area are . . . to produce high yields of moose and caribou for humans and to provide the maximum opportunity to participate in hunting for these species")

Public reaction to renewed widespread wolf control was strong. Over 100,000 letters and phone calls were received by the governor and a tourist boycott was started.

In December 1992, Governor Hickel tried to defuse the situation by convening a wolf summit in January of 1993, comprised of state and national groups. The Board met later in the month and rescinded the wolf control implementation plans.

Although the boycott was called off before the Wolf Summit in January 1993, wolf control programs were resumed shortly thereafter. Defenders filed a law suit in February 1993 to stop an "emergency" program to kill wolves which was reportedly under consideration by Governor Hickel due to pressure from Fairbanks caribou and moose hunters.

In June 1993, the Board re-authorized wolf control in Unit 20A, but limited the method of taking wolves to state-conducted ground based trapping and snaring. This state-sponsored wolf-snaring program killed 109 wolves, in addition to a substantial number of non-target animals including 35 moose, 26 red fox, 14 caribou, 10 coyotes, 4 golden eagles, 3 wolverines and 2 grizzly bears. An Alaska State Trooper investigation of this program found that 34% of the 109 wolves snared, and 35% of the non-targeted animals, were still alive when state trappers checked the snares days later.

Also, in June 1993, the BOG also readopts "land and shoot" wolf hunting but places it in the trapping regulations. The regulatory changes allow any Alaska resident to legally kill wolves simply by holding a current $15 trapping permit, shooting during trapping season and walking at least 100 yards from his airplane before opening fire. The new regulation imposes no bag limit on the number of wolves that can be shot and permits wolves to be killed statewide. By contrast, the earlier "land-and-shoot" program, allowed hunting only in certain areas of the state with a 10 wolf/hunter/season bag limit. In addition, the Board purposely extends the trapping season until the end of April -- with increasing day length and often ideal deep snow conditions to track and kill wolves. This regulation dramatically liberalizes existing trapping season restrictions and helps boost wolf kills to a 20 year record high: In the 1993-94 season alone, over 1,500 of the estimated 5,000 to 7,000 wolves in Alaska are killed. Efforts including appeals for intervention by the U.S. Department of the Interior and a lawsuit brought by conservation groups including Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, and Wolf Haven International are unsuccessful in overturning this regulation.

In 1993, Representative DeFazio (D-OR) introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to amend the AHA to ensure that "same day land-and-shoot" practices are restricted. The bill was never passed into law.

On November 12, 1993, Defenders petitioned Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt to issue emergency regulations under the federal Airborne Hunting Act (AHA) making it clear that the State of Alaska may not use fixed-wing or rotary aircraft to kill wolves on any lands in Alaska. The interpretive regulations were to be targeted at two aerially assisted wolf control programs approved by Alaska's Board of Game in June. One is a statewide program called "same-day airborne trapping." Under this program, any Alaskan resident with a $15 trapping permit can, during the trapping season, fly around throughout the State, spot wolves from the air, land their planes near the wolves, and open fire with semi-automatic assault rifles after moving only 300 feet from the airplane. There is no limit to the number of wolves that may be killed or wounded. Although the program stipulates that the would-be "trappers" cannot violate the AHA in the process, the top U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement agent from Northern Alaska, Al Crane, said this would be a virtual impossibility.

On February 17, 1994, Defenders along with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, and Wolf Haven International, filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska in State Superior Court challenging the state's new regulations allowing residents with $15 permits to track and shoot wolves with the help of an aircraft, as long as they landed and moved at least 100 yards from the aircraft before shooting. Defenders has asserted that the regulations are unenforceable and will inevitably lead to violations of the federal Airborne Hunting Act (AHA) which prohibits harassing or shooting wolves and other wildlife from the air.

On March 31, 1994, the Alaska Superior Court in Juneau denied a Defenders motion for a preliminary injunction which would have immediately stopped the "same day land-and-shoot" practice. Five months later, in August, Defenders continued its efforts to halt Alaska's wolf killing policies by fulfilling a motion for summary judgment in a case it filed in February. Three senior enforcement officials for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service testified in court documents on Defender's behalf.

