We, the undersigned, strongly oppose the proposed rule by the National Park Service to rescind long-standing wildlife protections across Alaska’s national preserves and respectfully urge the agency to withdraw this proposal in its entirety.

Alaska Hunting and Trapping in National Preserves Docket (NPS-2026-0034):

https://www.regulations.gov/document/NPS-2026-0034-0001

​Submit your public comment by April 24, 2026:

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/NPS-2026-0034-0001

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This proposal authorizes and expands highly controversial practices across millions of acres of public land. It would remove restrictions on hunting and trapping methods, targeting species such as bears, wolves, coyotes, and caribou. The rule would permit bear baiting, the use of artificial light to locate dens and kill denning bears and wolves, including mothers, cubs, and pups during their most vulnerable stages. It would also include predator-removal practices that disrupt wolf family groups and other wildlife structures. It also allows the killing of swimming caribou from a motorized boat and the use of dogs for hunting black bears.

These methods are inconsistent with sound science-based wildlife management and conflict with the National Park Service’s statutory responsibility to conserve wildlife and ecosystems in their natural condition.

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Congress established Alaska’s national parks and preserves to protect the integrity of natural ecosystems and biodiversity under the public trust, not to facilitate manipulation of wildlife populations or normalize human-driven alterations of animal behavior and ecosystem processes.

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Allowing bear baiting conditions wildlife to associate humans with food. It alters natural foraging behavior and causes animals to congregate unnaturally. This increases disease transmission and interspecies conflict. Bait sites also attract and expose non-target species, destabilizing food webs. At the ecosystem scale, targeted removal of species such as bears and wolves can trigger trophic cascades. These cascades lead to increased herbivore populations, overbrowsing, vegetation loss, habitat degradation, and reduced biodiversity.

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More broadly, apex predators are foundational to ecosystem function. Extensive peer-reviewed research demonstrates that intact predator populations enhance ecological resilience. They stabilize food webs and support biodiversity. Their removal produces predictable and often long-lasting ecological imbalance.

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Alaska’s national parks and preserves, including internationally significant ecosystems such as Denali National Park and Preserve and Katmai National Park and Preserve, represent some of the last large, relatively intact wild landscapes on Earth. These lands are held in public trust for all Americans and are not intended to serve as venues for predator eradication or recreational exploitation.

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The proposed rule also risks shifting wildlife management toward state-directed predator-control priorities that emphasize game production over ecological integrity, thereby undermining federal conservation obligations and the foundational purpose of these protected areas.

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The National Park Service itself recognized in its 2015 rule that prohibiting these practices is necessary to fulfill its legal mandate. That science- and law-based standard should be upheld, not reversed.

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At stake is not only policy, but the integrity of entire landscapes, the future of intact wilderness systems, and the continued survival of native predator-prey dynamics that define them.

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We encourage everyone to submit comments in opposition and to advocate for the continued protection of both Alaska's wildlife and wildlands. The public comment period closes April 24th. 

Thank you for taking action.