The state of Alaska is once again asking the Board of Game to allow wildlife managers to shoot bears from helicopters in a rural part of Southwest Alaska in the interest of increasing caribou numbers.

The board is scheduled to hold a special meeting on July 14 in Anchorage to consider the revised proposal to expand its predator control program east of the Wood-Tikchik State Park from just wolves to include all bears.

The move follows a ping-ponging series of court decisions based less on the program’s merits than on the way it was steered through the public rules-making process back in 2022. Critics, and eventually an Anchorage Superior Court judge, said the management practice was adopted with insufficient public input in a way that denied Alaskans their right to weigh in.

If the Board of Game approves the state proposal, aerial gunning for bears would resume next May and last until early June.

In 2023 and 2024, when the intensive management program around the Mulchatna caribou herd ran its full course, the Department of Fish and Game reported killing 180 bears, almost all of them brown bears.

This March, a judge ruled the program was unlawful.

Fish and Game then quickly went back to the Board of Game and requested an emergency version of the same authorization, which was granted. Weeks later, a different Superior Court judge, Christina Rankin, initially declined to halt to the program, largely on technical grounds, but said it was still not a legal management strategy. Shortly afterwards, the state shot 11 bears in the course of three days.

That led Rankin to issue a restraining order sought by the environmental group that had sued the state to halt the bear program.

The Department of Fish and Game has stood behind its approach, and the current proposal is an attempt to cure the program’s legal deficiencies but otherwise replicate what it carried out in recent seasons.

“Our intent is to do it very efficiently and effectively and, frankly humanely‚” said Ryan Scott, head of the ADF&G’s Division of Wildlife Conservation.

Scott said that while some criticism of the program on scientific and conservation grounds has merit, the division is tasked under Alaska law with managing ungulate populations in ways that maximize their numbers, and emphasized that rural subsistence hunters have had no opportunity to take Mulchatna caribou since 2021.

Though the state does not have reliable recent data on the number of bears in the area, which sits about midway between Bethel and Dillingham, he said the overall environmental impact from the predator control effort is minimal.

“While it’s true we don’t know the densities in that small piece of real estate, there are bears all over the place,” Scott said in a brief interview Thursday. “We are trying to do this very surgically … in a very small amount of time.”

Nicole Schmitt is the executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, which sued the state to block the bear killing after it came to light in 2023 and is still opposed to the program.

“We’re happy to see that The Board of Game is finally following its own rules by having a meeting with bare minimum public notice, but are disheartened that it took the advocacy of hundreds of Alaskans and two judges to get them to comply with their basic constitutional obligations,” Schmitt wrote in an email.

Schmitt’s group has persistently questioned the scientific basis and methods of the department’s bear program. In its latest proposal, the department does not set any limit on the number of bears it intends to take in the coming years, only that the target bear population is however many it takes to bring the caribou numbers up “to a level that results in increased calf survival and recruitment.”

“They have no way of knowing the impact this program has on bears. I’ve never seen the Board of Game open a no-limit season on moose or caribou because they heard there were a lot of moose and caribou around,” Schmitt wrote. “They’re literally shooting in the dark for a solution to the Mulchatna caribou herd decline, and wasting precious state funds to do it.”

Scott said that compared to 2022, when wildlife managers initially proposed expanding predator control to bears, there’s now a clearer link between bears and caribou calf survival.

“Given the data that we have, predation is limiting the growth of the herd,” Scott said.

The division plans to present additional evidence showing that its predator control efforts are having a positive effect on the Mulchatna herd at the special meeting next month.

If the measure is approved, Fish and Game could keep removing bears from the area through June 2028, although the program could be halted if Mulchatna herd numbers rise to the level where harvest can resume, which the state estimates at 30,000-80,000 animals. The herd is currently estimated at around 15,000.

Written comments on the proposal must be submitted to the Board of Game before 5:30 p.m. on July 14. The special meeting will be held that same day at the Coast Inn in Anchorage, with the potential for a second in-person meeting continuing on into Tuesday to accommodate more testimony.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Access Alaska, a support and advocacy group for independent senior living and Alaskans experiencing disabilities held its first ever “Summer Bash” on Wednesday.

The event, which featured food trucks and live music, took place in the parking lot of Access Alaska’s location in Anchorage’s Fairview neighborhood – the neighborhood that Eric Gurley, the executive director of Access Alaska, hopes the event will support.

“Our goal for today truly was just to bring the community together,” Gurley said. “I can’t say first and foremost that it’s some sort of donation event, though we will gladly accept donations.”

Gurley describes Access Alaska as a “center for independent living”, committed to helping seniors and those with disabilities support themselves and integrate into their communities. Lately, however, he said that goal has met some challenges.

“Access Alaska has had a pretty rough year financially,” Gurley explained. “The opportunity to be supported by the community has just really been a good lift to spirits.”

Lifting spirits was the original reason behind the event’s creation. The bash started as a simple employee barbecue, meant to lift company morale. From there, it morphed into the neighborhood block party.

Even before the scheduled start time of 2 p.m., residents were perusing the various stands and enjoying the live music, performed by Shaquil Aribuk. Aribuk, a musician and motivational speaker who goes by “Visionary Shaq”, is proud of what the event became.

“It just shows us peace, love, and community,” Aribuk said of the community’s response to the event. “People in the community are getting united and we’re having fun.”

With everything coming together so quickly, Access Alaska hasn’t had much chance to dwell on the future of the event; However, Gurley says that future currently looks bright.

“It would be great for this to be an annual event,” he said. “I think that’s quietly the goal.”

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – Eielson Air Force Base officials confirmed that an “incident” occurred Tuesday on base involving a Republic of Korea F-16 jet, but did not specify any further as to what had happened.

Eielson officials said an investigation is currently underway, according to the base’s public affairs office.

The situation revolved around a Republic of Korea Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon that took off around 4 p.m. Tuesday. Eielson officials said the incident occurred when the jet “departed the prepared surface and aircrew ejected,” within the fence line of the base.

Eielson officials did not say how many crew members were involved; only that the aircrew onboard were taken to Bassett Army Community Hospital for further evaluation and that emergency crews responded to the scene.

One witness described seeing what appeared to be a damaged aircraft.

Sarah Sioka was traveling southbound along the Richardson Highway around 5:26 p.m. with her husband Eldon driving when she said she saw what appeared to be a damaged aircraft on base sitting in the runway along the flight line.

At the time, Sioka said there was no fire or smoke, but she estimated 8-10 emergency vehicles nearby.

The aircraft appeared to Sioka to be an F-16.

“The nose was down on the runway, kind of looked smushed a little bit, and then the back end was … up on its wheels,” she described. “The front wasn’t on the front wheel.”

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.

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