Fisher-Dude
03-09-2012, 08:50 PM
Alaska Game Board OKs aerial bear control in Kuskokwim region
by Tim Mowry /
tmowry@newsminer.com
03.05.12 - 11:52 am
FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Board of Game on Sunday approved a plan to have state wildlife biologists shoot black and grizzly bears from helicopters in
the middle Kuskokwim River region starting next spring to increase the moose population for local hunters.
The Game Board unanimously approved the action late in the afternoon during a meeting at the Wedgewood Resort in Fairbanks.
The program, which was proposed by the Department of Fish and Game, will
reduce the black and grizzly bear populations in a small portion of Game
Management Unit 19A as low as possible in the spring of 2013 and 2014,
according to a news release issued by the department Sunday night.
State biologists will shoot the bears.
While the Game Board adopted the department's proposal for a bear control
program in unit 19A, it tabled until later in the meeting a controversial
proposal that would allow snaring of bears in six Interior game management
units.
Unit 19A is located about 250 miles southeast of Fairbanks and includes the
villages of Kalskag, Aniak, Sleetmute and Stony River, among others.
The news release did not specify how many bears the department would kill,
only that the populations in a 540-square mile management area will be
reduced "as low as possible."
The department estimates there are between 135 and 160 black bears in the
control area and 10 to 15 brown bears. The department said the two-year plan "will have only a minor effect" on the overall black and brown bear populations in all of Unit 19A. The entire unit encompasses almost
10,000 square miles. Fish and Game estimates the entire unit has 200 grizzly bears and between 2,500 and 3,000 black bears.
"All bears within the 540 square mile area will be removed, but that total
will include many more black bears than grizzlies," Fish and Game
spokeswoman Cathie Harms wrote in an email.
Biologists will salvage the meat of as many of the bears they shoot as
possible and distribute it in local communities.
It marks the second time in two months that the Game Board has approved a plan to allow Fish and Game personnel to shoot grizzly bears from
helicopters. The board in January approved a similar plan to have department personnel shoot grizzlies from helicopters on the North Slope to reduce predation on a rapidly declining musk ox population.
The seven-member Game Board is appointed by the governor and sets bag limits and seasons for game animals. In recent years, the board has moved
aggressively to expand human consumption of moose and caribou by killing
predators, first wolves and more recently bears.
Sunday's action took place on the third day of the Game Board's 10-day
meeting in Fairbanks and followed two days of public testimony during which
61 people spoke on myriad topics addressing the more than 100 proposals the board is considering to change, eliminate or establish hunting regulations throughout the Interior.
Board chairman Cliff Judkins said the Game Board took the action to help
residents living in the central Kuskokwim region. About half of unit 19A is
closed to moose hunting, and the other half is open only to very limited
drawing permit hunts.
"The moose population is very low, and local people depend on moose meat," Judkins said in the news release. "This program will allow moose numbers to rebound much faster than they can now."
An aerial wolf control program has been in place in Unit 19A since 2004.
Private pilots and gunners with permits from the state have reduced the wolf
population by at least 60 percent each year since 2005, but there has been
no increase in moose numbers, according to the department's proposal to the board.
"Adding bear removal to the predation control program should help address
this issue," the department wrote in its proposal.
The moose population in all of unit 19A is estimated between 2,791 and 5,782 moose. At only one-quarter moose per square mile, the moose density rates in the control area are some of the lowest in the entire unit, the department said. A fall moose composition survey in November 2010 showed a calf-to-cow ratio of only 19 calves per 100 cows.
The plan is modeled after a similar program near McGrath in nearby unit 19D
where the department captured more than 100 black and grizzly bears and
moved them to other parts of the state to successfully boost the moose
population in that area. Research conducted in unit 19D between 2001 and
2007 showed that bear predation was the primary mortality factor on moose
calves.
Moving bears was not approved in unit 19A due to concerns from residents of other parts of the state who voiced opposition to moving bears to their
areas and because of the high cost associated with such a program, the
department said in the news release.
The Game Board also adopted a proposal Sunday to allow same-day airborne
hunting for black bears at bait stations in the Interior region, as long as
the hunter is more than 300 feet from the aircraft before shooting. That
proposal was submitted by the Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee.
The Game Board meeting continues today beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.
