We’re seeing a lot of liberal outrage at this NBC News article on the Trump administration possibly reversing Obama-era rules that prohibit the hunting of predators on public lands in Alaska, especially as it’s been framed as hunting using “bacon and doughnuts” as bait:
The Trump administration is moving to reverse Obama-era rules barring hunters on some public lands in Alaska from baiting brown bears with bacon and doughnuts and using spotlights to shoot mother black bears and cubs hibernating in their dens. https://t.co/DNc9ySrnU6
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 22, 2018
Now, here’s how the Anchorage Daily News is covering the same, exact story:
The National Park Service floated plans Monday to peel back hunting restrictions established during the Obama administration in 2015. https://t.co/pW5AcT6qf6 pic.twitter.com/9h1Qv2Phaf
— Anchorage Daily News (@adndotcom) May 21, 2018
However, it’s more complicated than the outrage bait above would suggest. Ending the Obama-era proposal would actually bring federal law back in line with state law, which is what the people of Alaska want. From the ADN:
In a proposed regulation published online Monday, the National Park Service floated plans to peel back National Park Service hunting restrictions established during the Obama administration in October 2015. The goal is to promote hunting and trapping activities and better align federal and state regulations, according to the park service.
National preserves are parts of national parks designated by Congress to allow fishing, hunting, mining or other resource extraction. Central to the dispute is a 1994 state law that focuses on controlling predators — wolves, bears and other carnivores — in order to keep game such as caribou abundant for hunters. The Obama-era park service said that federal law doesn’t support reducing predators to boost populations of their prey.
A law was put in place in 2016 to cover a similar regulation imposed by the Fish and Wildlife Service, but it did not cover the park service:
U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is vociferously opposed to the rule, which he said tramples on the state’s regulatory control over hunting. Young was able to pass a law revoking a similar Obama-era regulation issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service, because the administration issued it nearer to the end of President Barack Obama’s final term. But the park service rule remained in place.
This really is big issue in Alaska that’s been ignored in D.C.:
I saw this trending, and decided to read up on it. It's a little more complex than you might realize. Reading comments from people living in Alaska, they have a real problem with wolf and bear over population. What do you think? https://t.co/UYSe2qXdg2
— Vicky Crystal, TV6 (@TV6AMNews) May 22, 2018
So, what happened to the importance of listening to local journalists? Nah … the blue-check mob only really cares about the DC/NYC based media and how local issues are framed through those eyes:
Chuck this one onto the “Surely they can’t be more awful oh wait, yes they can” pile. https://t.co/Qp5lPScsDU
— Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) May 22, 2018
absolutely deplorable https://t.co/st6HamPNfD
— Simran Jeet Singh (@SikhProf) May 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/998964671511236608
https://twitter.com/chrstphr_woody/status/998974240966799360
in all fairness to hunters, those hibernating bears DID reject their advances https://t.co/6uABv9qqKj
— Matt Oswalt (@MattOswaltVA) May 22, 2018
Laugh up, guys and keep ignoring those rural voters you hate. Maybe it will work out for you one of these days.
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