Alaska Department of Fish and Game

According to a public notice published on June 6, the board will meet in July in Anchorage to consider changing the state’s predator control program to allow the killing of “brown and black bears in addition to wolves to aid in the recovery of the Mulchatna caribou herd.”

Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin, in an order issued May 19, said the department’s decision to shoot bears earlier this month in violation of a previous court ruling justified her decision to keep the temporary restraining order in place beyond the 10 days that is standard in Alaska law.

An emergency declaration by the Alaska Board of Game does not change the fact that the program is unconstitutional and the state failed to do required fixes, the judge ruled.

The board’s action allows the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to continue killing bears and wolves for a third season in the range of the shrunken Mulchatna caribou herd.

The bill would require designated seats on the seven-member board to represent commercial, sport, and subsistence sectors, along with one representing scientists.

Alaska has killed more than 200 bears as part of its "intensive management" program intended to help a caribou herd.

Once one of the states largest caribou herds, southwestern Alaska's Mulchatna caribou herds' low population has failed to recover. Researchers are examining disease and nutrition to understand why.

Online registration for the RM615 hunt will remain open for both individual and proxy hunters until Oct. 15.

Salmon fishing with gillnets will open on the lower river for 12 hours on June 22, while gillnet fishing between the Kalskag Line and Aniak Box will open 24/7 starting the same day.

The upcoming closures are intended to protect the chinook salmon run and have been announced as far upriver as Holy Cross.