Federal Subsistence Board adopts 52 wildlife proposals for Alaska

The Federal Subsistence Board approved 52 of 78 wildlife proposals during its April 21 through 24 regulatory meeting in Anchorage, establishing new hunting rules that will govern subsistence use on federal public lands across Alaska from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028.

The Board opened a brown bear hunt for Kodiak Island road-system residents, rescinded moose-hunting closures around Nome, and tightened access for non-federally qualified users in parts of the Eastern Interior, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and Prince of Wales Island. The Board deferred five proposals, approved the withdrawal of three, rejected 12, and took no action on 11.

The Federal Subsistence Board sets hunting, trapping, and fishing rules for rural and Alaska Native households on federal public lands, which cover more than half of Alaska. Federally qualified subsistence users hold priority access on those lands under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. The federal subsistence priority exists because the state's own rural priority was struck down in McDowell v. Alaska in 1989 as incompatible with the equal-access provisions of the state constitution.

Kodiak Island Brown Bear Hunt

The Board recognized customary and traditional uses of brown bear in Unit 8 for all residents of the Kodiak Island road system east of a line from Crag Point south to the westernmost point of Saltery Cove, including Anton Larsen Bay. The decision excludes residents of the Kodiak Station Census Designated Place, the Coast Guard base. The Board allocated up to four federal brown bear permits for the hunt and authorized the sale of handicrafts using any nonedible bear byproduct.

This marks the first federal subsistence brown bear hunt opportunity in an area that previously had no qualifying community for brown bear under federal regulations. Brown bear hunting on Kodiak has historically run through the state's draw-permit system on the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding lands.

Nome and Northwest Arctic Actions

In Unit 22A, which covers the Norton Sound coast around Nome and Unalakleet, the Board rescinded all existing closures of moose hunting by non-federally qualified users on federal public lands. Unit 22A has carried various non-federally-qualified-user closures over the past two regulatory cycles in response to declining moose population estimates around the Nome road system. The Board also established a one-bull muskox hunt in Unit 22A from August 1 through March 15.

In Unit 23, which covers the Northwest Arctic Borough and Kobuk Valley, the Board extended the wolf hunting season to open August 1 and raised the harvest limit to 20 on all federal public lands in the unit. The earlier opening date and elevated limit reflect arguments from Kotzebue-area subsistence users that wolf populations in Unit 23 have suppressed Western Arctic Caribou Herd recruitment in calving habitat.