President Signs Resolution Reaffirming Alaska’s Wildlife Management Authority
Alaska’s ability to manage fish, wildlife restored
On April 3, President Donald Trump signed House Joint Resolution 69, which officially nullified a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule restricting Alaska’s ability to manage fish and wildlife on National Wildlife Refuges.
The resolution passed with a bipartisan vote in the U.S. House in February and by the Senate in March. The sportsmen’s community and the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses Executive Council support the resolution. Alaska Congressman Don Young and Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, all members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, also support it.
The FWS rule, “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska,” undermined Alaska state management authority, which is Congressionally affirmed within the Alaska Statehood Act, the Alaska National Interests Land Conservation Act, and the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act.
Recently, anti-sportsmen groups have promoted to the media that removing the FWS rule is detrimental to wildlife in Alaska. Nullifying this rule reaffirms the state’s management authority that has successfully managed Alaska’s wildlife in the past.—courtesy Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation White House photo
