Bob Bell's appointment to the Board of Game will apparently be brought before the legislature in the next several days. I hope you will work to deny him confirmation.
I have monitored wildlife issues in Chugach State Park for about ten years, and attended all the Board of Game meetings dealing with CSP. Bob Bell is to most anti-conservationist yet.
I recognize that Chugach State Park is a long way from Kodiak, but if appointed Mr. Bell will have state wide authority, including Kodiak.
Mr. Bell pushed very hard at the March 2007 meeting of the BOG to open Chugach State Park to wolverine trapping, brown bear hunting, and much more moose hunting on the Anchorage Hillside. He succeeded in regard to wolverine and brown bear.
As you must know there has been a public outcry against wolverine trapping in CSP. The Anchorage Daily News has had more than a dozen letters printed on the subject, and there has been no organized effort to produce these letters.
Last night (May 8) at a forum by the Division of Parks regarding wolverine trapping in CSP, Mr. Bell announced that the wolverine trapping would not be allowed in Peters Creek, and that the harvest of wolverine in the remainder of Game Management Unit 14C was in excess of six a year. He also said all
the trapping would be over the mountains. He made similar statements in a Voice of the Times opinion piece.
These remarks are absolutely false. There will be wolverine trapping in Peters Creek under the regulation he pushed through. The average harvest in GMU 14C has been 2.6 wolverine a year, according to ADF&G records.
Trapping of wolverine will be authorized on the Johnson trail just a few yards from the Seward Highway, and in Indian, Bird, Peters Creek and the area near Pioneer Peak. These are all areas with easy access from Anchorage highways.
These are not areas not "over the mountains".
These facts are not a matter of opinion. It is not that I favor non-consumptive uses and Mr. Bell favors trapping. The fact is that Mr. Bell doesn't check his facts, and is comfortable with misleading the
public.
There is not anyone on the Board of Game who is a member of the opposition. By "the opposition" I refer to the people who for a decade have been winning (and losing) ballot initiatives concerning wildlife: people who advocate for wildlife, even if it means less hunter/trapper opportunity.
We need at least one member of the Board of Game who will be responsive to this constituency, i.e. "the opposition". Just one person on the BOG would make a huge difference in holding people such as Bob Bell accountable.
I hope you will help. And thank you for your service to our state.
Kneely Taylor / Anchorage AK | 
