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More wolves, bears in the cross hairs
By Alex Demarban
Anchorage Daily News
The Board of Game has strengthened and expanded a predator control program that's already larger than any in decades.
The board broadened two of the five areas where land-and-shoot and aerial wolf kills are allowed. It nearly tripled the size of one of those areas, to 18,750 square miles, to protect caribou near the Canadian border.
The board also made it easier for hunters to kill bears in the five areas. For example, it loosened restrictions on same-day airborne bait-hunting.
Predator control now covers about 9 percent of the state. It has not been that extensive since at least the 1970s, said Fish and Game Department spokeswoman Cathie Harms.
In the three-day meeting, which began Friday in Anchorage, the board also made technical regulation changes intended to protect its predator control programs from court challenge.
The board's changes are "wonderful," said Rod Arno, executive director of the pro-hunting Alaska Outdoor Council. Caribou and moose numbers fell severely after predator control was stopped for eight years, he said.
It was revived in 2003. Drastic measures are still necessary to increase big-game populations, he said.
[FOR THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE...]
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Wolf control effort fails to hit target
By Tim Mowry
Fairbanks Daily News
The high price of fuel is just one reason the number of wolves taken in the state's aerial wolf-control program this winter was lower than expected, according to state wildlife officials.
While they still have two days to report wolves taken before the program ended on April 30, aerial gunners had reported taking 153 wolves in five areas of the state this winter as of Tuesday. State wildlife officials were aiming for a harvest of up to 400 wolves.
Bad weather, a court ruling that halted the entire program for a week in January and a closure in Game Management Unit 16B west of Anchorage during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race also conspired against aerial wolf hunters.
"There’s a lot of factors," said Fish and Game public information officer Bruce Bartley in Anchorage.
This is the third year in a row the state has issued permits to shoot wolves from airplanes or to land and shoot them in five areas. A total of 564 wolves
have been killed in the past three years.
The program has stirred a controversy over using airplanes to kill wolves, an often-debated topic in Alaska. Voters have twice voted down aerial hunting of wolves through ballot initiatives but the Alaska Legislature circumvented those results by passing a law that allows the state to issue permits to qualified pilots and gunners in areas of "intensive management," a term for areas that have moose and caribou populations that have been deemed important for human consumption.
The goal is to reduce wolf populations in each of the specified areas by as much as 80 percent annually, leaving a minimum number of wolves to ensure they are not wiped out.
[FOR THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE...]
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Focusing on the Fortymile
By Tim Mowry
Fairbanks Daily News
The Interior's largest caribou herd has stopped growing and state wildlife officials say wolves are to blame.
After almost doubling in size over the course of eight years as a result of a multipronged recovery plan, the Fortymile Caribou Herd's size has plateaued around 43,000.
Bad weather, a court ruling that halted the entire program for a week in January and a closure in Game Management Unit 16B west of Anchorage during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race also conspired against aerial wolf hunters.
"The growth of that herd has stopped and the reason is more animals are dying," said information officer Cathie Harms with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks. "We're relatively confident that the increase in mortality is due to predation."
In response, the state is proposing to expand its aerial wolf-control program to cover the Fortymile herd's entire range, said Harms. The department submitted a proposal outlining such a program to the Alaska Board of Game earlier this month during a meeting in Fairbanks, but the Game Board tabled it and all other predator control proposals until a special meeting in May.
[FOR THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE...]
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Wolf control hits kill target
By Mary Pemberton
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE - For the first time since Alaska's aerial wolf control program began three years ago, it has reached one of its target goals, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Monday.
With 62 wolves killed either through the aerial program or trapping, the predator control program has reached its limit in game unit 19A near Aniak in Southcentral Alaska. Forty-seven of the wolves were shot under the aerial program, and the others were hunted or trapped. The trapping number is expected to increase as the 30-day reporting requirement is met, officials said.
"From our perspective, it went well this year," said Kim Titus, deputy director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation, commenting on the program operating near Aniak.
The division issued an emergency order effective Monday shutting down the aerial wolf control program in that game unit. The goal in the Aniak area was to reduce the number of wolves from an estimated 114 to 120 wolves to between 40 and 53.
About 400 wolves have been killed in the first two years of the program. The goal this year is another 400. As of Monday, 140 wolves have been killed this year statewide under the aerial program. Unlike aerial hunters who have five days to report their numbers to the state, trappers have 30 days.
[FOR THE FULL STORY CLICK HERE...]
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