Non-local hunters will not be able to hunt for caribou on federal public lands in much of the Northwest Arctic for one year.
The notice came Monday after months of back-and-forth on the issue that raised questions about residency and hunting rights.
The Federal Subsistence Board announced its decision to approve a special action request put forth earlier this year by the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council.
The action closes federal areas including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands, National Parks Service parks and preserves, and Bureau of Land Management lands within Game Management Unit 23 to caribou hunting by non-federally qualified users for 12 months starting this summer. Numerous federal land units lie wholly or in part within GMU 23, including Noatak and Bering Land Bridge National Preserves, Selawik National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, among others.
That means hunting will be off-limits for non-residents of Alaska, people who have been residents in Alaska for fewer than 12 months, and Alaska residents who live in non-rural areas including Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Mat-Su, parts of the Kenai Peninsula, Valdez, Juneau and Ketchikan.
As the Sounder reported following a public hearing in March, that includes registered members of Arctic tribes who now live in urban areas. So, someone who was born and raised in Kotzebue and is a registered tribal member but maintains a residency in Anchorage would still be prohibited from caribou hunting on federal lands for a year.
This particular caveat drew criticism from some former Arctic residents, many of whom said they had to move to find work or be near family, but want to retain their right to collect traditional foods.
However, on the other side of the aisle, a number of current Arctic residents pointed to the disparity in food costs between rural places like Kotzebue and urban areas like Anchorage, saying regardless of where a person was born, it's the added financial burden of where they live that should play a large role in the decision.
The board is authorized to close an area for conservation of a wildlife resource or to guarantee subsistence priority, under provisions in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, according to the Federal Subsistence Management Program.
In a release Fish and Wildlife officials wrote that "the board felt there was sufficient evidence indicating that the closure was necessary."
The closure will go into effect on July 1 of this year and continue through June 30, 2017.
This story first appeared in The Arctic Sounder and is republished here with permission.