News from the Senate Majority

Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: 907/465-4582
http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

For Immediate Release: March 12, 1997 Contact: Senator Robin Taylor 907/465-3873

Resolution Alters Wildlife Management From A

Scarcity To Abundance-Based Program

Juneau -- Asking the State of Alaska to change the way it manages wildlife to an abundance-based program, the Alaska State Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 Wednesday by a vote of 19 to 1.

"Our current system is failing because we don’t address wildlife concerns until game populations are threatened and scarce," said Senator Robin Taylor (R-Wrangell), sponsor of SCR 2.

"We need to shift from this reactive approach to a proactive program that focuses on preserving healthy and abundant game populations for all Alaskans."

"The real problem is many Alaskans today, including our Governor, would rather manage our fish and game in a benign and neglectful fashion -- sitting in offices and worrying about the concerns people have in the lower 48 rather than finding solutions that work for our state," Taylor said.

Sweden is one-sixteenth the size of Alaska yet harvests more than one hundred thousand moose annually.

"That’s more moose than we have living in the state of Alaska today -- and that’s because Sweden carefully manages their resource for abundance," Taylor said.

Such a management policy would boost Alaska’s wildlife population and go a long way in solving the subsistence dilemma. It would decrease the competition between user groups for limited fish and game to establish and win win situation for hunters, viewers, photographers, and tourists, explained Taylor.

"An abundance of fish and wildlife for all Alaskans is the only practical solution to the subsistence impasse," said Taylor. "It is the only way we can be true to our state constitution that allows for equal access to our resources by all our citizens."

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