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unfit for return to the wild. 



He are also exploring ways to provide grants to develop and 

 implement management agreements with Alaska Natives. The Service 

 is developing new conservation plans for polar bears, sea otters, 

 and walrus. Alaska Natives have played, and will continue to play, 

 an integral role in developing and implementing these plans, and 

 there is increasing impetus for developing and implementing 

 management measures with Alaska Natives. 



The Service is party to memoranda of agreement with the Alaska Sea 

 Otter Commission and the Eskimo Walrus Commission. Through a 

 grants program, Alaska Native organizations could hire professional 

 biologists and subsistence use specialists that would facilitate 

 their interactions with Federal and State managers and biologists, 

 as well as the development and implementation of management 

 programs. Such professionals could also facilitate development of 

 conservation education programs and assist in collecting and 

 disseminating traditional and cultural knowledge to government 

 scientists. 



The success of the North Slope Borough in self-regulating marine 

 mammal management programs, as demonstrated in their polar bear 

 agreement with the Inuvialuit Game Commission in Canada, can 

 largely be attributed to their funding support and maintaining a 

 professional staff of wildlife biologists, veterinarians, and 



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