bounties. Despite relatively heavy hunting and trapping over the last century in Alaska, wolves occur on nearly all of their traditional habitat throughout mainland Alaska. Alaska currently has five wolf control programs that comprise about 9.4% of the state's land area. A closely controlled permit system is used in allowing aerial or airborne methods to remove wolves in designated areas. Wolf numbers are temporarily reduced in these areas, but are not permanently eliminated from any area. Wolf populations in North America commonly sustain annual harvests or natural mortality rates of 20–40% without experiencing a year-to-year decline in numbers. Sarah Palin of Alaska in 2007 approved the use of this provision in the law to shoot wolves and bears while flying for the purpose of protection of property. Many scientists believe that this artificial inflation of game populations is actually detrimental to both caribou and moose populations as well as the ecosystem as a whole; artificially boosted populations "could result in habitat destruction by moose and caribou, and ultimately, a crash in these populations". This is why large numbers of people support the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act which was proposed to Congress by George Miller, the state representative of California in July 2009. This legislation has already received official support from nine former members of the Alaska Board of Game and Wildlife and conservation groups, including Defenders of Wildlife. According to Miller, "The state of Alaska has been operating an airborne hunting program that has blatantly ignored federal law, ignored Alaskans' opposition, ignored the science, and ignored even their own wildlife experts. It's time to ground this air assault on wolves. The PAW Act is urgently needed to close the loophole in federal law and protect our nation's wildlife from the unethical and unsportsmanlike practice of airborne hunting." The PAW Act has been created to close the loophole in the existing Airborne Hunting Act that has allowed Alaska legislators and officials to continue to aerial hunt. The bill would clarify under which conditions it is acceptable to use aircraft to aid in the management of wildlife. It would bar states from using aerial hunting to artificially boost game species when they are not at risk and to clarify the prohibition of harassing animals from planes which is part of the "land and shoot" hunting that is being utilized in Alaska. The PAW Act acknowledges the right of states to manage