Safari Club International commends the National Park Service for finalizing a rule that restores Alaska’s long-standing framework for hunting and public access on national preserves.
Published today, the final rule rescinds changes adopted during the past decade that SCI challenged in court or opposed in public comments. It reinstates a 2020 regulation SCI defended in a separate lawsuit and restores Alaska-specific closure procedures for National Park Service lands as required by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA. Last year, SCI asked the agency to reinstate those procedures so public access could not be restricted without the legally required process. The rule also again allows the limited harvest of black bears over bait on national preserves, aligning federal regulations with state law and recent executive and secretarial orders that call for federal-state coordination and public access to federal lands.
“SCI supports the National Park Service’s decision to go back to the rules Congress established under ANILCA. This rule respects Alaska’s role in managing its wildlife, brings back transparency for federal closures, and removes overlapping restrictions on hunting methods already regulated by the state. Congress knew that Alaska is different, and this returns management of national preserves to the balance Congress intended—one grounded in science-based conservation, public accountability, and responsible access,” said SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin.
SCI supported the proposed rule issued in March and urged the National Park Service to restore the framework in place before the agency’s 2015, 2017 and 2024 rulemakings. The final rule adopts many of SCI’s recommendations. In its comments, SCI said earlier regulations had displaced Alaska’s wildlife management role, conflated lawful predator hunting with predator-control programs, weakened state-specific closure protections and given agency officials excessive discretion to restrict lawful use.
SCI will continue working to protect meaningful hunter access to federal lands and promote wildlife management grounded in science, lawful authority and state expertise.
