The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-03-22

and bear hunters this Territory knows. No intelligent person can approve of such a proposition. Tc permit such crowds of tourists to Eroam at large in such a bear pas ture would be to invite inevitable
 disaster and lead to almost cer- ltain loss of life.
 The bears are there in great number. The streams swarm with trout and salmon. The plateaus are full of wild flowers, and Sitka deer roam the hills and valleys as they have done since before the Russians came. Making out of it a
 national park would add nothing to
 their numbers and little to their life span. And if a hotel conces- sion there isn't a good business venture now it will not be just because somebody signs a slip of paper changing it from national
 forest to national park.
 Sanctuaries Now Abound
 I have said that Alaska has no lbear complex. If it had, 1t would sound a protest at the very gen. erous manner in which a pater- Inally-minded government has tied up much of its land area in sang 1 tuaries. The coastal species of the brown bear have a range estimated Ito cover 96,393 square miles. Or fthat range there are sanctuaries aggregating 7,868 square miles. more Ethan eight per cent of the entire range, in which no hunting or killing is permitted. Included in lit are Unimak Island in the Aleu- titan chain, Katmai National Mon-
 unent on the Alaska Peninsula, IGlacser Bay in Southeast Alaska, IKurzof Island in the same section land small reserve near Cord ova.
 In 40, 938 square miles for years there has been only limited hunt ing season, usually 50 days in the lFall and 30 to 45 in the Spring,
 with a bag limit of two animals flor resident and nonresident alike. Beginning this year 22,516 square miles additional will be put in the lsame category That leaves 25,07l lsquare miles in which there is no lbag limit for residents, but tWo- limit for non-residents. And this area does not include Baranof,
 Chichagof or Admiralty Island. Can
 anyone who has no special interest to Serve justly claim that the bear
 is unprotected?
 Population 0ver-estimated
 You declare that the bear popu- llation of Admiralty Island com
 prises 50 per cent of the total ibear of the Territory. You fail
 to say how you arrive at that con clusion. There are lot of bear on the island, and they are increas- ling every year. They have been
 doing so for some 20 years. Allen
 Hasselborg is my authority fol
 this statement.
 Admiralty Island contains i,6oC square miles of land area. This is
 about IT percent of the coastal
 bear range, You ought to know
 certainly every other man who t
 familiar with the Alaska coast
 does, that half of Alaska's coasta, IEears do not have their habitat ir
 less than two per cent of thf
 range. The very absurdity of the proposition is sufficient to refutf lit. n9i'e
 { What evidences have you that | EAdmfralty's bear population | Lmenaced. its size decreasing? Yor Egive none at all. The facts are all to the contrary. Records of the
 Alaska Game Commission show Ethat in the period from 1928 te l1g31, inclusive, only 26 bears were killed. on the island. Records os 1.-the United States Forest Service Ishow that members of it's fiele | force, in protecting themselves from 1920 to date have killet t23 bears in the entire national for lest area in Alaska.
 | If we accept your own estimate ,Eof 5000 bears, then divide it hy 'Ithree to get it within reason aI1e Ito accord with wel1-founded est. Emates, it is clearly evident tha' 1.-the annual increase in the pea' population there is well in .exces 'Eof the mortality list, even though all of the bears killed by forester tcame from it. This agrees wit. Mfr. TIasselborg's own view, whicl lis Admiralty Island bears hav' fbeen on the increase ever sine lit was prohibited to sell thet skins or any other part of them l He estimates that there has beel a 300 per cent increase since l9o when he began Investigations flo Ethe University of California. Altruism Is Questioned : Just one more observation. Tn reproduction of the New Tor IHerald Tribune cartoon by Ding, l enough to leave bad taste in tn mouth Of every American. It is Lfine cartoon but it states absolut Iuntruths. The Hast of the Alaska f Ibrown bears sign doesn't eve