This is a serious tragedy. Specifically, limiting the opportunities of all Americans to fully utilize our federal lands natural resources for any lawful purpose. Denying the use of a federal resource and discriminating against someone based solely on their zip code and ethnicity is ultimately the progressive situation at hand. I am further concerned that local politics, party pandering, and polarizing political correctness are being used as a method to sidestep biological science to manage federal land and the wildlife populations the land supports.
Larry Bartlett is working very hard on this issue on behalf of BHA. His efforts are truly amazing, but it's going to take much more than just BHA to get this addressed. I think resident AK hunters stand to lose the most in the long run, but the attack on federal lands by a special interest group hurts us all.
It’s already happened last summer in GMU23 and the precedence was set. The Federal Subsistence Board is a special interest group working against all lawful users. The FSB is connected and has momentum. Think of it as a pure discrimination based on you race and zip code. You will not be able to use these federal lands for hunting, even though the State of Alaska doesn't support this federal overreach.
The Federal Subsistence Board requests all Federal public lands in the area be closed to hunting by non-Federally qualified users (i.e. all non-native and non-local users). This follows a 2016 request by the same proponent to eliminate caribou hunting for non-Federally qualified users, which was granted. These requests have set a dubious precedence and are a minority based culturally motivated effort to eliminate hunting opportunities for the non-native or non-local population. Decisions to eliminate hunting in GMU 23 for non-locals have not been based on the biological sciences used for governing game management. Now its the same story in a different area.
To date the movement has been a power grab that usurps the authority of the State of Alaska to manage wildlife based on biological sciences. This precedence hurts all law abiding Americans by pandering to the few and penalizing the majority. In our politically correct society, no one within the Federal government’s hierarchy of bureaucracy is willing or able to oppose the request for fear of violating an affirmative action type of culture.
The special agenda is not wildlife population management, instead it is to have reparations made to “Federally Qualified Users” for centuries old actions that affected a traditional way of life. The requesters actions demonstrate that they wish to eliminate all non-local hunting. Their interests are now elevated above all others. This discriminates against people based on their zip code and ethnic status.