Please call Governor Palin at (907) 465-3500 and urge her to nominate a qualified candidate like George Matz to the Board of Game.

Let us know that you called.  Your feedback will help us be more effective in our work to protect wildlife in Alaska.

This is our big chance.  Public pressure forced Governor Sarah Palin to rethink one of her picks for Alaska's 7-member Board of Game.  Now, it's our turnŠ 

The next showdown: Lew Bradley, Palin's former middle school basketball coach. 

Bradley's best qualification?  He knows Sarah Palin.  And he, like many Alaskans, hunts Dall sheep.  Fine.  But Alaska's wildlife is too important to entrust to someone who doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to experience.  Lew Bradley just isn't qualified to serve on the Board of Game. 

Call Governor Palin's office right now at (907) 465-3500 and urge her to withdraw Bradley's name and nominate a qualified candidate to the Board of Game.

Alaska needs a balanced and competent Board of Game.  Unfortunately, Lew Bradley fails to add either balance or experience to this highly influential regulatory board.

Governor Palin already demonstrated poor judgment by appointing former Alaska Outdoor Council president Teresa Sager-Albaugh, who has since withdrawn her name due to outrage from Alaska's Native and off-road communities.

Now it's time for the Governor to correct another mistake by withdrawing Bradley's name from consideration. 

Call Governor Palin's office right now at (907) 465-3500 and urge her to make the right choice for Alaska by appointing a qualified candidate like George Matz to the Board of Game.  Then tell us how your call went by filling out this short survey. 

George Matz has asked to serve on the Board of Game because he believes it should protect the right of Alaskans to both hunt and view wildlife -- two vital components of Alaska's culture and economy. 

And, as a former Board of Game member, a hunter and wildlife enthusiast, a leader in several conservation organizations and someone with more than a decade of experience working for the State on policy and fiscal matters, George Matz will bring both competence and a sorely lacking diversity of perspective to the Game Board. 

Right now, the Board of Game is little more than an extension of the Alaska Outdoor Council -- a group of urban sport hunters whose clear priority is increasing opportunities to hunt moose, caribou and other prey species at whatever cost. 

But the Board of Game does more than set hunting and trapping regulations -- it makes major wildlife management policy decisions that affect wildlife in Chugach State Park, McNeil River, Denali and Katmai National Parks, and many other places that Alaskans treasure.

For the Board to consider such important wildlife policies without even one nonconsumptive voice is inexcusable, alarming, and a disservice to the Alaskan people. 

It's time our voices were heard.  George Matz, like most Alaskans, believes that Alaska needs to maintain ethical hunting standards and conservation practices to ensure that our amazing wildlife is around for our children to enjoy. 

I hope you agree and will join me in calling on the Governor to make the right decision for Alaska by appointing George Matz to the Board of Game.

Make the call today. 

Alaska's wildlife is worth it.

Thanks for your help in this important fight,

Tom Banks
Alaska Representative

Defenders of Wildlife