A lawsuit has been filed against the Alaska Board of Game over its predator control program, which allows the killing of brown and black bears across southwestern Alaska.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit today in Alaska Superior Court, arguing that the program violates the state constitution. The groups say the board authorized the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to aerially shoot bears across 40,000 square miles until 2028, without population data or a limit on how many can be killed.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the program threatens bears moving across public lands near national preserves and parks, including Lake Clark, Katmai, and Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. They also cite previous court rulings striking down earlier versions of the Mulchatna bear control program as unconstitutional.

The predator control program was put in place to protect the Mulchatna caribou herds, which, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, provide “as many as 4,770 caribou per year for the subsistence needs of more than 48 local communities, in addition to hunting opportunities for all Alaskans and nonresidents.”

Fish and Game says the herd, which numbered as many as 200,000 in 1997, dropped to as low as 13,000 animals by 2019.

Hunting of the herd has been closed since 2021.

Research presented to the Board of Game in January 2022 showed that predators—particularly brown bears—accounted for nearly 90% of newborn calf deaths within the first two weeks of life from 2011 to 2021. Fish and Game says “low numbers of calves surviving to breeding age is likely a factor limiting the ability of the herd to increase.”

The lawsuit argues that reinstating the program ignores court orders and fails to meet legal obligations under Alaska’s constitution, which requires sustainable management of wildlife.