Next week the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge will host an open house on refuge hunting rules proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service although local managers say few impacts will be felt here.
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan says federal agencies are again overstepping their bounds…
Sen. Sullivan (R-AK): “With these new proposed regulations – which I want to emphasize to the committee only focus on Alaska – the Fish & Wildlife Service will administratively impose, via regulatory action, a regime that will preempt science-based management approved by the Alaska Board of Game in an open and public process. This is a perfect example of where an agency philosophically disagrees with federal law so they bypass the will of congress and seek to regulate policy through their regulations, again, just on one state.”
He told a Senate Environment & Public Works Hearing in January that the agency wrote new rules which will only affect Alaska and change the relationship between the state and federal government from one of cooperation to subservience.
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Manager Andy Loranger says the proposed rules will not have a major impact locally…
Loranger: “So this regulation would not affect normal hunting or traditional hunting of brown bears under state seasons and bag limits here on the refuge. One of the specifics in the proposed rule is that it would prohibit in all refuges in Alaska taking brown bears over bait. That would not be a change here on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge [KNWR]. That’s already not allowed through our program here. We have an exception for the allowance of baiting on the refuge and it’s specific to the baiting of black bears and that’s done under the auspice of a refuge special use permit.”
Loranger said the only real impact will be that it’s currently allowed to take a black bear on the KNWR same day airborne if that bear is taken over bait. That will no longer be possible if these regulations pass.
Other changes related to hunting wolves and coyotes during the denning season are not relevant to the KNWR.
An open house will be held at the Refuge Headquarters in Soldotna on Tuesday, February 16th, from 4-5pm and public comment will be taken from 5:30-7:30pm.
