Submitted Electronically via eRulemaking Portal

Re: Docket #FWS-R7-ES-2012-0033 Alaska is poised to bring back the largest land mammal in the western hemisphere – the wood bison. This is truly a win-win situation for everyone – hunters, watchable wildlife advocates, scientists, conservationists, subsistence users - and an opportunity to correct a mistake mankind made almost a century ago. Wood bison disappeared from Alaska about 100 years ago, probably as a result of over-hunting. Canada found a small herd of the animals in the 1960s, moved them to a protected area and let them multiply to the point they could be reintroduced. Canada presently has seven large, wild herds of wood bison that coexist with the nation’s aboriginal inhabitants, its mining interests, its tourism business and its large oil and gas industry. The project to reintroduce wood bison in Alaska dates back more than a decade. After extensive consultations and planning, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) decided to adopt the project and asked the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) to support the animals until they could be released. The first bison arrived in 2006 from the Yukon Territory and another 60 arrived in 2008. Today, the herd numbers 86. Now it is time to begin returning the bison to their traditional home, but before that can happen we need to finalize regulations to provide for wood bison conservation and to ensure that releasing wood bison into the wild does not result in restrictions to other resource development activities important to Alaska’s economy. I support the proposed regulations to designate wood bison in Alaska as an NEP and encourage the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to finalize these regulations as quickly as possible. Specifically, I support the clause that provides that no legal action will be taken in cases of accidental kill or injury, that the Alaska Department of Fish and Games manage the released animals and that hunting be permitted once the herd has grown large enough. Thank you. Lana Jo