CSHJR 32(RES): Urging the United States Congress to remove wood bison from protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and to grant control of wood bison in Alaska to the state.
00 CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 32(RES) 01 Urging the United States Congress to remove wood bison from protection under the 02 Endangered Species Act of 1973 and to grant control of wood bison in Alaska to the 03 state. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the purpose of 16 U.S.C. 1531 - 1544 (Endangered Species Act of 1973) 06 ("the Act") is to protect or restore a species to a condition where continued existence of the 07 species is not threatened or endangered; and 08 WHEREAS free-ranging wood bison no longer exist in the United States but still 09 exist in healthy numbers in Canada; and 10 WHEREAS the State of Alaska would like to reintroduce wood bison in the state to 11 provide alternative hunting opportunities in rural areas, and providing this hunting 12 opportunity would be one of the main purposes for reintroducing wood bison in the state; and 13 WHEREAS wood bison are an endangered species and cannot be hunted without 14 federally approved exemptions to the Act; and 15 WHEREAS, if wood bison were reintroduced in the state in their current status,
01 resource development on the land they occupy could be significantly affected; and 02 WHEREAS, in an effort to avoid the restrictions on hunting and resource 03 development, the Department of Fish and Game negotiated with the United States Fish and 04 Wildlife Service exemptions under 16 U.S.C. 1533(d) and 1539(j) of the Act to allow hunting 05 of wood bison and to allow resource development on land used by wood bison; and 06 WHEREAS the certainty of the negotiated rules cannot be guaranteed by the United 07 States Fish and Wildlife Service; and 08 WHEREAS the negotiated rules are likely to be challenged; and 09 WHEREAS, after 20 years of protecting the gray wolf in other states, during which 10 time all of the original goals were met or exceeded, the United States Fish and Wildlife 11 Service could not remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list and return control to 12 the states because of litigation brought in the federal courts; and 13 WHEREAS, because numerous lawsuits have been filed in attempts to use the Act for 14 purposes other than to accomplish the stated goal, repeated requests were made to the United 15 States Congress to intervene; and 16 WHEREAS, in an unprecedented act, the United States Congress recently removed 17 the Montana and Idaho populations of the gray wolf from protection under the Act and 18 returned control to the respective states; and 19 WHEREAS, under the current situation, if wood bison were released in the state, their 20 habitat and any areas onto which they were to wander could become subject to the restrictive 21 provisions of the Act because of court action; and 22 WHEREAS significant resources in the state are at stake; and 23 WHEREAS the Donlin Creek mine is located well within wood bison traveling 24 distance, and, if wood bison were to wander to Donlin Creek, that $70,000,000,000 of 25 resources could easily be locked up, at a cost of $700,000,000 for each of the approximately 26 100 wood bison released; and 27 WHEREAS Canada, under the Species at Risk Act, has declared the wood bison 28 proposed to be sent to Alaska a surplus and has acknowledged that the loss of those wood 29 bison would not have a negative effect on the successful restoration of wood bison in Canada; 30 and 31 WHEREAS, for more than 70 years, the Department of Fish and Game has
01 successfully managed plains bison, which are genetically similar to wood bison, and wood 02 bison would prosper under similar management; and 03 WHEREAS, if the wood bison proposed to be reintroduced to the state are to be 04 under the protection of the Act and its accompanying restrictions relating to land development 05 and hunting, the State of Alaska has concerns related to the uncertainty of court intervention; 06 and 07 WHEREAS these facts serve to demonstrate this point: The wood bison's status on 08 the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is what most 09 endangers them; 10 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 11 Congress to exempt wood bison from protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 12 and to grant control of wood bison in Alaska to the state. 13 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 14 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 15 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; 16 the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John 17 Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, 18 Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United 19 States Secretary of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark 20 Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the 21 Alaska delegation in Congress.