Despite widespread public opposition, in 1994, the legislature passed the intensive management law, requiring the Board to provide high levels of harvest for hunters. This partisan mandate, opposed by the Department, was seen to limit the management options of both the Board and the Department, so that the interests of hunters became the dominant and preferred use.

In September 1994, due in part to the pressure from Defenders’ petition and grassroots pressure from our members to Secretary Babbitt, the Interior Department prohibited the practice of Aerial assisted hunting of wolves on National Wildlife Refuges in the state of Alaska.

Tony Knowles is inaugurated as governor on December 5, 1994.

The state-sponsored wolf control programs succeeded in killing about 120 wolves until Governor-elect Tony Knowles cancels the programs in December 1994 based on the poor design of the 1993-94 control and in response to a provocative, nationally broadcast video showing a wolf that had chewed its leg off in a snare. The next day, Defenders' President, Rodger Schlickeisen wrote a letter to Governor-Knowles advising him to greatly expand his announced plans beyond a temporary suspension of the ground-based wolf control program in one area of Alaska.

Governor Knowles also requests a National Academy of Sciences review of Alaska's entire wolf management system and also announces that no program should be considered unless it meets his three policy tests of cost effectiveness, scientific scrutiny, and broad public acceptability.

To further boost wolf kills in Alaska, the BOG in 1995 adopts a new state-sponsored predator control program for three areas in central Alaska but with a delayed implementation date pending full review by the National Academy of Sciences and later approval of the Governor. This action followed the dictates of the Alaska legislature's new "intensive management" law, which requires predator control in cases of high human demand and low moose and caribou numbers.

In 1996, after more than two decades of frustration over the wolf control issue and continuing abuses of the AHA, Defenders of Wildlife assisted the Alaska-based Wolf Management Reform Coalition in putting the question of same-day airborne wolf shooting to the Alaskan public. This statewide ballot initiative prohibited the land and shoot hunting of wolves, wolverines and foxes by the public and set strict standards before the Department could implement a wolf control program. It passed on November 5 with nearly 60% of the vote. The initiative consisted of two main elements. First, it repealed an earlier regulation allowing private citizens with a $15 trapping or $25 hunting license to fly over wolf habitat, land a plane near a wolf pack, and open fire on the animals as long as the hunter moves at least 100 yards from the plane. Second, the initiative prohibited the state from using aircraft in government wolf control programs except in the case of a biological emergency. The finding of a biological emergency has to be made by the Commissioner of Fish and Game based on adequate data. The new law also required that the program could be carried out by ADF&G personnel only.

Shortly after the historic vote, initiative opponents filed suit challenging the same-day airborne initiative as unconstitutional. After failing in the courts, initiative opponents turned to the Alaska State Legislature. Under state law, the Legislature may repeal any initiative by a majority vote two years after its certification.

On October 28, 1997, the National Research Council releases its study, “Wolves, Bears and Their Prey In Alaska” that “shortcomings in the design of past predator control programs make it impossible to determine whether wolf or bear reduction programs are effective in the long term.” The study also found that many of the biological relationships assumed in Alaska's predator control programs are not well understood and concluded that insufficient information often exists to conclude that such programs increase prey populations.

Based on the Academy report, Governor Knowles stated that any predator control program under his administration would have to meet three criteria: sound science, cost effectiveness and broad public acceptability. Following these principles, in 1997 the Department implemented a non-lethal wolf control program to attempt to rebuild the 40-mile caribou herd in eastern Alaska. Between 1997 and 2001, the Department sterilized the alpha males and females in wolf packs in the 40-mile area and moved subdominant wolves to other locations. The effectiveness of the control program is still being evaluated.

In 1999, Senator Pete Kelly introduces S.B. 74, which strikes at the heart of Proposition 3 by removing the requirement that to conduct wolf control using aircraft there has to be a strict finding of a biological emergency and allows the state to control wolves by the use of aircraft without first finding that a biological emergency exists. The bill was vetoed by Governor Knowles on the advice of the ADF&G and on the basis that it directly counters the will of the people but the legislature overrides the veto in a close two-thirds vote. The legislature passes the legislation in spite of an earlier 1998 state-wide poll that indicated that an overwhelming seventy percent of Alaskan voters opposed any attempt to legislatively repeal the 1996 same-day airborne shooting ban.

