The State of Alaska is challenging a US Government decision to extend subsistence priviledges over a broad area where no subsistence history is found. The ADFG press release put it this way:
On May 3, 2005, the Federal Board expanded the customary and traditional use determination for residents of Chistochina for moose to include all 10,000 square miles of Game Management Unit 12. The decision was made despite harvest data that provided evidence of customary use of only a very small portion of the unit (approximately 206 square miles). The State had requested the Board extend the determination to only those parts of the unit where customary use was documented.
“This lawsuit is neither pro nor anti subsistence. We are not challenging the federal government’s responsibility for implementing a rural subsistence priority on federal lands,” said McKie Campbell, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “This lawsuit is about the need for the Federal Board to follow its own regulations, to develop written policies, and to use data to make decisions.”
Read the entire press release >>>
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