Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Alaska is, without question, the wildest state in the U.S. Our low population and huge area mean that there is more game and fish here than there are people. This is especially true in the Northwest Arctic Borough.
In Alaska, a borough is roughly equivalent to a county in most of the other states. But, like everything in Alaska, a little larger. The Northwest Arctic Borough is a little larger than Indiana, but with a population of only 7,200 people. Nearly half of them live in Kotzebue.
For the Department of Fish and Game, that small population is extremely important. The vast majority of the Northwest Arctic Borough population is native Inupiat and earn their living by hunting and fishing. The agency's biggest task is to strike a balance between the needs of the local residents and the commercial tourism industry's wildlife based travel.
Follow the links below to learn how they're managing that balancing act. The rules and regulations that they've created affect you, the hunter, and could be very different than the ones you're used to back home.
