Alaska Department of Fish & Game
Division of Wildlife Conservation

DWC's Guiding Elements

GUIDING PHILOSOPHY AND VALUES:
The Division of Wildlife Conservation recognizes wildlife as a public trust belonging to all Alaskans. We respect the diversity of public values associated with wildlife, and support uses that reflect sound conservation principles and public desires. We are an organization of individuals committed to interacting professionally with one another and the public, and to using scientific data and public input to conserve Alaska's wildlife.

VISION:
Our vision is for the Division of Wildlife Conservation to be recognized as a professional organization known for competency, honesty, and fairness, and respected as a source of scientifically credible information on wildlife biology and management in Alaska, regardless of personal values and beliefs.

MISSION:
Our mission is to conserve and enhance Alaska's wildlife and habitats and provide for a wide range of public uses and benefits.

DWC's Goals

1. Foster and enhance internal and external communication.
2. Expand and enhance the development and dissemination of public information and services.
3. Expand and enhance knowledge of wildlife populations and the influences on populations from habitat change, predation, human activities, and other factors and dynamics.
4. Enhance interactions with state and federal regulatory bodies and processes.
5. Enhance employee recruitment, retention, and advancement.
6. Obtain additional diversified base funding that reflects a broad array of wildlife interests and uses.

DWC's Strategies for Achieving
its Vision and Goals

Foster and enhance internal and external communication:

1. Create a monthly "Who's Who" with photos and biographical sketches of office staffs, along with highlighting new employees.
2. Create "sabbatical" opportunities for staff to participate in one another's projects.
3. Provide functional communication technology in all offices.
4. Share DWC vision, mission, and goals with outside organizations and leaders, and become familiar with their missions and goals. Look for areas of mutual interest and concern.

Expand and enhance development and dissemination of public information and services:

1. Work with Division of Administrative Services to develop user identification numbers and point of sale licensing.
2. Provide offices with technological equipment and software for providing information and materials to the public.
3. Maintain staff and funding in Information & Education and Wildlife Viewing programs.
4. Maintain staff and funding for web support, and provide feedback loops for staff and the public to offer input.

Expand and enhance knowledge of wildlife populations and the influences on populations from habitat change, predation, and other factors and dynamics:

1. Identify wildlife populations for which sufficient information is lacking and prioritize them for initiating or continuing work.
2. Meet with budgeting entities, including legislators, to seek funds for initiating and continuing needed management and research efforts.

Enhance interactions with state and federal regulatory bodies and processes:

1. Continue to interact with F&G Advisory Committees and federal Regional Advisory Councils.
2. Meet with Board of Game members to share the division's vision and goals, and to seek cooperative approaches to achieving these.
3. Meet with members of the Federal Subsistence Board to discuss issues of concern and to seek cooperative approaches to resolving these.

Enhance employee recruitment, retention, and advancement.

1. Provide leadership and supervisory training, and mentoring opportunities to staff.
2. Ensure supervisors are completing staff training plans with staff input.
3. Ensure staff is aware of the department's leadership and supervisory training manual.
4. Enlist information and ideas from the department's recruitment and retention program.
5. Provide "sabbatical" opportunities for staff interested in working at HQ, and for HQ staff seeking greater familiarity with fields operations.
6. Participate in career day programs at schools and other suitable venues.
7. Provide and encourage intern opportunities for high school and college students.

Obtain additional base funding:

1. Meet with legislators and other appropriate interests to seek hunting and trapping license fee increases.
2. Meet with legislators and other appropriate interests to seek a conservation pass fee.

Functions and Organization

Division functions include management of wildlife populations and habitats; research to develop and refine management techniques and provide new biological and use information; sharing information with the legislature, board, public and other agencies; regulatory activities; public service projects such as hunter and firearms safety education, Project WILD conservation education; and responding to public and agency inquiries for information or help with wildlife problems.

The division is organized into a headquarters office in Juneau, four regional offices in Douglas, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Nome, and 22 field offices throughout the state from Barrow to Ketchikan.

Wildlife Values and Funding History

The economic value of hunting in Alaska annually exceeds $100 million, excluding the value of subsistence harvests. Trapping contributes several million each year to the economy and is extremely important to thousands of Alaskans lacking other sources of cash income. In turn, approximately 90 percent of the division's funding is provided by hunters and trappers through license and tag fees and matching federal funds derived from excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and archery equipment.

Wildlife viewing and photography are of great importance to over 85 percent of Alaskan residents and visitors to Alaska, based upon recent surveys. The tourism industry contributes over $1 billion annually to Alaska's economy and is the state's third largest industry. General funds appropriated through the legislature help support these and other division programs.

