The Federal Subsistence Board is seeking public comment through July 19 for new statewide hunting and trapping regulations proposed to take effect from 2022 to 2024, according to a press release from the board.
The Federal Subsistence Board oversees the Subsistence Management Program, and is made up of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Forest Service.
The state is divided into 10 different resource regions in an effort to provide an opportunity for Alaskans to participate in subsistence management.
According to the program’s full book of proposed regulations, the Federal Subsistence Board can restrict hunting and fishing by non-subsistence users on federal public lands and waters when necessary for conservation of wildlife populations, public safety and continued viability of wildlife populations, continuing subsistence uses of such populations, and compliance with other applicable laws.
In total, there are 56 new proposed subsistence program regulations. Changes would likely affect federal subsistence seasons, harvest limits, methods for taking wildlife and customary and traditional use determinations.
In the Southcentral area, for example, one of the proposed changes includes marking hunted wolves so the ADF&G can gather information for wolf population estimates. Additionally, trappers would have to call the ADF&G within seven days to report the hunt and all hides would have to be sealed within 15 days of intake.
Comments should cite the specific proposal number or wildlife closure number found in the Federal Subsistence Board handbook, and can be submitted electronically to subsistence@fws.gov. Comments can also be sent through the mail using the address of the Office of Subsistence Management at 1011 East Tudor Road, MS-121, Anchorage, AK 99503 directed to the Federal Subsistence Board with attention to Theo Matuskowitz.
Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.
