00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 77(RES) 01 "An Act relating to the powers of the Board of Game and to intensive 02 management of big game to achieve higher sustained yield for human harvest." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 16.05.255(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) The Board of Game shall [MAY] adopt regulations under [IT 06 CONSIDERS ADVISABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH] AS 44.62 (Administrative 07 Procedure Act) to provide for the management of game, and for intensive 08 management of identified big game populations to maintain or restore high levels 09 of sustained yield for human harvest where the board has determined that 10 consumptive use of those big game populations is the preferred use, by [FOR] 11 (1) setting apart game reserve areas, refuges, and sanctuaries in the 12 water or on the land of the state over which it has jurisdiction, subject to the approval 13 of the legislature; 14 (2) establishing open and closed seasons and areas for the taking of 01 game; 02 (3) establishing the means and methods employed in the pursuit, 03 capture, and transport of game, including regulations, consistent with resource 04 conservation and development goals, establishing means and methods that may be 05 employed by persons with physical disabilities; 06 (4) setting quotas, bag limits, harvest levels, and sex, age, and size 07 limitations on the taking of game; 08 (5) classifying game as game birds, song birds, big game animals, fur 09 bearing animals, predators, or other categories; 10 (6) methods, means, and harvest levels necessary to control predation 11 and competition among game in the state; 12 (7) watershed and habitat improvement, and management, conservation, 13 protection, use, disposal, propagation, and stocking of game; 14 (8) prohibiting the live capture, possession, transport, or release of 15 native or exotic game or their eggs; 16 (9) establishing the times and dates during which the issuance of game 17 licenses, permits, and registrations and the transfer of permits and registrations between 18 registration areas and game management units or subunits is allowed; 19 (10) regulating sport hunting and subsistence hunting as needed for the 20 conservation, development, and utilization of game; 21 (11) requiring the department, within the department's ability, to 22 conduct intensive management programs to restore the abundance or productivity 23 of a big game population as necessary to achieve human consumptive use goals 24 of the board in an area where the board has determined that 25 (A) depletion of the big game population or reduction of the 26 productivity of the big game population has occurred and may result in a 27 significant reduction in the allowable human harvest of the big game 28 population; and 29 (B) enhancement of abundance or productivity of the big 30 game population is feasible. 31 * Sec. 2. AS 16.05.255 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 01 (e) The Board of Game may not significantly reduce the taking of an identified 02 big game population under this section unless the board has previously adopted 03 regulations providing for the use of intensive management to increase the take of the 04 identified big game population for human harvest consistent with (a)(11) of this 05 section. Except in areas where the board or department has determined that intensive 06 management would be ineffective or that intensive management would be inappropriate 07 due to land ownership patterns, the board shall first adopt regulations providing for 08 intensive management of a big game population subject to this subsection, before the 09 board may reduce the taking of the population by adopting regulations relating to 10 development or regulation of access to the population and to management of the 11 population by customary adjustments in seasons, bag limits, open and closed areas, 12 methods and means, or by other customary means authorized under (a) of this section. 13 (f) In this section, 14 (1) "intensive management" means management of a big game 15 population to enhance, extend, and develop the big game population to maintain high 16 levels or provide for higher levels of human harvest in accordance with the sustained 17 yield principle, including control of predation and prescribed or planned use of fire and 18 other habitat improvement techniques; 19 (2) "sustained yield" means the achievement and maintenance in 20 perpetuity of a high level of annual or regular periodic human harvest of game 21 resources of the state, consistent with multiple use, at harvest levels that do not 22 significantly impair the productivity of the game resource or game habitat.