Trump allows hunting bears and reindeer and prospecting for oil, gas and coal in ten protected nature reserves since 1923 by carlos matÍas
On June 9th, the National Park Service amended its regulations for sport hunting and trapping in national preserves in Alaska ending a century of protecting ten natural reserves for bears, wolves, reindeer and migratory birds.
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding recognized the potential of its deposits and in 1923 regulated its exploitation. And in 1976, Congress declared the “maximum protection” of the area. with Gerald Ford as President. The measure has been respected by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barak Obama. But Trump overrode everything, especially Obama’s 2015 ban on using artificial light, baits, and dogs to kill brown and black bears, as well as their cubs, even inside their dens during hibernation, allowing them to hunt caribou (American reindeer), shooting at them from motorboats and using wolves and coyotes to make them easy prey.
Donald Trump “blesses” these “cruel and unsportsmanlike” methods according to conservationists. But they are supported by some tribal leaders, such as those from the Tanana region, next to the Yukon River, where some 250 people live, most of them Alaska Native, who believe that Obama prevented them from following their ancestral traditions, although Obama established exceptions to preserve them.
With no ecosystem to protect, Trump encourages oil, gas, and coal prospecting on 23 million acres (more than 93,000 square kilometers: nearly the size of Indiana). It is one of the most ecologically valuable territories in the United States, declared a “National Wildlife Refuge” for polar bears, caribou and migratory waterbirds.
We are talking about hundreds of thousands of animals that are in danger today. There are 20,000 million out of five thousand different species in birds alone, which fly 10,000 kilometers each year from the Caribbean to Alaska in the spring and migrate another 10,000 kilometers from Alaska to the Caribbean in the winter. Alaska’s fossil fuel field covers two-thirds of the country’s largest territory (it is the largest state in the Union). 8.7 billion barrels of crude oil and 25 billion cubic feet (almost 708 billion cubic meters) of natural gas could be extracted. Trump wants “global energy dominance,” he said in 2017, after abandoning the Paris Agreement on greenhouse gases.
PROUDLY POWERED BY SOL DE MEDIANOCHE NEWS, LLC. Sol de Medianoche is a monthly publication of the Latino community in Anchorage, Alaska