Trump Administration Opens Door to Bear Baiting, Den Hunting in Alaska Preserves

The National Park Service finalized a regulation that abdicates the agency's responsibility to manage wildlife in Alaska's national preserves, deferring instead to state regulations. Defenders of Wildlife condemns the rule, which mirrors a 2020 regulation promulgated by the first Trump administration that was later withdrawn and replaced in 2024.

“Despite what the administration believes, Alaska’s national preserves aren’t game farms intended to have predators managed to scarcity in the name of boosting prey populations for hunting opportunities,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, senior director of Alaska and Northwest programs for Defenders of Wildlife. “Rolling back this rule is truly a dark mark on the Park Service’s mission to conserve wildlife and protect our national lands.”

NPS’ Alaska Hunting and Trapping in National Preserves rule governs sport hunting and trapping on national park lands where such activities are congressionally permitted. The agency is required to manage wildlife populations to maintain natural abundance and predator-prey relationships without manipulating predator populations to try to boost prey species such as caribou.  

In 2024, NPS had restated this responsibility and specifically prohibited bear baiting in national preserves, but earlier this year the agency signaled it would adopt these harvesting methods again. Today's final rule reverses that protection to a 2015 framework, and once again permits practices such as baiting brown and black bears, taking black bear cubs and sows with cubs in their dens, and killing wolves/coyotes and their pups during the denning season.