Judge OKs Alaska wildlife agents killing bears from helicopters to protect caribou

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Alaska Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman ruled Wednesday that state wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears, including from helicopters, as part of a program aimed at recovering the Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska. Zeman made the decision as two conservation groups pressed their lawsuit challenging the program’s legality, and as Alaska officials prepared for the coming calving season.

Zeman ruled against the groups’ effort to stop the plan while litigation continues, saying they had failed to show the state acted without a reasonable basis for approving it. The judge’s timing carried special weight because the Mulchatna herd is expected to begin calving soon, when the newborns face heightened risk from bears or wolves.

The case centers on the state’s view that reducing bear predation will help the herd rebound. Alaska officials have said the program is important for herd recovery, and the state’s lawyers described in court filings the factors officials considered when adopting the plan.

The dispute plays out against the backdrop of changes in the Mulchatna herd’s size over time. The herd once provided up to about 4,770 caribou a year for subsistence hunters across dozens of communities, before the population declined in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2019, the herd numbered around 13,000 caribou, and last year it was estimated at about 16,280, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game; hunting has not been allowed since 2021.

The conservation groups argue that the state’s approach lacks the data they say are required to show the plan can sustain caribou recovery. In their lawsuit, they said the Alaska Board of Game authorized reinstating the program last year without key information on bear-population numbers and sustainability, and they characterized the plan as an “unrestrained killing” strategy that could waste limited resources.

Cooper Freeman, the Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that the groups want the caribou herd to thrive but argued that the state had not shown that such bear killing would help achieve that. 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.”

State attorneys said the board and agencies “took a ‘hard look’” at bear-related factors in adopting the plan, and they pointed to court filings describing a response they said began in 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began. The state also said the herd’s low-number persistence was followed by what attorneys described as a positive response since that time.

The Alaska Department of Law said it welcomed Zeman’s decision allowing the program to continue during the upcoming calving season. Spokesperson Sam Curtis said the department represents the board and the Department of Fish and Game, and said: “Continuing this program makes sense in light of the scientific record.”

Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, which represents the conservation groups, said they were reviewing the ruling and would consider options. They said by email that they would “consider all available options,” with spokesperson Madison Grosvenor saying the groups were examining what the judge’s order means for their next steps.

The program has been at the center of prior litigation. A judge last year, in a case brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, found fault with the process used when the program was adopted and said the state lacked data on bear sustainability; emergency regulations were later struck down. After that, the state announced a public process around plans to reauthorize the program, and the board did so last July, setting up the current dispute that Zeman addressed on Wednesday.