Many people would agree that hunting methods such as killing black bear mothers with cubs in their dens, “harvesting” grizzly bears over bait, “taking” female wolves and coyotes and their pups during denning season, are deeply offensive, particularly on public lands, like the national preserves managed by the National Park Service in Alaska. 

Yet, Secretary David Bernhardt’s Interior Department has pushed the Park Service to revise its 2015 Alaska national preserve hunting regulations that prohibited these despicable hunting practices. 

The National Park Service manages 14 park units in Alaska, including some that Congress established as “national preserves.” Sport hunting in the national preserves was authorized under the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Under ANILCA, Alaska State hunting regulations generally apply in national preserves except when in conflict with federal regulations. 

Under the “conservation mandate” of the Organic Act of 1916, the National Park Service manages native wildlife populations to maintain the natural abundance, diversity and distribution of those populations in all park units throughout the country. This includes […]