To the editor:
"Steady" is a loose group of more than 20 adult Eagle residents. We are all subsistence users and many are hunters and/or trappers. We are against aerial wolf hunting and other extreme predator-control programs.
We feel that the Upper Yukon/Tanana Wolf and Bear Predation Control Plan, which was authorized by the Alaska Board of Game in November 2004, is based on unrealistic and unsustainable moose harvest goals that will disrupt ecological balance as well as harm subsistence.
We are opposed to the current aerial wolf control plan in units 12 and 20(E) near Eagle. We strongly oppose the expansion of aerial wolf hunting to roughly 11,000 square miles of lands surrounding the Yukon-Charley National Preserve as is proposed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
We feel that the proposed goal of eliminating 77 percent of wolves in the area will be bad for subsistence trappers and the whole stability of animal populations on which we depend. It is very likely that the Alaska Board of Game will approve the expansion of aerial wolf hunting in this area during their meeting, which started March 10 and will run for several days. We want the Alaska Board of Game and the public to know that they are shoving this down our throats. We feel that they are motivated to inflate our steady moose populations in large part by non-local pressure.
Our Eagle Advisory Game Board recently voted to support aerial wolf control, and we would like to make it clear that this vote does not represent all Eagle residents.
If you have any questions please contact me at 547-3068
Sonja Sager / Eagle AK |