2000

In March of 2000, the legislature passes Senate Bill 267 (An Act Relating to Management of Game), which removes the requirement that only ADF&G personnel could carry out aerial shooting operations and opened land and shoot wolf hunting in specific land areas to private hunters where the BOG has adopted regulations to provide for intensive management of predators. Governor Tony Knowles vetoes the bill and the legislature overrides the veto. This was the only provision surviving from the 1996 initiative.

In response to the legislature’s actions, in May of 2000, Alaskans for Wildlife, another diverse citizen group supported by Defenders of Wildlife, submitted a referendum that sought to repeal SB 267 and reinstate the ban on public same-day airborne wolf hunting.

On November 7, 2000, the Referendum, formally known as Ballot Measure 6, passed by a margin of 54% to 46%. The ballot measure essentially prohibited private persons or agents designated by the ADF&G from shooting wolves within wolf control areas. With the passage of Proposition 6, a key part of the 1996 initiative was restored, which restricted airborne wolf control shooting to ADF&G personnel only. Critical to the passage of Ballot Measure 6 was the support given by Defenders to Alaskans for Wildlife, a state-based citizens group of prominent Alaskans representing a broad diversity of interests. A substantial effort was mounted to wage a broad-based campaign to counter extreme trophy hunting groups from outside Alaska, which sought to overturn the airplane hunting ban. These groups, led by the Alaska Outdoor Council, funded a distorted media campaign that characterized wolves as a threat to human safety. Thankfully, the Alaskan public saw through these groups’ disingenuous arguments and banned the practice of land and shoot wolf hunting by the public once again.

Defenders also assisted a coalition of Alaska environmental groups to defeat Ballot Measure 1, a constitutional amendment that would have eliminated all future wildlife-related initiatives. This ballot measure was part of concerted nationwide effort by the Virginia-based Ballot Initiatives Coalition, which wants to restrict the public’s use of ballot initiatives to pass pro-wildlife ballot measures across the country.

2002-2003

But again the legislature took action to over turn the will of the public. Governor Frank Murkowski, who was elected in the fall of 2002, signed a Senate Bill 155 (An Act relating to predator control programs; and providing for an effective date) in June 2003 that re-instated public "land and shoot" and airborne wolf shooting as a partof a renewed effort to conduct more widespread wolf control over huge areas of centralAlaska.

Senate Bill 155 does the following:

1. Allows for airborne or same-day airborne shooting of wolves by the public as part of a predator control plan;
2. Removed criteria for low or declining game populations prior to implementing predator control which allows for “preemptive strikes” on wolves and bears regardless of the status of prey populations; and
3. Removed authority of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner to determine that same-day or airborne shooting is necessary to accomplish a game management program authorized by the Alaska Board of Game.

After the bill’s enactment, the Board of Game subsequently approved regulations implementing this new law. In order to comply with the Federal Airborne Hunting Act, permits to non-state employees (the general public) must be issued by the ADF&G. Permits may only be issued in accordance with Statewide provision 5AAC 92.039 under Permit for taking wolves using aircraft, which has several requirements ranging from holding a current pilots license, a limit of 30 days, a requirement to seal wolves within five days after taking, among others.

In early November 2003, the Alaska Board of Game approves the issuance of permits to aerial gunners. The areas approved for aerial wolf control include almost two thousand square miles in interior Alaska. Land and shoot killing of wolves was also approved in an enormous area just east of Anchorage where 80% of the wolves are targeted.

During the winter of 2003/2004, the BOG implements SB 155 by adopting wolf control programs in Game Management Units 19D-East (McGrath), 19A and B (Central Kuskokwim), 13A, B, E, (Glenallen), 16B (west of Cook Inlet), 20E and 12 (Delta and Tok areas), which combined total more than 60,000 square miles. The programs are expected to last four to five years.

On November 18, 2003, the ADF&G issues the first aerial gunning permits.

2004

In January 2004, the first wolves are killed by aerial gunners.

