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
Universal Citation: 5 AK Admin Code 92.121
Current through November 28, 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.
(c) Habitat Enhancement. The department may plan and execute habitat enhancement projects in areas identified for improvement based on evidence at the landscape or population level through prescribed burns, wildfire, or mechanical means to increase the in potential carrying capacity across the range in Unit 13.
Authority:AS 16.05.255
AS 16.05.270
AS 16.05.783
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