C newsminer.com (http://newsminer.com/) 2012
by Tim Mowry /
tmowry@newsminer.com
03.05.12 - 11:52 am
FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Board of Game on Sunday approved a plan to have state wildlife biologists shoot black and grizzly bears from helicopters in
the middle Kuskokwim River region starting next spring to increase the moose population for local hunters.
The Game Board unanimously approved the action late in the afternoon during a meeting at the Wedgewood Resort in Fairbanks.
The program, which was proposed by the Department of Fish and Game, will
reduce the black and grizzly bear populations in a small portion of Game
Management Unit 19A as low as possible in the spring of 2013 and 2014,
according to a news release issued by the department Sunday night.
State biologists will shoot the bears.
While the Game Board adopted the department's proposal for a bear control
program in unit 19A, it tabled until later in the meeting a controversial
proposal that would allow snaring of bears in six Interior game management
units.
Unit 19A is located about 250 miles southeast of Fairbanks and includes the
villages of Kalskag, Aniak, Sleetmute and Stony River, among others.
The news release did not specify how many bears the department would kill,
only that the populations in a 540-square mile management area will be
reduced "as low as possible."
The department estimates there are between 135 and 160 black bears in the
control area and 10 to 15 brown bears. The department said the two-year plan "will have only a minor effect" on the overall black and brown bear populations in all of Unit 19A. The entire unit encompasses almost
10,000 square miles. Fish and Game estimates the entire unit has 200 grizzly bears and between 2,500 and 3,000 black bears.
"All bears within the 540 square mile area will be removed, but that total
will include many more black bears than grizzlies," Fish and Game
spokeswoman Cathie Harms wrote in an email.
Biologists will salvage the meat of as many of the bears they shoot as
possible and distribute it in local communities.
It marks the second time in two months that the Game Board has approved a plan to allow Fish and Game personnel to shoot grizzly bears from
helicopters. The board in January approved a similar plan to have department personnel shoot grizzlies from helicopters on the North Slope to reduce predation on a rapidly declining musk ox population.
The seven-member Game Board is appointed by the governor and sets bag limits and seasons for game animals. In recent years, the board has moved
aggressively to expand human consumption of moose and caribou by killing
predators, first wolves and more recently bears.
Sunday's action took place on the third day of the Game Board's 10-day
meeting in Fairbanks and followed two days of public testimony during which
61 people spoke on myriad topics addressing the more than 100 proposals the board is considering to change, eliminate or establish hunting regulations throughout the Interior.
Board chairman Cliff Judkins said the Game Board took the action to help
residents living in the central Kuskokwim region. About half of unit 19A is
closed to moose hunting, and the other half is open only to very limited
drawing permit hunts.
"The moose population is very low, and local people depend on moose meat," Judkins said in the news release. "This program will allow moose numbers to rebound much faster than they can now."
An aerial wolf control program has been in place in Unit 19A since 2004.
Private pilots and gunners with permits from the state have reduced the wolf
population by at least 60 percent each year since 2005, but there has been
no increase in moose numbers, according to the department's proposal to the board.
"Adding bear removal to the predation control program should help address
this issue," the department wrote in its proposal.
The moose population in all of unit 19A is estimated between 2,791 and 5,782 moose. At only one-quarter moose per square mile, the moose density rates in the control area are some of the lowest in the entire unit, the department said. A fall moose composition survey in November 2010 showed a calf-to-cow ratio of only 19 calves per 100 cows.
The plan is modeled after a similar program near McGrath in nearby unit 19D
where the department captured more than 100 black and grizzly bears and
moved them to other parts of the state to successfully boost the moose
population in that area. Research conducted in unit 19D between 2001 and
2007 showed that bear predation was the primary mortality factor on moose
calves.
Moving bears was not approved in unit 19A due to concerns from residents of other parts of the state who voiced opposition to moving bears to their
areas and because of the high cost associated with such a program, the
department said in the news release.
The Game Board also adopted a proposal Sunday to allow same-day airborne
hunting for black bears at bait stations in the Interior region, as long as
the hunter is more than 300 feet from the aircraft before shooting. That
proposal was submitted by the Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee.
The Game Board meeting continues today beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.
C newsminer.com (http://newsminer.com/) 2012