League of Conservation Voters
BLOCKING WILDLIFE PROTECTIONS IN ALASKA (CRA).
Representative Don Young (R-AK) sponsored H.J. Res 69, the Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval” of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Alaska National Wildlife Refuges Rule. This rule protects wildlife from the intensive predator control policy designed by the state of Alaska, which aims to significantly suppress the populations of native carnivores in order to artificially inflate game populations. The predator control policy is not based on sound science and permits extreme and inhumane practices. These practices include killing wolves and bears in their dens, bear baiting, and using airplanes to scout and hunt bears. This use of the Congressional Review Act, an extreme legislative tool, would not only overturn the current rule, but would prohibit FWS from ever issuing “substantially similar” regulations in the future. The House approved H.J. Res 69. The Senate approved H.J. Res. 69 and President Trump signed this resolution into law.
The John Birch Society
Predator Control.
This legislation (House Joint Resolution 69) would disapprove of and nullify a U.S. Department of Interior rule, “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participating and Close Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska,” which was released in final form. According to the bill’s sponsor, Don Young (R-Alaska): “Not only does this [rule] undermine Alaska’s authority to manage fish and wildlife upon refuge lands, it fundamentally destroys a cooperative relationship between Alaska and the federal government. I continue to fight to protect Alaska’s sovereignty and management authority and will use every tool at my discretion to strike this rule.”
The House passed H.J. Res. 69. This group supports this bill because it reaffirms Alaska’s sovereign power to manage its wildlife. Since the power of wildlife management was not granted to the federal government by the Constitution, it is reserved to Alaska and the other 49 states according to the 10th Amendment.