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 Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed action calls for the extermination of all wolves found in areas where caribou are located at calving time in May. If lactating females are killed, AGFD will search for and gas wolf pups in their dens. An intensive study of caribou calf mortality will be initiated and will include capture and radio collaring. The study will also require helicopters to deploy transmitters and access mortality sites, and use fixed wing aircraft and temporary field camps.
This action will violate the most fundamental principles of the Wilderness Act by allowing human intervention of the natural processes at work in the Unimak Wilderness. If approved, it will set a terrible precedent for predator control on National Wildlife Refuges and designated Wilderness elsewhere in Alaska. This project will also rely heavily on aircraft use, further degrading the area’s wilderness character.
Take Action Now:
You can access the EA at: http://alaska.fws.gov/nwr/planning/nepa.htm
Please send your comments to the FWS by January 31, 2010.
Some talking points to consider:
• Support the “no action” alternative, which would maintain the untrammeled, wild character of the Unimak Wilderness and allow natural ecological processes to continue
• Killing wolves to attempt to artificially boost caribou numbers is completely unacceptable in a National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness. Killing females and gassing their pups in their dens is entirely unacceptable.
• The goal of increasing caribou numbers for subsistence hunting is at odds with the reality that subsistence hunters don’t hunt here. All caribou killed in the past decade were killed by non-local and non-resident hunters, most of whom were commercially guided trophy hunters.
• The EA lacks scientific evidence to support FWS’s proposed action. Essentially nothing is known about the condition of the habitat or the numerous other possible causes for the herd’s decline.
• Helicopter use is extremely intrusive and has no place in Wilderness stewardship. It is also prohibited by law except in very rare circumstances. No helicopter use should be allowed as part of this project even if alternatives to wolf killing are pursued.
Before any further consideration is given to this proposal, a full environmental impact statement must be prepared to assess the numerous factors impacting the herd.
Send comments by January 31, 2011 to: fw7_izembek_planning@fws.gov or fax to: 1-800-507-8557, or mail to:
Gap Solutions, Inc.
Unimak Caribou Herd Environmental Assessment
Pocatello, ID 83206-2026
• Click here to read Wilderness Watch's Scoping comments
• Click here to read Wilderness Watch's EA comments
• Click here to read what a researcher with 50 years of work, much of it with caribou and reindeer in island situations, including Unimak Island, has to say about this wolf-killing plan
In our scoping comments, Wilderness Watch asked the FWS to provide a complete analysis of historical predator/prey populations and human hunting, to assess past and current weather in determining the quality of habitat, and to consider the effects of other predators, parasites and diseases on the caribou population. We urged the FWS to make an objective assessment of the proposed wolf control on the preservation of wilderness character and natural diversity and advocated practicing restraint to allow natural processes to rule.
Photo: Peter Stelling
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