A declining Fortymile caribou herd, short hunts, and a dispute over timing

The Fortymile caribou herd has fallen below the population range wildlife managers are aiming for. State surveys put it at about 27,000 animals, under the 30,000-to-50,000 objective, and it has been declining for years.

Two governments manage the same herd under different rules. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game runs the state hunt, open to residents generally; the Bureau of Land Management runs a federal subsistence hunt on federal land, which by law gives rural residents a priority. To protect the herd, both kept quotas low, limited hunters to one bull, and built in the ability to close a zone on short notice if the harvest limit is near. The federal hunt is structured to open ahead of the state's, giving qualified rural hunters a window of exclusive access before the general season begins.

This week, the state opened its hunt in the contested zone for just 48 hours, expecting the small quota to fill almost immediately.

Tanana Chiefs Conference, which represents 37 Interior tribes, filed a complaint saying the state's timing this year undercut the subsistence priority, moving to open the zone earlier than the agencies had discussed and leaving tribes to scramble to protect a preference the law is supposed to guarantee. "Federal subsistence priority should not be something we have to scramble to protect after other decisions have already been made," said Chief and Chairman Sharon Hildebrand.

Both agencies describe their actions as conservation. BLM has said it set its dates to reduce the risk of further decline and spread the harvest across users, and delayed part of the federal hunt out of that same concern; the state has said its short season reflects how fast the quota is expected to fill. Even the tribal consortium notes that the compressed seasons risk exceeding the harvest limit before managers have the data to close the hunt, a danger sharpened this year with the herd already below its target.

Underlying the fight is a draft management plan that recommends opening the federal hunt a few days ahead of the state's. It has not been formally adopted by either the Board of Game or the Federal Subsistence Board, part of why the timing remains contested. The federal season in the disputed zone closes Aug. 23.