The Association of Village Council Presidents is trying to get the Interior Department to rescind a legal opinion that says Alaska Native hunters must buy U.S. duck stamps.

The Duck Stamp Act of 1934 requires hunters to buy stamps in order to fund the purchase of new waterfowl habitat. For decades, Alaska Natives were never subject to the law.

That changed in 2001, when Interior's regional solicitor for Alaska said subsistence hunters are covered by the law. In 2008, the Federal Duck Stamp Office began informing Alaska Natives about the need to comply.

This year, Native hunters who don't buy the $15 stamps will be ticketed for $100. "I'm not going to buy a duck stamp because I'm not a sport hunter,"AVCP President Myron Naneng told The Tundra Times.

Get the Story:
Subsistence hunters protest new duck-stamp requirement (The Tundra Drums 4/25)