Defenders' Experts
Alaska Wolves Management and Policy
Defenders has been involved in conserving wolf populations for more than 30 years. We are committed to ending Alaska’s de facto aerial wolf hunting program. Currently, we are attempting to achieve this goal through the rulemaking process and by amending the federal Airborne Hunting Act. We also working to achieve stronger conservation of Alaska’s carnivores through the Alaska Board of Game process.
History of Defenders' efforts on behalf of Alaska wolves
Aerial Gunning Continues Its Toll on Wolves
Despite the passage of two ballot measures on the issue, aerial gunning continues to occur in Alaska. Since 2003, more than 1,000 wolves have been shot by aerial gunning teams in five areas of the state.
In addition to the loophole in the Airborne Hunting Act , this is due to the passage of a state law in 1994 that requires restoring depleted caribou and moose populations to previously attained levels including historical highs. (See detailed history )
In many instances such highs resulted from irruptions linked to large-scale predator control in the 1950s and 1960s. Peak populations were clearly unsustainable and restoring them now is likely unattainable. Furthermore, estimates of the magnitude of peak populations, even those reached as recently as the 1980s, are often little more than guesses and are often inflated.
Alaska Board of Game
Most decisions regarding wolves rest with the Alaska Board of Game (BOG), a seven-member panel of citizens appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature. This board has historically and currently consists primarily of hunters.
The Board of Game, guided by the intensive management statute, has consistently set ungulate population and harvest objectives at high levels or raised previous objectives absent data on habitat quality and carrying capacity. The net result of this is to commit the Board of Game to approving perpetual predator control programs that chase unattainable objectives. The current programs will likely repeat the pattern of the past wherein wolf and bear control triggered ungulate irruptions followed by habitat damage and sharp ungulate declines.
Review our work related to the Board of Game process.
State Legislation
Defenders actively monitors the Alaska legislature for bills pertaining to the management of the state's wildlife. In the spring of 2008, we successfully blocked passage of legislation introduced by Governor Palin that aimed to thwart future legal challenges to the predator control programs and to remove the August 2008 ballot measure on aerial hunting from the ballot. The legislation was introduced at the behest of the Alaska Outdoor Council, which is the Alaska chapter of the NRA. Read our letter to Governor Palin and see the full page ad that ran in the Anchorage Daily News. Palin has vowed to reintroduce the legislation in the 2009 session.
Learn more about the bill
Read Tom Banks written testimony.
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