00                       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8                                                                     
01 Disapproving the proposed rule by the National Park Service limiting non-subsistence                                    
02 hunting methods; and urging the National Park Service to withdraw the rule.                                             
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court has long interpreted the United States                                  
05 Constitution to provide state primacy in wildlife management; and                                                       
06       WHEREAS art. VIII, sec. 4, Constitution of the State of Alaska, provides for the                                
07 conservation and sustainable use of wildlife, including the maintenance of healthy predator                             
08 populations; and                                                                                                        
09       WHEREAS federal law recognizes the state's authority to manage wildlife, including                              
10 the Alaska Statehood Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act; and                                   
11       WHEREAS the state has managed wildlife on both state and federal land in Alaska                                 
12 since the United States Department of the Interior granted the state management authority in                            
13 1959; and                                                                                                               
14       WHEREAS the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act established each of                                 
15 the national preserves in the state as National Park Service land that would remain open to                             
16 hunting and trapping under state management; and                                                                        
01 WHEREAS the National Park Service proposed a rule to amend its regulations for                                        
02 non-subsistence hunting and trapping in national preserves that would prohibit certain hunting                          
03 practices that have been approved by the Alaska Board of Game following a public process                                
04 with significant input from biologists, local residents, and other stakeholders; and                                    
05 WHEREAS, ignoring the state's objection, the National Park Service has labeled                                        
06 certain hunting practices as predator control or predator reduction actions and has prohibited                          
07 that predator control or predator reduction in national preserves; and                                                  
08 WHEREAS, as a result, the ability of state residents to hunt bears, wolves, and even                                  
09 caribou is limited, without biological basis and with contrary evidence from the Alaska                                 
10 Department of Fish and Game, which shows that those practices do not pose conservation,                                 
11 public safety, or public administration concerns; and                                                                   
12 WHEREAS the proposed National Park Service rule would limit the ability of state                                      
13 residents to engage in traditional hunting practices; and                                                               
14 WHEREAS the proposed National Park Service rule is contrary to the Alaska                                             
15 National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Alaska Statehood Act; and                                            
16 WHEREAS the proposed National Park Service rule is an overreach of federal                                            
17 authority and would inappropriately limit the state's authority to manage wildlife on national                          
18 preserves;                                                                                                              
19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature disapproves of the proposed                                          
20 National Park Service rule; and be it                                                                                   
21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly urges the                                                 
22 National Park Service to withdraw the proposed rule without adoption and to affirm the                                  
23 mandates within its 2020 national preserves rule in any new rule that is prepared in response                           
24 to court order; and be it                                                                                               
25 FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution is the policy of the Alaska State                                               
26 Legislature until it is withdrawn or modified by another resolution.                                                    
27 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President                                   
28 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and                           
29 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                
30 Representatives; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the Interior; the                                
31 Honorable Charles F. Sams III, Director, National Park Service; and the Honorable Lisa                                  
01 Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Mary Peltola,                                
02 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.