Alaska’s wildlife agents can resume killing black and brown bears from helicopters under a state plan aimed at recovering the Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska, a judge ruled Wednesday, keeping the program running as conservation groups continue to challenge its legality in court.
In his ruling, Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman rejected a request from two conservation groups—Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity—to halt the program while their lawsuit proceeds. The judge said the groups had failed to show that the state acted without a reasonable basis when it approved the plan.
Zeman’s decision comes as the Mulchatna caribou herd is expected to begin calving soon. The timing, court filings and arguments described in the case say, matters because the newborn calves are especially vulnerable to being eaten by bears or wolves during that period.
State officials have said they consider the bear-killing program important to the herd’s recovery. The Mulchatna herd, which once supported subsistence hunters across dozens of Alaska Native communities, peaked at about 190,000 animals and has since fallen sharply, according to the lawsuit and state materials cited in the case.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimated that the herd numbered about 13,000 animals in 2019 and about 16,280 animals last year, and hunting has not been allowed since 2021, the reporting said. The conservation groups’ lawsuit also alleges that the state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, most of them brown bears, and killed 11 more bears last year.
The conservation groups argue that the Alaska Board of Game authorized reinstating the program without key data that they say should support the plan’s impact on bear populations and the long-term sustainability of the approach. Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the groups want the caribou herd to thrive but argued that the state has not demonstrated the link between killing bears and recovering the herd.
In a statement, Freeman said, “We need to stop this disgraceful waste of the state’s limited resources and work based on science to protect all our wildlife.” He also said, “the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there.”
State attorneys said officials took a “hard look” at factors related to bear numbers when adopting the plan. In a court filing, they wrote that the herd has persisted at low numbers but “started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began,” according to the reporting.
The Alaska Department of Law welcomed Zeman’s decision, saying the management program can continue through the upcoming caribou calving season. Spokesperson Sam Curtis said by email that the decision allows the program to continue “during the upcoming caribou calving season, a crucial time for herd recovery,” and added, “Continuing this program makes sense in light of the scientific record.”
Attorneys representing the conservation groups, under the banner of Trustees for Alaska, said they were reviewing the ruling. Spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said by email that they are “reviewing the ruling and will consider all available options.”
The bear-killing program has been the subject of ongoing litigation for more than one year. The reporting said a judge last year found fault with the process used to adopt the earlier version of the plan, concluding the state lacked data on bear sustainability; emergency regulations were then struck down, and a subsequent public process was followed before the board reauthorized the program in July.