Wildlife

A Trump administration effort to limit protections for endangered species’ habitats could have outsized consequences in Alaska. That’s according to environmental scientists who warn of “severe” implications for ecosystems that could be targeted for resource extraction, if the proposed change goes through.

On Apr. 17, federal wildlife management agencies proposed redefining “harm” under Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act. The Act says it’s unlawful for anyone to “take” an endangered species, with the word “take” meaning to harass, pursue, wound, kill — or to harm.

For almost half a century, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have understood “harm” to mean any “significant habitat modification or degradation” that results in death or injury to protected wildlife. The new definition would exclude habitat — “harm” would only apply to actions that directly harm the protected animals.

Splitting protections for species from their habitat

It’s a step in the Trump administration’s broader plan to roll back environmental regulations to remove barriers from energy and resource development — one that many environmental scientists in Alaska say they’re unsettled about.

Falk Huettmann, a University of Alaska Fairbanks wildlife biologist who studies seabirds, said he’s worried about what comes next.

“The implications of this are pretty severe,” he said.

Huettmann added that habitat conservation is imperative to the survival of endangered species across the United States — and, especially, Alaska.

“For instance, the boreal forest is a big, big chunk that we have in Alaska,” he said. “There’s a lot of it left, it’s pretty pristine in some areas. Old growth forest — we have a lot of it. That includes Tongass and others.”

Huettman said his worst fear is that some habitats will be thrown into what he calls “a legal vacuum,” giving developers carte blanche to do whatever they want, short of directly harming an endangered species.

Retired environmental consultant Torre Jorgenson offered another hypothetical outcome.

“If a company only has to worry about taking out a Steller’s eider or a bowhead whale, they can easily avoid harming or killing an animal directly,” he said. “But if they alter or damage the habitats through their development process, they don’t have to be concerned about that under this rule.”

A key source of conservation research could be lost

Jorgenson performed environmental impact surveys in the Arctic for about 40 years, making sure big oil and gas developments up north weren’t interfering with local vegetation, permafrost and bird habitats.

He said that over his long career, not all companies were hostile to that process — some even shared important conservation research they gathered through impact studies.

“Some companies were very proactive on their work,” Jorgenson said. “BP spent tens of millions of dollars on environmental studies gathering information for their environmental assessments. It actually benefited environmental management having all that data, and they produced a lot of data through their studies.”

But if the regulations change, he said that relationship could also dissolve.

Huettmann, the biologist, is awaiting the change with a mix of frustration and apathy. He said the Endangered Species Act, even in its original form, catalogued imperiled species less thoroughly than other lists, like the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. But this move, Huettmann said, could pull out any teeth the act had left.

He added that Alaska will shoot itself in the foot if it spoils its natural beauty, which draws in people from all over the world.

“Alaska owns a very high percentage of protected areas, like national parks,” Huettmann said. “People want to see about the wonders of nature and of the environment — if you get away from that and turn it into a mining state where everything can be done, everything can be drilled, then we lose that market.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received over 200,000 responses to its call for public comments about the proposed change, which closed on May 19. In an email, a Department of Interior spokesperson pointed to the Federal Register Notice and declined further comment.

A state judge has extended a restraining order that bars the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from killing bears in a controversial predator-control program.

Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin, in an order issued late Monday, said the department’s decision to shoot bears earlier this month in violation of a previous court ruling justified her decision to keep the temporary restraining order in place beyond the 10 days that is standard in Alaska law.

The department will be prohibited from conducting its planned bear cull in the Mulchatna caribou herd range until it corrects the legal flaws identified in a March 14 ruling issued by a different judge, Rankin said.

She rejected the state’s request to lift the restraining order and its argument that the prohibition was no longer needed.

“Despite the State’s stated intention of discontinuing its bear predator control measures this season, due to its prior position that it would continue bear abatement unless specifically enjoined, this Court thinks it is prudent to specifically state that the TRO will not expire after ten days and extends the TRO until further order of the Court or until the State obtains proper legal authority, consistent with the March 14 Order, and the May 7, 2025 Order,” she said in her order.

It is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance that challenged the predator control program.

State officials say the program is needed to boost Mulchatna caribou herd numbers, and it must be conducted in spring and early summer, when newborn caribou calves are vulnerable to bear predation. But the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and other critics say the program lacks scientific validity and was put into place without proper public input.

Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi ruled on March 14 that the department and the Alaska Board of Game had violated state constitutional requirements when approving and starting the program. He agreed with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance’s argument that public notice and opportunity for public input was inadequate. He also found that state officials violated the constitution’s mandate that replenishable resources be maintained for sustained yield, by failing to properly analyze the program’s impact on bear populations.

After Guidi’s ruling, and after Rankin ruled on May 7 that a Board of Game emergency regulation allowing the program to resume was legally void, the department restarted the bear culls on May 10 anyway.

Eleven brown bears and one wolf were killed that weekend, the department said. That toll added to the 175 brown bears, five black bears and 19 wolves that the state said were killed during 2023 and 2024.

That weekend action led to Rankin’s determination that the state had acted in “bad faith” and her decision to impose the temporary restraining order.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance has also served notice that it may ask for the department to be held in civil contempt for its bear kills earlier in the month.

The Mulchatna caribou herd numbers about 15,000 animals, after hitting a peak size of about 200,000 in the 1990s, according to the department. The department’s goal is to have the herd expand to between 30,000 and 80,000 animals, big enough to support a hunt. Hunting of that caribou herd was closed in 2021.

A German Shepherd who was on the lam for nearly three months has been captured and returned to her family. Juneau Animal Rescue announced that animal control officers and a volunteer helped capture Jackie last week.

“This was truly a community effort, and we can’t thank you enough for all the sightings and updates you shared with us,” JAR wrote in a statement.

Jackie slipped her leash in February and since then had stolen the hearts of Juneau residents, who posted photos and videos of her caught on doorbell cameras around town.

Juneau Animal Control officers have been tracking these sightings and setting large, pain-free traps for Jackie ever since, sometimes with cheeseburgers zip-tied to the back.

Now that she’s back home with her adoptive family, JAR said they will not be sharing any further updates.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game does not have the right to carry out a controversial plan to kill bears this spring, at least for now, a state judge has ruled.

Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin found that the department’s predator control program, aimed at boosting a caribou population that has declined dramatically since the 1990s, remains unconstitutional, despite an Alaska Board of Game emergency authorization for the bear-killing to resume.

Through the program, which began in the spring of 2023 after the board first authorized it in 2022, the department has killed 175 brown bears, five black bears and 19 wolves.

Rankin’s order, released late Wednesday, was in response to a request by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance for a restraining order barring the department from carrying out this year’s predator control. The department had planned to start culling bears this weekend.

A restraining order is not needed because the program is already legally invalid, under a ruling issued by Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi on March 14, Rankin said.

Neither the Department of Fish and Game’s March 21 petition for an emergency nor the Board of Game’s March 27 approval of the emergency changed the fact that there is an existing court ruling that the predator control program violates the constitution, Rankin said.

The state has not satisfied the requirements in Guidi’s order for adequate public notice and analysis of the predator control program’s impact on the bear population, Rankin said. Because of that, “the Court specifically finds that the requirements of the Order have not been met and are still binding on the State,” she said.

Critics of the state’s program argue that bears are not to blame for the Mulchatna Caribou Herd’s decline. They point to numerous other factors, including a changing habitat in which tundra vegetation favorable to caribou has been replaced by woody plants favorable to moose.

They also argue that the predator control program poses a threat to bear populations, including those that roam through Katmai National Park and Preserve.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance sued the state in 2023 to block the program, and that lawsuit resulted in Guidi’s March ruling.

On Thursday, the alliance counted Rankin’s ruling as a victory, even though it did not result in a restraining order blocking the state’s plans to start roving bears on Sunday.

“The Superior court ruled that the existing predator control program was unlawful, which means that the State poached almost 200 bears over the past few years, including dozens of cubs, from planes and helicopters,” Nicole Schmitt, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “Instead of remedying those legalities, the State and the Board tried to skirt the public process again. We’re grateful the Court saw this process for what it was: an attempt to run-around a Court order without meaningful engagement from the public.”

In their petition to the Board of Game for emergency authorization, state officials argued that they were under a time crunch to remove bears from the caribou herd’s range.

The bear culling has to be conducted during the spring and early summer, the time when caribou are giving birth to calves on which the bears might prey, department officials argued in their petition and at the March Board of Game meeting.