In February 2004, Defenders of Wildlife submitted a petition to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton requesting that she issue regulations clarifying that the Federal Airborne Hunting Act does not allow the use of aircraft to kill wolves for the purpose of boosting game populations. In March, the Department responded that it had determined that Alaska’s actions were permitted by the act and that interpretive regulations were not warranted and would not be consistent with the act.

The first aerial gunning season ended on April 30, 2004. A total of 147 wolves were killed.

In May 2004, Defenders placed full page ads in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Washington Post and placed ads in Alaska's three major newspapers. The ads aimed to educate concerned individuals across the country about the plight of Alaska's wolves.

On July 30, 2004, Defenders filed a revised administrative petition asking Interior Secretary Gale Norton to implement and enforce the Federal Airborne Hunting Act in Alaska to stop the state's practice of using airplanes to chase down and kill wolves. (No response to this petition is ever received.)

In November 2004, the Board of Game unanimously passed a proposal to vastly expand aerial or land and shoot wolf in two new areas in eastern Alaska near the Canadian border where approximately 400 wolves will be targeted. But thanks in part to the efforts of Defenders of Wildlife and others, the final programs excluded all federal lands, including Wrangell St. Elias National Park and the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. With the addition of these two new programs, the total area where wolves can be killed through aerial gunning or land and shoot in the state is approximately 60,000 square miles. The BOG also approved the killing of 60% of the grizzly bears (approximately 80 bears) in the two new control areas. The approved methods include baiting of grizzly bears, which is otherwise currently illegal in Alaska. The ADFG also provided a "financial incentive" for the killing of grizzlies in these areas by allowing hunters to donate the bear skins to the Department to sell them at auction. Defenders considered this plan to be the equivalent of a bounty. The BOG also passed a proposal to vastly expand the area where snowmobile wolf hunting is allowed.The new area is mostly comprised of lands from the Yukon Delta and Togiak National Wildlife Refuges in western interior Alaska. Snowmachine wolf hunting is legal in vast areas of interior Alaska.Hunters can pursue wolves on snowmachines, but must stop the machine before shooting.

2005

In January 2005, more than 120 scientists send a letter to Governor Murkowski stating that 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. These findings were based on a report written by Vic Van Ballenberghe, "Biological Standards and Guidelines for Predator Control in Alaska: Application of the National Research Council's Recommendations". The report evaluated how well the Board of Game incorporated the National Research Council's recommended biological standards and science-based management techniques into Alaska's recent predator control programs.

In 2005, Senate Bill 170 was introduced by Senator Ralph Seekins but failed to pass. But it was significant because it was the most far reaching of any legislation introduced in recent years and was an indication of what may come in the future if the political make-up of the legislature doesn’t change. The bill would have increased license fees for the ADF&G but tied this to the requirement that game populations and hunting opportunities be enhanced. It required approval of all Department policies by the BOG, prohibited the transfer of more than $20,000 between Department projects without legislative approval, and mandated more aggressive predator management. The bill also allowed same day airborne hunting of bears in certain management areas. Overall, the bill greatly diminished existing authorities and powers of the ADF&G presumably as punishment for years of perceived foot-dragging on predator control.

During the winter of 2004/2005, the BOG approves additional programs in Unit 13C. Units 16B, 19A, 19D-East and 20E/12 are aerial or land and shoot. Units 13 A, B, C & E are land and shoot only.

At their spring meeting, the Alaska Board of Game approved the baiting and killing of 80 grizzly bears along the Canadian border.

By April 30, 2005, 276 wolves were killed by aerial gunning. Grizzly bears were also targeted for predator control via a bear-baiting program instituted in 2004.

In July 2005, the American Society of Mammalogists, established in 1919 and composed of over 4,500 members, many of whom are professional scientists, sends a letter to Governor Murkowski expressing their concern with the potential mismanagement of large carnivores in Alaska and states that the new predator control programs do not meet the scientific standards required for sound management of these natural resources.

The statewide group, Alaskans for Wildlife, reformed in mid-2005 in support of a third ballot measure. If passed, their language would essentially reinstate the 1996 initiative banning all airborne wolf shooting absent a biological emergency. It also adds grizzly bears to the prohibition, since the BOG revised its Bear Conservation and Management Policy in 2006 to authorize airborne control of grizzly bears. On August 23, 2005, they submit an application to the Lieutenant Governor's Office.

