ALASKA :
the magnitude of the public lands in question , it almost was a guarantee that there would be a need for SAF to step up and partner with Alaska and Alaskan hunting groups to hold the federal agencies to their word . Management of hunting and wildlife is a power reserved for the states ,” said Heusinkveld .
The rule changes flew in the face of congressional intent , as well as the precedential and statutory right of states to manage wildlife on federal lands within their borders . More than any other state , Alaska has firmly spelled out in state and federal law that hunting plays a strong and important role in the state ’ s heritage and that the state should control season dates , methods of take and bag limits .
These principles , followed for decades , are enshrined in the Alaska state constitution , Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act , the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 , the National Wildlife Administration Act and the Alaska Statehood Act .
If the federal government could usurp management powers of fish and game on millions of acres of public land in Alaska , they could use the precedent to do so on federal land nationwide ; politicizing wildlife management and relegating it to the whims of who sat in the Oval Office and bureaucrats in Washington , D . C .
“ As SAF looked closer at the real impacts of the rule , it became clear that these changes in management jurisdiction were a threat to hunting nationwide . But even more , this was a targeted attack on hunting practices used to hunt for food , and this was an attack on vulnerable indigenous hunting traditions ,” continued Heusinkveld . “ Clearly , the state of Alaska was more sensitive to the needs of its people , and its management decisions reflected that . The willingness of the federal managers to seize on urban and media misperceptions , where the most harmed were the most vulnerable , was untenable . SAF had to engage , and we applaud Department of Interior Secretary Bernhardt , U . S . Senators Sullivan and Murkowsi , and Congressman Young for working to restore the right of Alaska to manage fish and game , and for the state ’ s citizens and native communities to engage in proven scientific management and traditional means of harvesting wildlife .”
After repeal of the 2015 NPS rule , urban Alaskans will once again be able to join with their rural family members in traditional hunting practices . Once again residents from Fairbanks will be able to legally accompany their relatives and selectively take healthy swimming caribou for elders living in remote villages in northwest Alaska . College students will be able to return to their village and legally engage in traditional winter hunting of bears for food . And finally , state managers will be able adjust hunting seasons to open , close , lengthen or shorten hunting seasons for moose , caribou , bears and wolves as promised in the statehood compact . Fair balance has rightfully been restored between that state and federal managers but most importantly , Alaska ’ s most vulnerable hunting community has been given a voice and reaffirmation that federal promises made will be kept .
Non-traditional means of hunting touted in the media , such as hunting swimming caribou or denning bears , only applied to native communities .
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16 SPORTSMEN ’ S MONTHLY