Fairbanks, AK – Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) is raising serious concerns over last-minute changes to the Fortymile caribou hunt in Zone 1 that disrupted a coordinated management approach and left federal managers, Tribal representatives and subsistence users scrambling to preserve the federally mandated subsistence priority with only days’ notice.
On August 11, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) informed TCC and other consulting parties that it would delay the Zone 1 federal subsistence hunt, originally scheduled to open August 16, due to concerns about overharvest and conservation of the Fortymile herd. BLM issued an emergency special action closing Zone 1 “until further notice,” effective August 12.
The hunt’s short duration, combined with a three-day reporting period, has historically created a risk of exceeding harvest limits before managers receive sufficient data to close the hunt. That risk is particularly concerning this season because the Fortymile herd is already below the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s (ADF&G) population objective.
On the morning of Friday, August 14, TCC representatives were called into an emergency meeting with BLM managers and members of the Eastern Interior Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council. During that meeting, participants were informed that ADF&G planned to open the State’s Zone 1 hunt earlier than the timing previously discussed by the agencies. BLM managers indicated that the decision followed pressure from entities outside ADF&G.
The unexpected change left federal managers, Tribal representatives and subsistence users with little time to determine how the federal hunt could still provide a meaningful priority for federally qualified subsistence users before the State hunt opened to all eligible hunters.
BLM, TCC and members of the Regional Advisory Council worked quickly to establish a six-day federal subsistence hunting opportunity from August 18 through August 23. However, two of those days overlap with the State’s August 20–21 hunt, diminishing the exclusive opportunity intended to provide federally qualified subsistence users with priority access.
The State moved forward with its hunt while the Fortymile herd remains below the population objective identified in its Draft Fortymile Caribou Herd Harvest Plan. The plan establishes a population objective of 30,000 to 50,000 caribou and is intended to guide managers toward a conservative approach. ADF&G’s latest aerial survey estimates the herd at approximately 27,000 animals—below the stated objective—and that estimate is based on statistical modeling rather than a direct count.
Opening the hunt early, with limited notice and outside the plan’s season-timing guidelines is inconsistent with a conservative management approach. It also undermines the meaningful subsistence priority guaranteed to federally qualified rural residents.
“Federal subsistence priority should not be something we have to scramble to protect after other decisions have already been made,” said TCC Chief/Chairman Sharon Hildebrand. “When Tribal representatives and federal managers are forced to work overnight to preserve subsistence access because of a last-minute decision by the State, the process has failed the people it is supposed to protect.”
TCC is calling on State and federal wildlife managers to strengthen interagency coordination and engage in meaningful Tribal consultation before making significant changes to hunt openings—particularly when those decisions affect federally mandated subsistence priority.
Management decisions involving the Fortymile herd must be transparent, conservation-driven and communicated with sufficient notice. Above all, federally qualified subsistence users must have a meaningful opportunity to exercise their priority before hunts are opened to other users.
TCC represents 37 federally recognized Tribes across Interior Alaska and has long advocated for meaningful Tribal involvement and co-management authority over subsistence resources essential to food security, cultural continuity and the continuation of traditional ways of life.