The Caribou herd on Unimak Island is down to around 10 bulls, yet the wolf population is high, with wolves seen all over the island by the native people that live and hunt there. When this point was brought to USF&W attention they said they will study it. The native people on the Island said "There is not time, our Caribou are going extent"! USF&W refused to cooperate and reduce wolf numbers. The State of Alaska Fish and Wildlife got no where with USF&W either in talks to lower wolf numbers. So in light of the refusal of cooperation by USF&W the State decided to exercise their authority over the management of Fish and Wildlife in the state, and are starting a preditor control program on the Federal Lands.
The Feds have ownership of the lands, not the animals. The animals belong to the State Of Alaska.
By Mike Campbell | The Anchorage Daily News
Concerned that wolf predation may imperil the remaining caribou on Unimak Island, managers with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Thursday afternoon they'll launch predator control in less than two weeks on the largest island in the Aleutians, preferably by helicopter.
"The situation constitutes a dire conservation emergency," Fish and Game Commissioner Denby Lloyd said in a letter sent to Rowan Gould, acting director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "Immediate action is necessary."
Missing from the announcement at U.S. Fish and Game headquarters was any representation by Fish & Wildlife, on whose land wolf control would take place. Unimak Island, the only island in the Aleutians with a native caribou population, is dominated by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Federal managers are in the midst of making an environmental assessment of reducing wolf numbers.
"I've heard nothing about a response today," said Bruce Woods, a spokesman for Fish & Wildlife in Alaska. "We're conducting a review and continue that process."
But the state intends to act.
"We will do something by about June 1," said Pat Valkenberg of Fish and Game. "We are the primary wildlife managers on all federal lands in the state."
