Trump administration moves to reverse Obama-era hunting restrictions in Alaska

The Trump administration moved Monday to rescind Obama-era regulations on hunting predators in Alaska’s national preserves, issuing a proposal that would put the state back in charge over the objections of wildlife groups.

The National Park Service released a proposed rule that would reverse the 2015 regulations on sport hunting and trapping in Alaskan national preserves, areas within national parks designated by Congress for hunting, fishing and mining.

“[S]tates have primary jurisdiction to manage wildlife throughout their state,” said the proposed rule, which is scheduled to be published Tuesday. “In addition, NPS has broad discretion in managing wildlife on national preserves under applicable laws, policies, and regulations.”

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game was “pleased to see the National Park Service working to better align federal regulations with State of Alaska hunting and trapping regulations,” Maria Gladziszewski, deputy director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation, told the Associated Press.

The proposal is “progress in that direction, and we appreciate those efforts. Alaskans benefit when state and federal regulations are consistent,” she said.

Meanwhile, environmental groups denounced the effort, warning a repeal would allow hunters to engage in “cruel and harmful” practices such as hunting black bears, including cubs and sows with cubs, with artificial light at den sites; taking wolves and coyotes during denning season, and using dogs to hunt black bears.

“Cruel and harmful hunting methods like killing bear cubs and their mothers near dens have no place on our national preserves,” said Colleen Adkins, lawyer and biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Wildlife groups have clashed with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as he moves to expand hunting opportunities, reduce regulations and transfer authority over land management when possible to the states.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of the Wilderness Society, accused the White House of hitting a “new low.”

“Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. The proposed regulations cast aside the very purpose of national parks to protect wildlife and wild places,” Ms. Rappaport told the Anchorage Daily News. “The National Park Service should not accept Alaska’s extreme predator control program as a suitable method of managing wildlife and their habitat.”

According to the proposed rule, Alaska “disputes that the hunting methods and seasons (allowed by the state but prohibited by current NPS regulations) are intended to function as a predator control program.”

“Rather, the State asserts the hunting regulations are intended to provide opportunity for harvests of wolves, coyotes, bears, and other species as requested by the public,” said the proposal.

The public has 60 days to submit comments on the proposed rule to the Federal Register.

The regulations have long rankled Alaska officials. The state sued last year to overturn the NPS rule along with similar Fish and Wildlife Service regulations, saying they would “impact some of the customary and traditional methods of harvest practiced by Alaska’s subsistence users.”

“As Alaskans, we have a unique relationship with our land – especially in the most rural parts of our state where residents rely on hunting and fishing to put food on the table,” said Gov. Bill Walker in a January 2017 statement. “These regulations impact our basic means of survival. Alaskans must be able to provide for their families, and the rules that have been put forward by the federal government do not support that.”

• This article was based in part on wire-service reports.