But Rankin, in a hearing Tuesday, expressed skepticism about the justification for the emergency finding.

She peppered Kimberly Del Frate, an assistant attorney general for the state, with questions about how the emergency action would not be seen as an end run around Guidi’s ruling.

“I know it’s a hard fact, but you need to just admit it: The emergency was created because you lost with Judge Guidi. You wouldn’t have needed to do it if you didn’t have this decision,” Rankin told Del Frate.

Department of Fish and Game officials did not provide information Thursday on their plans now for predator control in the Mulchatna area. The department was still evaluating Rankin’s decision, a spokesperson said.

Joe Geldhof, one of the attorneys representing the organization, said he fears that state officials will carry out their predatory control program in defiance of the ruling.

He and fellow attorney Joel Bennett, a former Board of Game member, see parallels with the Trump administration’s defiance of court rulings.

To try to bolster the case against the bear-killing program – and potentially give Rankin legal grounds to issue a restraining order against the Department of Fish and Game — Geldhof and Bennett on Wednesday filed an amended complaint that adds the Board of Game’s emergency authorization to the list of state actions that they want to overturn.

As spring greens sprout up, black bears are emerging from hibernation and roaming around Juneau in search of food. 

They are opportunistic foragers, so they’ll go for trash, pet food and bird feeders if given the chance. Roy Churchwell, a regional management coordinator at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said residents should avoid leaving stinky or edible things out.

“Trash is the biggest attractant that causes folks to have problems with bears,” Churchwell said. 

He encourages people to follow the city ordinance to put garbage out for pick-up no earlier than 4 a.m. on trash day, and to otherwise keep bins in bear-resistant enclosures. The state euthanized a couple of bears last year after they were aggressive around trash bins downtown and entered a jewelry store on South Franklin Street.

Normally this time of year, bears should be eating grass and sedge in open areas and skunk cabbage that’s erupting from forest marshes. Later on, as salmon return upstream and berries grow plump, bears will frequent streams and shrublands.

Churchwell said hikers and others recreating outside should carry bear spray and keep dogs leashed. Another way to stay safe on trails is to call out “hey bear” every few minutes so they know to steer clear. 

Tourists visiting Juneau should be aware that it’s normal to see bears sauntering downtown.

“I know everyone wants to get their photo opportunity with a bear, but it’s better just to stand back and let the bear do what it’s going to do,” Churchwell said. 

If you encounter a black bear, he said the most important thing to do is stand your ground and don’t run. Stay calm and talk to the bear instead.

Star, an iconic reindeer who lived in downtown Anchorage, died Tuesday – weeks after he was possibly poisoned. Star was the seventh reindeer to live at the corner of 10th Avenue and I Street.

Star was euthanized Tuesday according to his owner Albert Whitehead.

“His health was so bad that he was not doing very well,” Whitehead said. “He was suffering.”

Star was a male reindeer who would’ve been eight next month, Whitehead said. On average, reindeer live around 15 years.

Star was the target of several alleged crimes earlier this year. In January, someone cut the lock to his enclosure. Whitehead said that person “did something to make him go off diet.” Star stopped eating for a while after that, he said, and started losing weight.

In February, the gate lock was cut again. The person, who hasn’t been identified by police, took Star out of his enclosure, which is attached to Whitehead’s house, and walked him downtown. The next day, Whitehead said he caught someone spraying an unknown substance into Star’s face and he later developed pneumonia.

He said he thought Star was recovering, but things took a turn.

“Suddenly he relapsed, and some other issues developed. So (I) really don’t know what caused him to die. The vets now are going through a necropsy with him, and we won’t have a result of that for a couple weeks,” he said.

Anchorage Police Department spokesman Christopher Barraza didn’t have any updates Wednesday on an investigation of the spraying incident.

Star was rescued from the reindeer farm in Palmer.

Having a reindeer living in downtown Anchorage is part of a longtime tradition started by a couple, Ivan and Oro Stewart, in the 1960s. When asked if the tradition would continue with an eighth reindeer, Whitehead said it’s a tough question.

“Would you be willing to put another animal into that enclosure, knowing there’s somebody out there that has doing this kind of stuff to him?” Whitehead questioned.

Whitehead called the reindeer “Star number seven.” All of the reindeer before him were females.