“Today’s announcement confirms the sovereign authorities the state has with respect to managing wildlife on our national preserve lands. This is a step towards acknowledging Alaska’s rightful control over fish and wildlife resources all across the state,” added Alaska Gov. Michael J. Dunleavy. “Hunting and responsible management of wildlife are an integral part of the Alaskan lifestyle and this will further align hunting regulations on the federal level with those established by the State of Alaska for the benefit of Alaskans.”

But Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, said the Park Service has the authority to manage wildlife within parks and preserves. 

“We are appalled by the Secretary of the Interior’s decision to adopt these cruel and unsportsmanlike hunting practices on National Park Service preserve lands in Alaska. The Coalition supports legally authorized sport and subsistence hunting in national preserves in Alaska; however, it must be regulated by practices that align with long delineated NPS laws, regulations, and policies," said Francis. "Techniques such as killing bear sows with cubs at den sites or harvesting brown bears over bait are clearly inappropriate within units of the National Park System. The Organic Act, which established the National Park Service, mandates that the NPS manage native wildlife populations to maintain the natural abundance, diversity, and distribution of those populations in ALL park units throughout the country, including in Alaska. This means allowing natural predator-prey relationships and population dynamics to occur, rather than removing the predators through objectionable hunting practices.

"Secretary Bernhardt’s decision to force the NPS to adopt these hunting practices at national preserves in Alaska is ill-considered, politically motivated, poorly justified, and antithetical to the national values which are so clearly stated in the NPS Organic Act," he added. "In total, up to 20 million acres of preserves could be affected as well as up to 8 million acres of Congressionally-designed Wilderness Areas. This issue cuts to the core of the important national values of our country that the NPS is mandated to protect for all Americans."

In preparing an environmental assessment on the rule change, Park Service staff relied on the state of Alaska's position that increased hunting of the predators would not have an overall impact on their populations. But the regulatory changes likely would reduce opportunities for wildlife viewing and degrade wilderness character in the preserves, the Park Service added in its assessment of the rule changes.

The EA also noted that bears drawn to baits could become habituated to human foods and so possibly turn into problem bears.

"The proposed action would also result in conditioning of bears in areas where bear baiting occurs to human foods, which could lead to altered behaviors at a local scale that have the potential to increase the likelihood that more bears are taken in defense of life and property," it said.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said Wednesday that "(T)he Trump administration has shockingly reached a new low in its treatment of wildlife. Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. The proposed regulations cast aside a primary purpose of national preserves to conserve wildlife and wild places.”

But U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said "(T)his final rule protects Alaska’s hunting and fishing traditions and upholds longstanding states’ rights. I thank the Department for bringing the rule into alignment with Alaska’s statutes and regulations and restoring Alaska’s authority to determine the best practices for wildlife management on all Alaska lands.”

And Victor Joseph, chief and chairman of the Tanana Chiefs Conference that represents 42 tribes, said the "previous rule was implemented without adequate tribal consultation, in disregard to rural Alaska's dependence on wild food resources. The previous limitations enacted in 2015, threatened our way of life and our centuries long sustainable management practices. Tanana Chiefs Conference supports these revisions.” 

The Park Service release announcing the changes said the 2015 harvest prohibitions "were not required for conservation purposes and removing them will not result in significant impacts to park resources nor the maintenance of healthy wildlife populations in national preserves. The NPS retains the authority to close areas in national preserves to hunting under federal law where there is a conservation concern or for public safety, use and enjoyment."

The rule, “Sport Hunting and Trapping in National Preserves in Alaska,” is to be published in the Federal Register next week. After the proposed rule publishes, it can be found at www.regulations.gov by searching for “1024-AE38.” The final rule will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The NPS released an environmental assessment (EA) for public review and comment in September 2018. In support of the final rule, the NPS has released a revised EA and Finding of No Significant Impact, available at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/AKROWildlifeEA.