Three Northwest Alaska advisory committees elect members, weigh caribou cuts

Three Northwest Alaska fish and game advisory committees will elect members and weigh in on Board of Game proposals on caribou, moose and wolves at meetings Oct. 26-29. Any voting-age resident of a committee's area who attends can nominate and vote.

Northern Norton Sound meets Oct. 26 in Nome, with nine seats up, including two for Nome and one each for Wales, Teller, Golovin and Brevig Mission, according to its meeting notice. Southern Norton Sound meets Oct. 28 with 10 positions up, and Kotzebue Sound meets Oct. 29 with five.

The committees' recommendations go to the board, which takes public comment until Jan. 9 and will decide the proposals at its Jan. 23-26 meeting in Kotzebue. The proposals would change hunting rules in Game Management Units 18, 22, 23 and 26A.

Many deal with the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, which a July 2025 photo census put at about 121,000 animals, down from about 152,000 in 2023. In May, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed resident cow caribou hunting in Units 22, 23 and part of 26A through June 30, 2027. As Alaska News reported Sept. 25, several proposals would cut caribou limits further, to four or five animals a year. Others would close or limit nonresident caribou hunting or set up intensive management plans, and Proposal 6 would write a population-based closure for the herd into regulation.

Proposal 32 would raise the number of Unit 22 moose the board finds necessary for subsistence to 350-450 a year, from 250-300. Under state law, the board weighs that figure against how many animals can be harvested sustainably when deciding how much room there is for other hunting. This fall, Fish and Game closed the Seward Peninsula's fall moose hunt area by area as bull quotas filled, Unit 22C after two days.

Other proposals would extend the Mulchatna Caribou Herd hunting moratorium three years and raise the Unit 18 wolf limit to 15 from 10.