The Division of Elections determines that there are a sufficient number of sponsor signatures on September 16, 2005.

In October 2005, a big game hunting guide was prosecuted for illegally killing wolves outside the permit area during the 2004/2005 aerial wolf gunning season. David Haag killed nine wolves by shooting them from his airplane, and then misled authorities about the location of the killings.

Alaskans for Wildlife’s application is certified on October 27, 2005. Petition booklets were issued to the initiative committee on November 2, 2005 and signature collection began.

On November 4, 2005, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced that aerial gunning permits were available to private hunters for a third season.

ADFG Commissioner McKie Campbell, appointed by Governor Frank Murkowski, issued a press release opposing AFW’s petition. This, however, is in direct contrast to the Department's historical position against the use of private hunters in Alaska's predator control programs.

2006

In a case brought by the Connecticut group Friends of Animals, Alaska Superior Court judge Sharon Gleason ruled in January 2006 that the state’s airborne wolf control program was illegal because the state failed to follow its own enabling laws in adopting its regulations. The ruling essentially pointed to the fact that the Department had not examined alternatives to wolf control, had not sufficiently evaluated prey population numbers and had failed to meet other procedural requirements. The ruling leads to a brief cessation of the aerial control program.

In response to the court’s ruling, the Alaska Board of Game held an emergency meeting on January 25th to address the deficiencies the court found and the Department of Fish and Game quickly moved to provide the Board of Game with the documents and findings needed to cure the deficiencies identified by the court. The Board adopted new emergency regulations with substantiating documents and findings to make the programs consistent with the enabling laws. With the exception of one control area that was reduced in size, wolf control resumed for the remainder of the 2006 season.

After listening to the Board's discussion, Defenders immediately sent a letter stating that the Board's actions were illegal. Despite our warning, the new regulations were filed with the Lt. Governor's office on January 26.

The Director of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife Conservation responded to the American Society of Mammalogist’s July 2005 letter.

On February 10, 2006, a temporary restraining order seeking to once again halt Alaska’s aerial gunning programs was denied by the Alaska Supreme Court. This meant that the state's aerial gunning programs were once again in full swing and would be allowed to continue through the end of April.

The Alaska Board of Game met from March 10-20 to consider a number of new proposals seeking to further expand control of Alaska's predators. The Board voted to table adopting regulations that would extend the emergency regulations passed in January and allowed the aerial gunning programs to continue. They also tabled new requests to expand aerial wolf control in other parts of the state.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced March 31, that one of the wolf control areas has been closed to further aerial control for this regulatory year because aerial gunners and other hunters and trappers had killed the targeted number of wolves.

In May 2006, the Board of Game expanded predator control by adopting regulations to allow black bear hunters in areas with predator control programs to shoot black bears over bait stations the same day they are airborne as long as they are 300 feet from the aircraft. In the 2006 legislative session, SB 170 carries over as a sponsor substitute bill but again fails to pass.

In June 2006, the American Society of Mammalogists adopted a resolution asking Governor Murkowski and the Board of Game to collect reliable data on populations of large carnivores and ungulates, and to work closely with professional wildlife biologists to ensure sound design of predator control programs. They further recommend that assessment of predator control be conducted with approaches of sufficient scope, duration and spatial scale to implement adaptive-management practices that will ensure the conservation of Alaskan ecosystems and its unique mammalian fauna.

In August 2006, Defenders filed a lawsuit in state courts to stop aerial gunning. Read our press release.

The American Society of Mammalogists sent its resolution to Governor Murkowski.

In September 2006, ADF&G Commissioner McKie Campbell responded to the American Society of Mammalogists.

In October 2006, Alaskans for Wildlife submitted nearly 57,000 to the Division of Elections in support of a third ballot measure seeking to restrict aerial gunning.

In early November, Sarah Palin defeated Tony Knowles in the governor’s race. She is on record as supporting intensive management of predators and aerial gunning as a tool. She is affiliated with the Alaska Outdoors Council, which has been the major supporter of intensive predator control. Senator Ralph Seekins, author of anti-wolf legislation, lost his state senate race thanks in part to a radio campaign by Americans for Conservation.

