Alaska Fish & Wildlife Conservation Fund v. State

347 P.3d 97, 2015 Alas. LEXIS 30, 2015 WL 1393374
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedMarch 27, 2015
DocketNo. S-14516
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 347 P.3d 97 (Alaska Fish & Wildlife Conservation Fund v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alaska Fish & Wildlife Conservation Fund v. State, 347 P.3d 97, 2015 Alas. LEXIS 30, 2015 WL 1393374 (Ala. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

MAASSEN, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Regulations promulgated by the Alaska Board of Game establish two different systems of subsistence hunting for moose and caribou in Alaska's Copper Basin region: (1) community hunts for groups following a hunting pattern similar to the one traditionally practiced by members of the Ahtna Tene Nene' community; and (2) individual hunts.1 A private outdoors group, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund, argues that this regulatory framework violates the equal access and equal protection clauses of the Alaska Constitution by establishing a preference for a certain user group. The Fund also argues that the regulations are not authorized by the governing statutes, that they conflict 'with other regulations, and that notice of important regulatory changes was not properly given to the public. But because we conclude that the Board's factual findings support a constitutionally valid distinction between patterns of subsistence use, and because the Board's regulations do not otherwise violate the law, we affirm the superior court's grant. of summary judgment to the State, upholding the statute and the Board regulations against the Fund's legal challenge. -

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The Copper Basin Community Hunt Area, located in Southcentral Alaska, includes Game Management Units 11 and 13 and a portion of Unit 12.2 After public hearings, the Board made extensive findings about the area in 2006, describing the customary and traditional subsistence use of moose and caribou.3 The Board recognized the existence of a community-based pattern of subsistence hunting, originating with the Ahtna Athabascan communities in the region and "later adopted by other Alaska residents." This community-based pattern, the Board found, was characterized by use of the entire caribou or moose, leaving only the antlers behind, and by events of "[wlidespread community-wide sharing" after the harvest.

[101]*101In 2011 the Board made supplemental findings about a second subsistence hunting pattern in the Copper Basin. This pattern, according to the Board, was an individual use pattern that occurs "among households and families" but unlike the community-based pattern is not "linked to extensive networks of cooperation and sharing." The individual use pattern occurs mostly during the fall, and it centers upon areas accessible from the road system. Individual subsistence users, like community subsistence users, tend to return to their "well-known and long-established camping/hunting sites," but they tend to travel much farther to get there. The individual use pattern does not tend to use organ meat; meat sharing is "less formal"; and the "peer pressure to share is far less pronounced."

Based on these two recognized patterns of subsistence hunting, the Board adopted regulations that bifurcated subsistence hunts4 in Unit 18 into community harvests and individual.5 A community harvest permit is issued to members of a group of 25 or more who agree to engage in the hunting practices described in the Board's 2006 findings, including meat sharing and organ salvage.6 The community moose hunt has a longer hunting season, has a larger geographic area, and is allocated up to 70 moose of any size.7 For caribou, the season, hunting area, and size of animal that may be hunted are the same for both the community harvest and individual permit holders, but the community hunt is allocated up to 300 caribou.8 (What this allocation means in practical terms is addressed later in this opinion.)

These regulations were challenged in the superior court by the nonprofit Alaska Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund. The Fund argued that the regulations violated the Administrative Procedure Act,9 the subsistence hunting statutes, and article VIII of the Alaska Constitution. The Fund asked the court to enjoin all community harvest hunts and to strike any statutes and regulations purporting to allow them. The Fund also asked the court to require the revisor of statutes to strike or amend statutes that Alaska's courts have ruled unconstitutional in the past. The local tribe, Ahtna Tene Nene', was granted leave to intervene as a defendant.

All parties agreed that the issues before the superior court could be decided on summary judgment. - The superior court ruled in favor of the State, holding that the challenged regulation had been properly noticed; that the regulatory scheme was within the Board's statutory power because the subsistence hunting statutes allow the Board to distinguish between different subsistence uses; and that the community harvest permit system did not violate the equal access provisions of the Alaska Constitution, article VIII, because participation in a community harvest was open to all Alaska residents. The Fund now appeals.

III STANDARDS OF REVIEW

Summary judgment may be granted only when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and we therefore review grants of summary judg[102]*102ment de novo.10 In a review of ageney action we substitute our judgment for that of the agency when interpreting the Alaska Constitution and deciding issues of law.11 But "[when the interpretation of a statute or other question of law implicates 'agency expertise as to complex matters or as to the formulation of fundamental policy, we defer to the ageney's interpretation so long as it has a 'reasonable basis' in the law."12 If "a case may be fairly decided on statutory grounds or on an alternative basis, we will not address the constitutional issues."13 When a regulation is adopted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and the legislature intended to give the agency discretion, our review is limited to ascertaining whether the regulation is consistent with its authorizing statutory provisions and whether it is reasonable and not arbitrary.14

IV. DISCUSSION

A. The Community Harvest Permit System Does Not Violate Article VIII Of The Alaska Constitution.

The Fund argues that the community harvest permit system is unconstitutional because it creates classifications that result in disparate treatment of Alaskans who are otherwise similarly situated. The superior court rejected this argument, reasoning that "[alny Alaskan is eligible to participate in either opportunity [i.e., the individual hunt or the community harvest] by complying with the regulatory requirements for each." We agree.

Sections 3, 15, and 17 of article VIII are the equal access clauses of the Alaska Constitution; they provide the constitutional framework within which the State regulates subsistence hunting and fishing. Section 3, the common use clause, provides that "[wlherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use." Section 17, the uniform application clause, requires that "[llaws and regulations governing the use or disposal of natural resources ...

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
347 P.3d 97, 2015 Alas. LEXIS 30, 2015 WL 1393374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alaska-fish-wildlife-conservation-fund-v-state-alaskactapp-2015.