Public hearing time extended for request to close caribou, moose hunts April 22nd 4:59 pm |
Temporary Special Action Request asks to close federal lands in units 23 and 26A
A telephonic public hearing scheduled for April 23 to receive public testimony on a temporary special action request submitted to the Federal Subsistence Board (Board), will be extended by two hours. The hearing, originally scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., will instead begin at 3 p.m. and will last until 7 p.m., or until the end of public participation.
Temporary Special Action Request WSA21-01, submitted by the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council, asks to close Federal public lands in Units 23 and 26A to harvest of caribou and moose by non-federally qualified users from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30. This request would add the following language to the current federal regulations for caribou and moose in Units 23 and 26A:
KOTZ Radio 720 AM
A caribou from the Western Arctic Herd, (Photo by Jim Dau, courtesy of Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
A regional subsistence advisory board seeks to limit caribou and moose hunting in Northwest Alaska to hunters from the region this summer. That’s at odds with the Dunleavy administration, which seeks to keep the hunt open to all.
In Northwest Alaska, subsistence hunting has been a tradition in the local Iñupiaq communities for more than 10,000 years. And due to the high cost of groceries and other goods, Kotzebue hunter Thomas Baker says that hasn’t changed.