From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

Real quick, for those of you following the food-and-fuel situation in Emmonak: The state Department of Fish and Game is reopening the moose season on the lower Yukon in an emergency move the department says would allow people who weren't able to bag a moose before the season ended Jan. 20 to try again.

Fish and Game says:

"After about an hourlong deliberation (today), the board determined that regulations would not allow it to grant the request for a special hunt with a bag limit of any moose through March. But in discussions with ADF&G, the board noted the agency has the authority to extend the existing season, which ended a week ago."

The village had petitioned for a longer opening that would have allowed people to hunt cow moose as well. Sounds like the board is saying that's not an option.

Is this a good compromise? I haven't had a chance to gauge reaction yet.

Here's the full announcement:

JUNEAU – Responding to a petition from the village of Emmonak, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game will use its emergency authority to re-open the moose hunting season on the Lower Yukon River.

The move came after a Tuesday teleconference by the Alaska Board of Game to consider a request from the community of about 800 people. Some residents there have reported that a poor fishing season and high fuel costs have made it difficult from some residents to afford both heating fuel and food.

After about an hour-long deliberation, the Board determined that regulations would not allow it to grant the request for a special hunt with a bag limit of any moose through March. But in discussions with ADF&G, the Board noted the agency has the authority to extend the existing season, which ended a week ago.

The extension will allow hunters to take an antlered bull or a calf through the end of February north of a line roughly from Cape Romanzof to Mountain Village, excluding all Yukon River drainages upstream from Mountain Village. That bag limit is the same as the fall and winter seasons in the area. Including calves in the bag limit is designed to put the brakes on the rapidly increasing population.

ADF&G biologists said the hunt was biologically acceptable because the hunt area of approximately 1,100 square miles has an estimated 3,300 moose and the moose population there has been growing at about 27 percent a year.

The federal government also has agreed to allow subsistence hunting for any moose on federal lands in the area through February. Much of the hunt area located near the villages is privately owned Native land where state regulations apply.

The preliminary harvest reported last fall in the area was 160 moose. The reporting deadline has not yet passed for the recently concluded winter season, but indications are that fewer than 50 moose were taken. Part of the petition by Emmonak was based on a recent cold snap that hampered hunting during the Dec. 20-Jan. 20 winter season.