09-11 Regarding predator control and subsistence

Published on November 10th, 2009

By ALEX DEMARBAN

Summary

The U.S. Interior Secretary should reduce barriers to predator management to address subsistence needs. Each member agency of the Interior Department should expedite creation and submission of management plans within one year outlining how they will mange wildlife populations for future subsistence harvests.

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Full Text

RESOLUTION 09-11

FAILURE OF FEDERAL MANAGEMENT TO PROVIDE FOR ADEQUATE SUBSISTENCE HARVEST NEEDS

WHEREAS: President Obama's administration has strongly asserted the commitment to positively and actively address the concerns of Native Americans and Alaska Natives; and

WHEREAS: Continuing the current status in Alaska of managing only the human harvest, and simply monitoring instead of managing animal populations highly important for providing adequate and sustainable subsistence harvest needs, utterly circumvents the intent and purpose for Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA); and

WHEREAS: Avoiding or blocking proactive and proven effective measures such as predator management to provide for sustainable subsistence needs violates the commonly understood intent and purpose of Title VIII of ANILCA by serving only the long-term interests of animal welfare ideologies by relegating subsistence in rural Alaska to a subservient and minimized consideration, rather than its promised priority status; and

WHEREAS: In direct contradiction with subsistence standards relevant to ANILCA, the inhibitions towards actively addressing this issue have placed the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) and federal management entities into an unacceptable position of stagnation and non-compliance where: a) application of sound scientific management principles have been, and continue to be precluded or preempted; b) substantial information has been, and continues to be avoided, minimized, suppressed or dismissed; and, c) is highly detrimental to achieving or maintaining either current or long-term integrity of providing for adequate or sustainable subsistence harvest needs in rural Alaska; and

WHEREAS: The Congressional Records (SI5131) specifically addresses this matter in its Natural Diversity statement of December 1, 1980 that states: "The term is not intended to, in any way, restrict the authority of the Fish and Wildlife Service to manipulate habitat for the benefit of fish or wildlife populations within a refuge for the benefit of the use of such populations by man as part of a balanced management program mandated by the ANILCA or other applicable law"; and

WHEREAS: The concerns of rural Alaska villages surrounding this issue have been stated for several years through Alaska Federation of Natives Resolution #' s 00-14, 01-047,02-12,03-08,04-08,04-09,05-13,06-12,06-14, and 07-15 (incorporated herein by reference); and

WHEREAS: Since Title VIII was specifically established to address federal obligations left unfulfilled by the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regarding subsistence harvest needs, this ongoing failure to actively manage populations to provide for those needs addressed, serves as another breach of treaty between the federal government and Native Americans; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the delegates to the 2009 Annual Convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives, Inc. that AFN recommend that the Secretary of Interior should take immediate assertive and affirmative action towards addressing and reducing existing barricades for predator management considerations and implementation to provide for adequate and sustainable subsistence harvest needs, in rural Alaska by requiring each member agency of the U.S. Interior Department in Alaska to expedite creation and submissions of management plans within one year, that outline how they will manage their respective wildlife populations to provide for current and future integrity of adequate and sustainable harvest needs to the greatest extent possible within their conservation units that either incorporates utilization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Division of Wildlife Services, or presents viable alternatives; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the delegates to the Alaska Federation of Natives request the Secretary of Interior to adopt the following conclusion from the National Academy of Science report regarding predator management in Alaska by incorporating into long term federal management policy and structure that "Such decisions must be based on detailed local information that supplements more general biological and social impact data. Therefore, effective and efficient decision-making needs to be customized by using local and traditional knowledge and targeted to the needs and interests of local constituencies" by expedited executive order that, at least on the Bureau of Land Management and Fish & Wildlife Service administered lands, a National Environmental Impact Statement exercise, (under de-facto oversight, or veto of animal welfare constituencies or similar "political science" organizations) is neither necessary nor appropriate for predator management intended to provide for adequate and sustainable subsistence harvest needs in rural Alaska.

SUBMITTED BY: ASSOCIATION OF VILLAGE COUNCIL PRESIDENTS

COMMITTEE ACTION: DO PASS

CONVENTION ACTION: PASSED