04/04/2012 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES

         HJR 32-REMOVE WOOD BISON FROM ENDANGERED LIST                                                                      
                                                                                                                              
4:32:10 PM                                                                                                                    
CO-CHAIR  WAGONER announced  HJR 32  to be  up for  consideration                                                               
[CSHJR 32(RES) was before the committee].                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  PASKVAN  moved  to bring  CSHJR  32(RES),  version  27-                                                               
LS1234\X before the committee for purposes of discussion.                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER objected for discussion purposes.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
4:33:04 PM                                                                                                                    
REPRESENTATIVE ALAN  DICK, Alaska  State Legislature,  sponsor of                                                               
HJR  32, explained  that until  their extinction  over 100  years                                                               
ago, wood bison  inhabited a greater portion  of Interior Alaska,                                                               
particularly in  the heart of  District 6, but recent  efforts to                                                               
bring them back  to Alaska have met with  strategic and political                                                               
questions. Only  104 wood bison  are in Turnagain Arm  waiting to                                                               
be  released and  these  are the  only wood  bison  in the  whole                                                               
United States.  He explained that  wood bison are similar  to but                                                               
genetically different from and much  larger than the plains bison                                                               
that exist  in Delta, Kodiak and  other places in Alaska  and the                                                               
Alaska  Department of  Fish  and Game  (ADF&G)  has managed  them                                                               
quite well for the last 70 years.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  DICK said  there are  two concerns.  One is  that                                                               
wood bison is  on the Endangered Species list and  two, well over                                                               
$70 billion worth of resources lie  within 50 miles of where they                                                               
are being proposed  to be relocated. The state  has negotiated in                                                               
good faith with  the federal government on wood  bison for years,                                                               
but has yet to reach a satisfactory agreement.                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
The federal  10J exemption  of the  Endangered Species  Act (ESA)                                                               
would  declare  them  non-essential   and  experimental  and  the                                                               
federal 4D exemption would allow them  to be hunted once the herd                                                               
attained a healthy population. The  huge question is whether they                                                               
can  trust  the   10J  and  4D  exemptions   to  withstand  court                                                               
challenges.   In  the   distant  and   recent  past,   gavels  in                                                               
Washington, D.C. have  beaten a rhythm that  is often unfavorable                                                               
to  Alaska's efforts  to develop  its resources.  The paradox  is                                                               
that the  listing of the wood  bison as an Endangered  Species is                                                               
the element  that most  endangers them after  years of  trying to                                                               
get  agreements to  protect the  state's concerns  about delaying                                                               
their  relocation into  the wild.  HJR 32  calls for  Congress to                                                               
exempt  the  wood  bison  from  the  Endangered  Species  Act  an                                                               
exemption  used by  Idaho and  Montana to  solve a  long standing                                                               
problem with restoring the Northern  Rocky Mountain Wolf to their                                                               
states.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE DICK said  he wanted to introduce  wood bison back                                                               
into the habitat  where they once lived, but  without risking the                                                               
problems that  Beluga whales,  sea otters  and Polar  bears face.                                                               
HJR 32  gives our Congressional delegation  the support necessary                                                               
to create  a win/win situation  by exempting the wood  bison from                                                               
the  Endangered Species  Act. The  State of  Alaska wins  when it                                                               
gets to  work with this  fascinating resource, the people  of the                                                               
Innoko River drainage win by  eventually being able to hunt these                                                               
bison, the  Native corporation that  wants to develop  the nearby                                                               
valuable resource can breathe a  sigh of relief and fourthly, the                                                               
wood bison  themselves would  like to get  out from  behind those                                                               
bars. They looked really bored.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
4:36:10 PM                                                                                                                    
He said  this resolution had  one hearing in the  House Resources                                                               
Committee; it  received 8 do passes  and 1 amend; it  went across                                                               
the House floor  by a vote of  38 to 0 and was  supported by Doug                                                               
Vincent  Lange,  Director,  Division  of  Wildlife  Conservation,                                                               
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI  asked if  there was  any opposition  to the                                                               
resolution.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                              
REPRESENTATIVE DICK  replied no.  It was controversial  at first,                                                               
but the conversation was elevated to  the point of coming up with                                                               
this solution, which seems to  make everybody happy. There wasn't                                                               
any opposition from the environmental community.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER  asked what the  game is like where  these bison                                                               
will  be released  and if  there will  be enough  for subsistence                                                               
purposes.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE DICK said the problem  they face now is a shortage                                                               
of moose. Because  predator control is not allowed  on the Innoko                                                               
Wildlife Refuge, the  feeling is that the wood  bison could stand                                                               
in the  deeper snow far  better against predators than  moose and                                                               
the smaller plains bison.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER removed his objection.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  PASKVAN  asked  if this  resolution  helps  Congressman                                                               
Young become successful.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
4:39:31 PM                                                                                                                    
REPRESENTATIVE DICK replied the bison  can be released as soon as                                                               
there are no consequences of long-term litigation.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR PASKVAN asked if determining  whether the bison could be                                                               
hunted  or not  would come  under  the sole  jurisdiction of  the                                                               
state.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE DICK replied yes.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
4:40:25 PM                                                                                                                    
PAUL  VERHAGEN,  staff  for  Representative  Dick,  Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature, agreed that was correct.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
4:40:54 PM                                                                                                                    
CO-CHAIR WAGONER asked how the bison would be managed.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
DOUG VINCENT LANGE, Director,  Division of Wildlife Conservation,                                                               
Alaska  Department  of  Fish and  Game  (ADF&G),  Anchorage,  AK,                                                               
explained if these  animals are exempted from the  ESA they would                                                               
fall under the jurisdiction of the  ADF&G and the Alaska Board of                                                               
Game to set  harvest restrictions. He said they  would be managed                                                               
just like they  are managing the plains bison,  but initially the                                                               
population would have to grow  large enough to have a harvestable                                                               
surplus.  They  could probably  harvest  some  animals, like  the                                                               
older bulls, before reaching a  number based on maximum sustained                                                               
yield and that.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR PASKVAN asked where the herd will be released.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MR. LANG replied  in three areas without having to  deal with the                                                               
ESA: one  near the Innoko Drainage,  the Fort Yukon area  and the                                                               
Minto Flat area.  The habitat in all three areas  is suitable for                                                               
wood bison release.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER removed his objection.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR PASKVAN moved to report  CSHJR 32(RES) from committee to                                                               
the next  committee of  referral with  individual recommendations                                                               
and attached fiscal note(s). There  were no objections and it was                                                               
so ordered.