The state Department of Natural Resources is proposing to open all of Chilkat State Park to lawful hunting and trapping, when formerly only the northern portion has been available.

Current regulations state that lawful hunting and trapping are allowed only in the northern portion of the park, consisting of the Battery Point and Mount Riley areas.

DNR’s proposed regulation change would also open the southern portion of the park, which extends from about 7 Mile Mud Bay Road to the end of the Chilkat Peninsula at Seduction Point.

Under current and proposed regulations, hunting and trapping is not allowed within half a mile of a road or developed facility, like a trail or campground.

The public comment period on the proposal closes at 5 p.m. on July 31. Email comments to [email protected].

Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation operations manager Claire LeClair said the proposed change came from local staff pointing out that the existing regulation doesn’t make sense, as hunting and trapping would logically be allowed in the more remote and undeveloped south block of the park.

Fish and Game area wildlife biologist Stephanie Sell said the current regulation has been “a source of confusion for many years.” State parks staff has regularly had to approach moose hunters and tell them they can’t hunt in the southern block of the park, Sell said.

Neither Sell nor LeClair knew when the original regulation was adopted. Sell said she believes there was a miscommunication when the regulation was put into place, and that the original intention was to leave the southern block open to hunting and restrict use in the northern area, where there are more people and infrastructure.

“I think a lot of it just had to do with someone swapping the language on accident,” Sell said.

If the new regulation is adopted, permitted moose hunting will be allowed in the southern portion of the park, Sell said.

Hunters and trappers are responsible for familiarizing themselves with municipal, state and federal laws that they also must abide by, she added.