An Alaska Superior Court judge in Anchorage has given the state of Alaska permission to shoot bears in Southwest Alaska as part of a plan to boost a local caribou herd.

In a 22-page order, Judge Adolf Zeman said a cull planned for this month may take place while attorneys proceed with arguments about the constitutionality of the state’s action.

With the order, Zeman declined to issue a preliminary injunction requested by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance shortly before the cull was expected to start. The Alliance has filed suit against the state and sought to stop the cull.

“We’re happy with the ruling. We’re happy that science prevails, and we can continue the program,” said Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

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May is calving season for caribou in the area, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is planning to kill bears before they can kill caribou calves.

Alaska’s predator control program, which involves killing specific animals in order to boost the number of prey animals like caribou and moose, has been controversial for decades.

The decision to extend the program from wolves to bears, an act the state says is needed to protect the Mulchatna Caribou herd, prompted a lengthy series of legal challenges starting in 2023, a year after the state killed 180 black bears in the area.

Opponents said the culls violated the Alaska Constitution and did not follow scientific principles. Before Wednesday, two other Superior Court judges had ruled in favor of opponents, halting the program and keeping it halted despite two revisions of a plan authored by the Board of Game and Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Now, after a third rewrite last year, the state appears to have the permission it needs to resume the cull.

“Our program is based on more than a decade of research that identifies bear predation on calves during calving season as the most significant factor inhibiting the recovery of the caribou herd,” Lang said in a prepared statement.

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“Our bear control program is designed to improve calf survival while not impacting the sustainability of the bears. The program has demonstrated significant success through the highest calf-to-cow ratios since 1999 and a population growth of 30% since bear removal began in 2023. Our program is supported by the Alaska Federation of Natives and many locals in the 48 communities who have depended on caribou for generations. We stand by our science.”

In his order, Judge Zeman said a plan by the Board of Game, known as Proposition 1, may eventually be ruled unconstitutional, but “the court is not in the position, nor does it have the authority, to make that determination at this point in the proceedings. The court simply does not possess the technical and specialized skills to do so.”

The Alaska Constitution states that natural resources are supposed to be managed for “sustained yield,” a principle of management for long-term health. The Alaska Wildlife Alliance had argued that the cull violated that principle.

But Zeman, echoing arguments made by a state attorney, said the principle was “designed to be flexible,” and opponents were viewing it as more strict than intended.

Zeman cited a 3-2 decision by the Alaska Supreme Court in 2022, saying that decision “precludes the court from instructing the state on how it satisfies the constitutional mandate.”

Nicole Schmitt, executive director of Alaska Wildlife Alliance, said her organization is “deeply disappointed by the court’s decision to allow the gunning program to move forward today.”

“The state already killed close to 200 bears under a program which was later found unlawful,” she wrote by email. “We can’t undo the slaughter of those bears, which includes dozens of cubs, and I fear history will repeat itself until these issues can be resolved, again, in court.”

Yereth Rosen contributed reporting for this article from Anchorage.