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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
BY THE SENATE RESOURCES COMMITTEE
Introduced: 3/1/23
Referred: Resources
A RESOLUTION
1 Disapproving the proposed rule by the National Park Service limiting non-subsistence
2 hunting methods; and urging the National Park Service to withdraw the rule.
3 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
4 WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court has long interpreted the United States
5 Constitution to provide state primacy in wildlife management; and
6 WHEREAS art. VIII, sec. 4, Constitution of the State of Alaska, provides for the
7 conservation and sustainable use of wildlife, including the maintenance of healthy predator
8 populations; and
9 WHEREAS federal law recognizes the state's authority to manage wildlife, including
10 the Alaska Statehood Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act; and
11 WHEREAS the state has managed wildlife on both state and federal land in Alaska
12 since the United States Department of the Interior granted the state management authority in
13 1959; and
14 WHEREAS the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act established each of
15 the national preserves in the state as National Park Service land that would remain open to
16 hunting and trapping under state management; and
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1 WHEREAS the National Park Service proposed a rule to amend its regulations for
2 non-subsistence hunting and trapping in national preserves that would prohibit certain hunting
3 practices that have been approved by the Alaska Board of Game following a public process
4 with significant input from biologists, local residents, and other stakeholders; and
5 WHEREAS, ignoring the state's objection, the National Park Service has labeled
6 certain hunting practices as predator control or predator reduction actions and has prohibited
7 that predator control or predator reduction in national preserves; and
8 WHEREAS, as a result, the ability of state residents to hunt bears, wolves, and even
9 caribou is limited, without biological basis and with contrary evidence from the Alaska
10 Department of Fish and Game, which shows that those practices do not pose conservation,
11 public safety, or public administration concerns; and
12 WHEREAS the proposed National Park Service rule would limit the ability of state
13 residents to engage in traditional hunting practices; and
14 WHEREAS the proposed National Park Service rule is contrary to the Alaska
15 National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Alaska Statehood Act; and
16 WHEREAS the proposed National Park Service rule is an overreach of federal
17 authority and would inappropriately limit the state's authority to manage wildlife on national
18 preserves;
19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature disapproves of the proposed
20 National Park Service rule; and be it
21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly urges the
22 National Park Service to withdraw the proposed rule without adoption and to affirm the
23 mandates within its 2020 national preserves rule in any new rule that is prepared in response
24 to court order; and be it
25 FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution is the policy of the Alaska State
26 Legislature until it is withdrawn or modified by another resolution.
27 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President
28 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and
29 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the U.S. House of
30 Representatives; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the Interior; the
31 Honorable Charles F. Sams III, Director, National Park Service; and the Honorable Lisa
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1 Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Mary Peltola,
2 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.
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