On November 20, 2006, Defenders and our co-plaintiffs requested a preliminary injunction to stop aerial gunners from taking to the air this season.

2007

On January 26, 2007, Alaska Lieutenant Governor Parnell certified Alaskans for Wildlife's initiative prohibiting the shooting of wolves and grizzly bears with the use of aircraft was properly filed and the proposition will be placed on the 2008 primary election ballot.

On January 31, 2007, the judge denies Defenders’ request for a preliminary injunction. Read our press release.

At their March 2007 meeting, the Board of Game asked the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for an assessment of the aerial gunning programs. The Department said the programs are not reaching their goals. As a result, the Board asked Governor Palin to approve funding for state biologists and state helicopters to implement the state’s aerial gunning program. Soon thereafter the Department issued a press release stating they would also issue more permits and offer a $150 “incentive” to permittees who kill wolves as part of the predator control programs. At this same meeting, the Board greatly expands predator control methods to attempt to reduce the black bear population in Unit 16B. As many as 1,400 wolves can be killed. For the first time, sows and bear cubs can be killed.

On March 27, Defenders, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club file a request for a temporary restraining order to stop the bounty payments.

On March 30, a state Superior Court judge issued the temporary restraining order the state from paying a $150 bounty. Read Defenders press release.

On April 4, Defenders and 6 other groups run a full page ad in the Anchorage Daily News saying Governor Palin is not listening to Alaskans and asks the public to contact the governor and tell her the expansion of the aerial control programs.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game files court documents in response to the March 30 temporary restraining order saying it has decided not to offer any financial incentives such as payment for gas and that the Board of Game has not given any indication that it will holding an emergency meeting to address the court's finding that the $150 bounties the state was offering were illegal.

Currently, five of the seven approved programs are being implemented. Over the past five years, 795 wolves have been killed.

In May of  2007, Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the winter’s wolf control program fell short of its goals.  Only 266 wolves were reportedly killed by hunting, trapping and aerial control, out of 664 that were targeted.  Ninety seven were killed from the air.  High fuel costs and a limited snow for tracking are claimed as contributing to the lower wolf numbers killed.  Defenders contends that because wolf population estimates are based on hunter reports and not based on scientific surveys and could therefore by overestimated that a greater percentage of wolves may have been killed than has been accounted for.

On May 11, 2007, in the final days of the legislative session, Governor Palin submitted identical bills, House Bill 256 and Senate Bill 176, to the legislature.  These bills, renaming “Intensive Management” as “Active Management,” attempt to avoid successful litigation by Defenders by weakening the scientific standards to be used by the Board of Game’s in approving control programs.  The bills would end the requirement that the Board must determine that “predation is an important cause” for a depressed prey population.  Instead, the Board would merely need to conclude that same-day airborne or aerial shooting is “conducive” to meeting a population or harvest objective.  The bills also delete the requirement that a comprehensive game management plan be in place prior to invoking aerial predator control.  Because these bills deal with the Same-day Airborne Hunting law, there was a risk that this law, if passed, would be declared by the lieutenant governor to be “substantially similar” to the pending ballot initiative, thus removing it from the August 2008 ballot. The bills were referred to legislative committees and no further action was taken in 2007.  They would be considered by the legislature in 2008. 

In June of   2007, Governor Sarah Palin approved a capital budget that contained $400,000 for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to conduct a “public education campaign” on predator control. Defenders and others criticized the appropriation as a gross misuse of funds and a thinly veiled attempt to influence voter opinions on the ballot measure. Numerous individuals wrote letters to the editor protesting the use of public money for propaganda on an issue that will be decided by the voters. 

On September 25, Representative George Miller (D-Cal. 7th District) introduced the Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act, HR 366, in the U.S. House of Representatives.  This legislation would close the loophole in the Federal Airborne Hunting Act which Alaska is exploiting to permit private citizens to conduct aerial predator control to boost prey populations for hunting.  The bill would prevent this practice from spreading to the lower 48 such as Wyoming and Idaho which have announced their intent to boost game populations by killing wolves. Defenders launched an advertising campaign to raise awareness about this bill, including a video on YouTube.

