(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have announced the impending emergency closure of wolf hunting and trapping seasons in Game Management Unit (Unit) 2, which includes Prince of Wales and a series of small adjacent islands.

According the ADF&G, Unit 2 currently has a seasonal harvest limit of 60 wolves, which is 30% of the estimated fall wolf population. After several consecutive seasons of low wolf harvests in Unit 2, harvests reached high levels during the current and last year’s seasons. This increase is believed to have been due in part to mild winter weather that kept much of the Unit 2 road system snow-free and accessible to trappers and thereby facilitated high trapper participation and effort. With the harvest nearing 60, ADF&G biologists have been monitoring the harvest closely to ensure the Unit’s wolf population is managed for long-term sustainability.

An Emergency Order (01-01-14) has been issued by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game that closes the wolf trapping and hunting seasons in Unit 2 on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 11:59pm.

The U.S. Forest Services' Thorne Bay District Ranger, Rachelle Huddleston-Lorton and the Craig District Ranger, Matt Anderson, under authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board, are also closing the federal lands of Unit 2 to the harvest of wolf from 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, 2014 until 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2014. The same date the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is closing the state hunting and trapping seasons in Unit 2. 

Federal regulations state that the hunting and trapping seasons for wolf within Unit 2 may be closed when the combined federal/state harvest quota is reached. Federal and state managers believe this quota will be reached by the closure date.

Quoting an Alaska Department of Fish & Game news release, "All other hunting and trapping seasons in Unit 2 remain unchanged and are not affected by this Emergency Order. Department staff have been in discussions with federal managers, who are implementing a concurrent closure to federal wolf hunting and trapping seasons in Unit 2 as well."

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Sources of News: 

Alaska Department of Fish & Game
www.adfg.state.ak.us

Forest Service/ Tongass National Forest
www.fs.fed.gov

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