Alaska Wildlife Alliance

Climate-AWA successfully launched two climate adaption projects in 2023. One is a place-based climate vulnerability assessment of the Hooper Bay region in partnership with the Native Village of Paimuit. Other participants include the Native Village of Hooper Bay, the City of Hooper Bay, and the Lower Yukon School District. This project bridges Western science with Indigenous Knowledge to create climate adaption strategies for the regions mostly Yupik communities. The second project demonstrates that beavers are a nature-based solution to rewetting drying and dried peatlands in the southern Kenai Peninsula. In partnership with the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the University of South Florida, AWA has deployed test sites, and the project team is measuring for beavers impacts on the hydrology of the peatlands.

Voices for Wildlife- AWA submitted 11 proposals to the Alaska Board of Game. Ten of these sought remedies for the faulty wolf trapping regulations in Prince of Wales in southeast Alaska. One requested 1/4 mile hunting and trapping setbacks from soon-to-be-constructed under and overpasses on the Sterling Highway which are designed to reduce wildlife mortality. The Board of Game passed our trapping setback proposal and strengthened it by prohibiting any taking of wildlife within the setback. While AWA considers lawsuits as a last resort, we are defending Alaska wildlife in six different courtcases. A 2023 victory disallowed the bait barrel luring of brown bears in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. On going cases feature helicopter bear shooting in southwest Alaska, harassment of polar bears and walrus by oil and gas operators in Beaufort Sea, a federal rule allowing extreme sport hunting practices, and the Ambler road project which threatens caribou migrations.

Belugas-AWA spearheaded a project with partners to create a map visualizing the extent of threats to endangered Cook Inlet beluga habitat. The data included legal harrassment permits, shipping routes, oil and gas infrastructure, and permitted mixing zones. The mapping project was presented at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium. The project identifed that the State of Alaska does not track all discharges into the belugas habitat and our concern about the lack of information on contaminants being dumped into the habitat led to our co-hosting the first Cook Inlet Water Quality Summit in October 2023. The Summit was attended by over 150 people representing over 80 organizations and agencies. AWA also worked to determine if enough food is available for the recovery of the Cook Inlet beluga population. AWA also partners with Alaska Beluga Whale Monitoring Program. Finally, AWA partnered with Eagle Scout Troup to reduce propeller strikes and noise in the Kenai River.

Wolf film-In the spring, filming was completed for the documentary A Good Wolf, which portrays the controversy over hunting and trapping of wolves at the boundary of Denali National Park. Film screenings in Alaska and around the country will begin in 2024.