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Congress Repeals Hunting Restrictions on Alaskan National Wildlife Refuges
The Senate has once again turned to the Congressional Review Act, a measure they've been usually nonstop over the past two months to repeal laws issued by the prior administration with only a majority vote. Earlier this week, they approved a bill nearly along party lines to repeal hunting restrictions on national wildlife refuges in Alaska. These restrictions were instituted by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016 to protect predator species from hunters.
The FWS rule facing repeal explicitly prohibited many kinds of "predator control" on the 16 federally owned refuges in Alaska. That prohibition included a ban on the aerial hunting, live trapping or baiting of predators such as bears and wolves — as well as on killing those predators while near their dens or their cubs.
The federal government has argued that the goal on refuges and in parks should be biodiversity. The state Board of Game has an interest in ensuring maximum sustained populations for hunting." Ensuring the "maximum sustained populations" of commonly hunted prey species like elk, moose and caribou often means reining in the populations of their predators — namely, bears and wolves. In the 2016 restrictions, federal regulators argued that the Alaskan Board of Game had gone too far in prioritizing the populations of prey species over predators.
"This isn't hunting — it's slaughter," Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "Killing wolves and bears in this cruel, unsportsmanlike fashion is outrageous, especially in national wildlife refuges that belong to all Americans."
ACTION: Organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Coucil, 350.org, the Sierra Club will be fighting hard against this administration. Read up on their work at their web sites, follow them on Twitter, and give a donation to them or similar groups. We need environmental groups to be well funded to fight this fight. Their web sites have concrete ways you can get involved beyond giving them money if this fighting for this cause drives you.
UPDATE: Now signed by Trump: http://thehill.com/regulation/327113-trump-repeals-alaskan-bear-hunting-regs