NPS Draft Preserves Rule out for Comment
Your comments are vital
Long-Awaited Rule will Ban Predator Reduction Practices

Finally - the National Park Service is proposing a regulation for NPS Preserves in Alaska that will return to previous regulatory language adopted in 2015. This 2023 rule will ban both black and brown bear baiting, hunting of wolves in denning season, hunting bear sows and cubs, and will adopt a number of other regulations designed to promote ethical hunting practices and reduce activities that target predators.

To read the exact activities prohibited, see the Proposed Regulation at

To read the EA and view Alternative 2, the proposed alternative, see

COMMENT DEADLINE IS March 10, 2023
NPS is accepting comments within their internet-based comment system, which is the only way to comment electronically. Otherwise, you must mail a hard copy. Information on how to comment is within the links above.

We'll remind you a couple of times before the due date. Your comments need not be lengthy. Please send a copy of your comments to dcc@denalicitizens.org.

THANK YOU !!
Background and Talking Points

To read background on the Preserves Rule history, click here.

A Few Talking Points are presented below (if you are an Alaskan, full-time or part-time, be sure to mention it in your comments):

  • The National Park Service has the right and obligation to manage wildlife on its lands according to its enabling legislation, ANILCA and the NPS Organic Act, which require managing for diverse and natural populations of all species, including predators. This rule aims to eliminate practices that have no goal other than reducing populations of predators such as wolves and bears.

  • The activities banned in the Proposed Rule and EA are repugnant to many Alaskans and Americans. Bear baiting, in particular, violates management directives to avoid food conditioning in bears. Hunting sows and cubs in or near dens is similarly distasteful to many Alaskans. Hunting wolves in May and the summer months can disrupt dens and family groups and -- since their pelts are value-less at this time of year -- cannot be justified for any utilitarian purpose other than reducing predators. In fact, hunting of wolves should be further limited in the Preserves to protect pack integrity in the spring months of March-April.

  • Eliminating the practices outlined in the proposed rule will not prevent legal hunting in Alaska’s National Park Preserves. In fact, most hunting activities in the Preserves will continue as before if the Proposed Rule is finalized. The NPS Preserves occupy only 6% of the land mass of Alaska.

  • For those practices that are traditional with federally qualified subsistence users, the prohibitions will NOT apply. This protects the livelihoods of rural subsistence users who live near the Preserves and traditionally use Preserve lands for their subsistence hunting and trapping activities.

To see these suggested talking points as a printable pdf, click here.
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