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Income will not be considered when scoring this year's Tier II subsistence permit applications, the Alaska Board of Game decided Wednesday, but it retained the option of using it in future years.
The Board met in emergency session to address concerns raised in a Superior Court ruling just weeks ago. The court said income could be used as a determining factor, but that it must be adjusted to reflect differences in the cost of living in various communities.
There is no readily available and accurate measure of such differences, the Board was told by staff from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. With the Tier II moose and caribou seasons scheduled to start in GMU 13 in less than six weeks, the Board said there was no time to make the necessary adjustments.
The income question along with a myriad of other issues surrounding the contentious hunts in the Nelchina Basin will come up again at the board's regularly schedule meeting in early March.
The Board's action Wednesday clears the way for the ADF&G staff to begin scoring thousands of Tier II applications submitted in May. Once Tier II permits are awarded, drawing permit winners can be decided by the middle on July.
Linkage between the Tier II permits and drawing permits comes from the so-called "super exclusive" regulation the Board passed last year. Under that regulation, anyone who is awarded as a Tier II caribou or moose permit in Unit 13 is prohibited from hunting moose and caribou anywhere else in the state, thus would be ineligible for any drawing permits for those species. The "super exclusive" regulation was upheld by the court.
The seasons and bag limits regarding moose and caribou hunting in Unit 13 will remain the same as last season.
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