The National Park Service, at the request of the state of Alaska, is extending through March 27 the public comment period on its plan to ban controversial sport hunting practices such as using donuts or grease-soaked bread to lure bears within range. The proposed regulations would only apply to hunting and trapping on Alaska national preserves. 

The change in the hunting regulations would be a reversal of a Trump administration reversal of the regulations. Back in the fall of 2015 the Park Service adopted rules regarding hunting and trapping in those national preserves where sport hunting is allowed. Under those regulations, hunters on national preserves could not:

• Use bait (donuts, grease-soaked bread, etc.) to hunt bears;
• Use artificial light to spotlight dens to kill black bears; and
• Kill bear cubs or sows with cubs.
• Take wolves and coyotes (including pups) during the denning season (between May 1 and August 9)
• Take swimming caribou
• Take caribou from motorboats under power
• Take black bears over bait
• Use dogs to hunt black bears

But the Trump administration threw out those regulations. In announcing the change at the time, the Park Service said its new position affirmed "the state of Alaska’s role in wildlife management on Alaska national preserves, consistent with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and Department of the Interior policies guiding the federal-state relationship in the management of fish and wildlife."

That change took effect in 2020.

But last fall a federal judge said the Park Service had erred in relaxing its hunting and trapping regulations, ruling that the agency was wrong in believing it had to "defer to state hunting regulations." U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason also held that the Park Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it concluded that Alaska's wildlife management requirements were equivalent to those of the Park Service, and when it ignored its own previous finding that Alaska's regulations failed to address public safety concerns associated with bear baiting.

The new regulation is expected to reduce visitor use conflicts and concerns over potential safety issues related to bear baiting and would also restore consistency between harvest practices allowed in national preserves and NPS management policies with respect to natural processes, abundances and wildlife behavior, said a Park Service release issued this past January.

To view the proposed rule and comment on it, visit this page.