Alaska Administrative Code › Title 5 - Fish and Game › Part 3 - Game › Chapter 92 - Statewide Provisions › Article 5 - Intensive Management and Predator Control › 5 AAC 92.121 - Intensive Management Plan V

Current through May 31, 2024
(a)
Plan
				  established.
The intensive management plan for the Unit 13 Wolf
				  Predation Control Area is established in this section.
(b)
Unit 13 Wolf Predation Control
				  Area:
the Unit 13 Predation Control Area is established and consists of
				  all lands within Units 13(A), 13(B), 13(C), 13(D), and that portion of Unit
				  13(E) east of the Alaska Railroad, except National Park Service and other
				  federal lands where same-day-airborne take of wildlife is not allowed,
				  encompassing approximately 21,066 square miles. The control program for this
				  area is as follows:
(1) this is a continuing
				  control program that was first authorized by the board in 2000 for wolf
				  control; it is currently designed to increase moose numbers and harvest by
				  reducing predation on moose by wolves, thereby improving recruitement rates,
				  and is expected to make a contribution to achieving the intensive management
				  (IM) objectives in Unit 13;
(2)
				  moose and wolf objectives are as follows:
(A)
				  moose IM objectives for Units 13(A), 13(B), 13(C), 13(D), and 13(E) as
				  established in
				  5 AAC 92.108 are 3,500 - 4,200, 5,300 - 6,300, 2,000 -
				  3,000, 1,200 - 1,900 and 5,000 - 6,000 moose respectively;
(B) the moose harvest objectives for Units
				  13(A), 13(B), 13(C), 13(D), and 13(E) as established in
				  5 AAC 92.108 are 210 - 420, 310 - 620, 155 - 350, 75 - 190,
				  and 300 - 600 moose respectively;
(C) the department adopted a range of 135 -
				  165 wolves as the late winter minimum abundance for unit 13; Maintaining this
				  minimum population size will allow for sustained yield of wolves and will
				  ensure that wolves persist in the control area;
(3) board findings concerning populations and
				  human use are as follows:
(A) moose harvest
				  has been consistently below IM objectives in Units 13(B), 13(C), and 13(E);
(B) predation by wolves is an
				  important cause of the failure to achieve population and harvest objectives;
(C) a reduction in wolf predation
				  in Unit 13 can reasonably be expected to make progress toward achieving the
				  Unit 13(A), 13(B), 13(C), 13(D), and 13(E) IM objectives for moose;
(D) reducing predation is likely to be
				  effective and feasible using recognized and prudent active management
				  techniques and based on scientific information;
(E) reducing predation is likely to be
				  effective given land ownership patterns, and;
(F) reducing predation is in the best
				  interest of subsistence users; Unit 13 has long been an important hunting area
				  for subsistence by local area residents and much of the state's population in
				  Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, as well as Fairbanks and other
				  communities around the state; it is recognized under the state's intensive
				  management law as an area where moose are to be managed for high levels of
				  human consumptive use;
(4) authorized methods and means are as
				  follows:
(A) hunting and trapping of wolves
				  by the public in the Unit 13 wolf Predation Control Area during the term of the
				  program will occur as provided in the hunting and trapping regulations set out
				  elsewhere in this title, including the use of motorized vehicles;
(B) notwithstanding any other provisions in
				  this title, the commissioner may issue public aerial permits or public
				  land-and-shoot permits as a method for wolf removal under
				  AS
				  16.05.783;
(5) time frame is as follows:
(A) through July 1, 2031, the commissioner
				  may authorize the removal of wolves in the Unit 13 Predation Control Area;
(B) annually, the department
				  shall, to the extent practicable, provide to the board a report of program
				  activities conducted during the preceding 12 months, including implementation
				  activities, the status of moose and wolf populations, and recommendations for
				  changes, if necessary, to achieve the objectives of the plan;
(6) the commissioner
				  will review, modify or suspend program activities as follows:
(A) when the mid-point of the IM population
				  and harvest objectives for the moose population is achieved;
(B) when wolf inventories or accumulated
				  information from permittees indicate the need to avoid reducing wolf numbers
				  below the management objective of 135 wolves specified in this subsection;
(C) if after three years, the
				  harvest of wolves is not sufficient to make progress towards the intensive
				  management population objectives for wolves;
(D) predation control activities may be
				  suspended;
(i) if after three years, there is
				  no detectable increase in the total number of moose in the control area;
(ii) if after three years, any
				  measure such as estimates of rump fat, short-veariing mass, and twinning rates,
				  consistent with significant levels of nutritional stress in the moose
				  population are identified;
(iii)
				  when the moose population and harvest objectives within Unit 13 predation
				  control area have been met.