On the same day, 172 scientists sent a letter to Governor Palin criticizing the state’s aerial predator control program.

In October of 2007, Defenders and other groups send a letter to Governor Palin criticizing her appropriation of $400,000 allocated to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to develop public education materials aimed at improperly influencing voters on the pending ballot measure.

In November of 2007, predator control began for wolves in the state for the 2007-2008 aerial control season.

2008

On January 10, the state published several publications paid for by the state’s $400,000 public education campaign. 

In mid-January, five Alaskans traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with members of Congress and their staff to urge cosponsorship of the Protect America’s Wildlife Act.  The Alaskans brought to lawmakers’ attention that a loophole in the federal Airborne Hunting Act of 1971 was being exploited in Alaska, allowing private gunners to participate in de-facto aerial hunting under the guise of performing wildlife management.  The number of PAW Act cosponsors grew during this visit.

The Board of Game met in Anchorage from January 25-28, considering proposals on statewide regulations.  It delayed decision on controversial “denning” program which would allow for the taking and killing of wolf pups in their dens.

On January 30, the House Resources committee of the Alaska legislature began hearings on House Bill 256.  Defenders of Wildlife field staff testified at the hearing in Juneau. Read our testimony. 

On January 31, House Bill 348 was introduced, which sought to give the Board of Game sole authority over wildlife as it is a “public asset” – an attempt by extreme hunter special interest groups to thwart future ballot measures on wildlife issues.

In February of 2008, using some of its $400,000 public education campaign fund, the state hired a temporary staff position and began to fund travel for Board of Game members to make presentations across the state.  Defenders informed its local members and activists and encouraged their attendance at these events in order to ask the state hard questions about their materials. The presentations’ effectiveness is poor because most are poorly attended.

In March of 2008, the Board of Game met in Fairbanks from February 28 to March 9.  Defenders attended the meeting and presented testimony and submitted comments. The Board approved an aerial wolf control program using ADF&G personnel and helicopters to benefit the Southern Alaska Peninsula Herd, which has dropped from 10,000 in 1983 to 600 in 2008.  Unmentioned was the fact that this herd has dropped below 500 at least three times in the last hundred years, but has rebounded without human intervention.

On March 14, a state superior court judge upheld his 2007 decision that the $150 wolf bounties the state attempted to offer were illegal but that the Board does have the authority to approve bounties.  The judge also ruled aerial predator control programs in several areas of Alaska invalid.  The judge also held that predators, like other wildlife, must be managed under the principle of sustained yield.  Defenders of Wildlife was the lead plaintiff in the case and was joined in the case by Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club, with legal representation provided by Trustees for Alaska.

A week later on March 21, the Board of Game met in an emergency session to address the court’s ruling and made findings to legalize the two invalidated expansions of predator control.  The temporarily closed areas in Unit 16A and the Upper Yukon/Tanana were reopened for aerial gunning.

On March 26, House Bill 256 passed in the state House of Representatives. The Senate version (SB 176) remained in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In April 2008 Defenders applauded a move, the “Active Management” legislation, Senate Bill 176 (companion to House Bill 256), is held in the Senate Judiciary Committee and failed to pass.

Senate Bill 306 (companion to House Bill 348) passed on the last day of the legislative session, April 13th.  In a press conference, Governor Palin stated her disappointment that SB 176 failed to pass and vowed to introduce similar legislation in the future. 

In May of 2008, ADF&G announced that the predator control program achieved success in several, but not all areas, again due to the price of aviation fuel and a low-snow winter.  In total, 286 wolves were killed in the predator control areas by hunting, trapping, or aerial control.  124 of these were from aerial control.  The goal was to kill up to 670 wolves in these areas.

On June 27, the state issued a press release announcing that it had successfully used a helicopter to kill 28 wolves on state lands near Izembeck National Wildlife Refuge, in order to help protect the Southern Alaska Peninsula Caribou Herd.

Newspaper reports on July 19 revealed that 14 of the wolves killed in June by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were actually pups. These pups were illegally killed because denning is an illegal practice, even when done for the purpose of predator control. Defenders released a statement to the press regarding this illegal action.