National Park Service officials, looking to offset the recent liberalization of Alaska state hunting regulations, are proposing regulations that aim to better protect predators from hunters. The comment period on the proposed regulations runs out Wednesday.

Park Service officials say the regulations were "proposed, in part, as a response to three relatively recent allowances for the hunting of wolves, coyotes and bears under the state’s general hunting regulations that conflict with federal laws and policies."

None of the proposed changes would restrict federal subsistence users hunting under the federal subsistence regulations.

The proposals include prohibitions on taking wolf and coyote pups and adults in early summer when they den and their pelts have little commercial value; the taking of brown bears over bait stations; and the use of artificial light to take black bear cubs and sows with cubs at dens. 

Recent authorizations by the State of Alaska's Board of Game have liberalized predator hunting practices in many areas. This includes national preserves, which are managed in the same manner as national parks, but by law are open to sport hunting. Liberalized predator hunting intended to manipulate natural population dynamics conflicts with National Park Service law and policy. National park areas are managed to maintain natural ecosystems and processes, including wildlife populations and their behaviors. While sport hunting is consistent with the purposes for which national preserves were established in Alaska, NPS policies prohibit reducing native predators for the purpose of increasing numbers of harvested species.

"These proposals, if finalized, codify long-standing prohibitions for wildlife harvest seasons and methods that were traditionally illegal under state law, but in recent years have been authorized by the State of Alaska in an effort to drive down predator populations and boost game species," said NPS Alaska Regional Director Bert Frost.

The proposed regulations would replace temporary restrictions in the following national preserves: Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias, Glacier Bay, Yukon-Charley Rivers, Gates of the Arctic, Noatak, Bering Land Bridge, Lake Clark, Katmai and Aniakchak. Sport hunting occurs on about 38 percent, or more than 20 million acres, of the land managed by the National Park Service in Alaska. In these national preserves, sport hunting generally occurs under state regulations.

The vast majority of state sport hunting regulations would remain unchanged by the proposed regulations. National Park System areas, including preserves, already prohibit predator control actions, such as aerial shooting of wolves, which the State of Alaska conducts as part of its statewide wildlife management program.

You can find a rundown on the proposed regulations, an environmental assessment, and related documents here.