Number of guided brown bear hunting permits frozen in Tongass
Posted: Monday, October 02, 2000
SITKA (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service is clamping down on guided brown bear hunts in the Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska.
The agency has decided to freeze the number at 1997-1998 levels, spokesman Mike Weber said.
The administrative freeze should provide some breathing room to better understand the dynamics of bear populations and social elements of brown bear hunting before the practice increases, he said.
Two studies are underway with a report looking at the bears on Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof islands due out next spring.
The Yakutat forelands is the only area in the Tongass not affected by the freeze, Weber said.