Revenue into the Fish and Game Fund (F&G) has increased since 1993 as a result of increased resident hunting and trapping license fees. A portion of these fees (approximately $615.0) are dedicated each year to the operation of the Fish & Game Licensing System, including vendor payments. Alaska's federal aid apportionments, known as Pittman-Robertson (PR) funds, have also increased substantially in recent years, although these revenues could decline in the future as a result of federal actions restricting sales of firearms and ammunition.

Wildlife Conservation Program Summaries

Seventeen programs currently comprise this division's overall functions through which operational funding is allocated. Provided below are summaries of these programs and project components of the division's budget request.

General Wildlife

General Wildlife encompasses: (1) the division's administrative and support functions (e.g., personnel management, training, program administration and coordination, document processing, office equipment acquisition and maintenance); (2) inter- and intra-agency coordination; (3) land use planning (e.g., review and comment on DNR area plans); (4) CSU planning; (5) law enforcement; (6) laboratory services; (7) operational planning (e.g., preparation of management plans); (8) refuges and sancturaries; and (9) information management (e.g., biometrics, wildlife data processing, big game drawing permits).

This cover program now also includes the statewide Conservation and Education program which expands public education and wildlife viewing opportunities for all Alaskan wildlife species. Included in this program is the establishment of informational displays at select roadside turnouts and state refuges that will contribute to wildlife viewing opportunities in the future for residents and visitors alike.

Public Services

Project functions include responding to daily public inquiries and contacts, preparation of written correspondence, and participating in public forums. Other projects are: (1) Permit Hunt Supplements; (2) rifle ranges (e.g., Rabbit Creek Range); and (3) Hunter Education and Firearms Safety training courses.

Each project is composed of project elements or activities. For example, the Hunter Education project is comprised of four elements: (1) program planning, coordination and administration; (2) volunteer instructor recruitment and training; (3) student training; and (4) bowhunter education.

Regulatory Process

The division's regulatory process includes all projects and activities associated with statutory mandates governing regulations and public involvement in the regulatory process. Projects include: (1) Game Regulations; (2) Advisory Committee support; and (3) the Board of Game.

The Game Regulations project includes the following project activities: (1) formulating staff proposals; (2) review and processing of public proposals; (3) codified regulations; and (4) assisting in quality control, printing, and distribution of game regulations.

The regulatory process has become increasingly complex in recent years due to the establishment of the Federal Subsistence Board by the Secretary of the Interior. Division staff now spend increasing amounts of time and travel funds attending federal subsistence meetings to provide expertise and address issues before decisions are made by this board which may not always be in the best interests of Alaskans or the wildlife resource.

Species Management Programs

There are 14 species management programs: bison, black bear, brown bear, caribou, deer, elk, furbearers, marine mammals, moose, mountain goat, muskox, sheep, waterfowl and wolf.

Species management programs involve both management and research projects. Survey and inventory activities for each species or species group may include aerial surveys, sampling and censuses, harvest monitoring and data analyses. Bear, wolf and furbearer sealing, hunter check stations, and harvest surveys are conducted. Some management projects involve active manipulation of wildlife populations to allow recovery of depressed populations. Habitat improvement projects range from the cultivation of wildlife food crops in Fairbanks and Delta to mechanical disturbance and prescribed burns in the Matanuska, Tanana, and Susitna River valleys.

Species management programs contribute to the sustained yield management of the state's wildlife — a goal that is accomplished through collection and analysis of data on wildlife reproduction, survival, and mortality for use by the Board of Game in defining hunting and trapping regulations and by the department in developing effective management strategies.

All species management programs require detailed annual reports (e.g. survey-inventory, management and research progress and final reports). In addition, wildlife technical bulletins, scientific papers, federal aid reports, and reports to the Board of Game are prepared and distributed each year. Thus, there is strict accountability for funds expended and products produced to meet consitutional and statutory requirements for the management and use of wildlife in Alaska.

More information about the Division of Wildlife Conservation is available in our Strategic Plan

RESPONSIBILITIES
• Manage All Wildlife Species
• Regulate Hunting
• Enhance Wildlife Populations

ISSUES
• Increased Hunting Demand
• Demand for Conservation Education, Wildlife Viewing, and Endangered Species Management

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS
• Funding for Wildlife Viewing
• Increased Funding for Hunter Education & Hunter Services
• Increased Funding for Intensive Management Survey and Inventory

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
• Big Game
• Small Game
• Furbearers
• Waterfowl
• Nongame Species
• General Hunts
• Permit Hunts
• Wildlife Viewing
• Hunter Education
• Wildlife Education