Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

Rogers Morton , United States Secretary of the Interior from 1971 to 1975		Cecil D. Andrus , United States Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a law in the United States that was passed by Congress in 1980 and put into effect by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year .

The ANILCA regulated the creation of new and expansion of existing protected areas in Alaska under the administration of the National Park Service . In addition, publicly owned land has been placed under the administration of the United States Forest Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . A total of 321,900 km² of public land was newly designated as protected areas, about a third of that as Wilderness Area , the strictest class of nature reserves in the United States.

history

The origins of ANILCA go back to the 1950s, when the Alaska Territory became the 49th state of the United States through the Alaska Statehood Act of 1958 . The new federal state was entitled to use 420,000 km² of the total of 1.5 million km² for economic purposes.

Protected areas proposed in 1973

National Monuments proclaimed in 1978

Protected areas created by ANILCA in 1980

In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was passed, which regulated the territorial claims of Alaska's indigenous people . This law also authorized the Ministry of the Interior to select around 325,000 km² as possible extensions of National Parks , National Wildlife Refuges , National Wild and Scenic Rivers or National Forests by December 18, 1973 . Thereafter, Congress had five years to decide on the Interior Ministry's proposal.

In March 1972, Home Secretary Rogers Morton suggested areas recommended by conservation groups such as the Sierra Club that were out of the reach of the state of Alaska until a decision was passed by Congress. The recommendation included 325,000 km² for protected areas and 180,000 km² for scientific studies with the option of converting this land into protected areas at a later date. Morton also reserved 160,000 km² around settlements and traditional aboriginal places that were to be available to them, as well as another 12,000 km² as compensation for land that would be lost to them through the creation of the protected areas.

140,000 km² were made available to the state of Alaska in the proposal. Further land use had to wait until the decision of the Congress. Alaska felt that it was being left out of the process and was suing the proposal. In 1973 the state withdrew the lawsuit in exchange for the right to use some areas in the reserved regions. In December 1973 the Minister of the Interior finally passed the final recommendation to the Congress with a land area of ​​over 335,000 km² - about the area of Norway .

In 1977, Mo Udall , an Arizona MP in the United States House of Representatives , submitted a bill that went well beyond Morton's proposal with 465,000 km² of land to be protected in Alaska and was known as "HR 39". At the state level there was a large majority in favor of the draft, but politicians in Alaska felt that their state was slowed down and restricted in its development by the law, especially because the extraction of natural resources could not take place in full. The Senate hesitated to pass the bill despite a positive majority because of opposition from Alaskan Senators Ted Stevens and Mike Gravel . Stevens and Gravel tried to delay the adoption until after the deadline in December 1978 and thereby bring it down. Gravel in particular threatened to single-handedly block the law with a filibuster .

Shortly before the five-year period expired, Congress had not passed a corresponding law. To prevent his department's proposal from being forfeited on December 17, 1978 and the land being released for other uses, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus reserved 425,000 km² for an additional three years under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act on November 16, 1978 until November 19, 1981. The Minister of Agriculture also set aside 45,000 km² for two years to allow a decision by Congress.

On December 1, 1978, Jimmy Carter proclaimed 222,500 km² as National Monuments on the basis of the Antiquities Act , which gives the President the right to restrict the use of public land of historical or scientific importance unilaterally and without the approval of Congress, and placed them under the National Park Service , the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the United States Forest Service .

Angry protests against the president's decision arose in Alaska. Many residents of the state felt like outsiders and pioneers and denied politics in the Lower 48 to understand their needs. In Eagle , angry citizens burned a straw doll with Carter's trains and compared Andrus to Hitler.

In May 1979 the House of Representatives voted again on Udall's bill and achieved an even larger majority than at the first attempt, the Senate continued to delay. On February 12, 1980, the Minister of the Interior extended the reservation for 160,000 km² of land for a further 20 years in order to prevent the three-year period from expiring in November 1981. In compromise talks between the House of Representatives and the Senate, the draft was reduced, tens of thousands of square kilometers were completely removed from protection, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was given a special clause according to which decisions about oil and natural gas drilling would be made at a later date and large parts of the planned national parks have been converted into the lower protection status of a National Preserve , in which hunting in particular is still permitted. Finally, on December 2, 1980, in the final days of the 96th Congress , Jimmy Carter, already voted out and one month before the end of his term in office, signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act after a long debate .

Newly created protected areas

National Parks, National Monuments and Wildlife Refuges

The following table includes both the protected areas proclaimed by Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978, and those created on December 2, 1980 by the adoption of the ANILCA.

National Park System	National Wildlife Refuge System
Aniakchak National Monument Bering Land Bridge National Preserve Cape Krusenstern National Monument Gates of the Arctic National Park Kobuk Valley National Park Lake Clark National Park Noatak National Preserve Wrangell St. Elias National Park Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve	Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Innoko National Wildlife Refuge Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge Selawik National Wildlife Refuge Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge

In addition, the National Forests Chugach and Tongass , which are subordinate to the United States Forest Service , were expanded and the National Monuments Misty Fjords and Admiralty Island in the Tongass National Forest were created.

Wild and Scenic Rivers

25 rivers, including 13 within the National Park System , have been re-designated as Wild and Scenic Rivers in whole or in sections .

National Park System

River ( part designated as Wild and Scenic River )

Alagnak River (section in Katmai National Park with tributary Nonvianuk River ) Alatna River (section in Gates of the Arctic National Park) Aniakchak River (section in the Aniakchak National Monument with the four largest tributaries) Charley River (entire river with the seven largest tributaries) Chilikadrotna River (section in Lake Clark National Park) John River (section in Gates of the Arctic National Park) Kobuk River (section in Gates of the Arctic National Park) Mulchatna River (section in Lake Clark National Park) Noatak River (from the source to the Kelly River in Noatak National Preserve) Koyukuk River (the North Fork in Gates of the Arctic National Park) Salmon River (section in Kobuk Valley National Park) Tinayguk River (section in Gates of the Arctic National Park) Tlikakila River (section in Lake Clark National Park)

In addition, the status of the Andreafsky , Ivishak , Nowitna , Selawik , Sheenjek and Wind rivers was granted in whole or in part under the administration of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and Birch Creek , Delta , Fortymile , Gulkana and Unalakleet under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management of a Wild and Scenic River . The Beaver Creek is managed in two sections of each of the two authorities.

Wilderness Areas

110,000 km², spread over 35 areas, have been redesignated as Wilderness Areas , the strictest class of nature reserves in the USA. While nature in the Wilderness Areas of Lower 48 is to be preserved without human influence, the ANILCA introduced a new definition of these areas for Alaska. Many residents of rural Alaska are closely connected to and depend on the natural environment for a living. This fact was taken into account by not only placing nature under protection in the newly created wilderness areas, but also the way of life of the people living in and from it and their attachment to it. The ANILCA therefore allows the continued use and maintenance of existing log cabins in Alaska's Wilderness Areas, as well as the construction of a limited number of new cabins that have to be built from natural materials and in a landscape-related form.

National Park System	National Wildlife Refuge System	National Forest System
Denali Wilderness Gates of the Arctic Wilderness Glacier Bay Wilderness Katmai Wilderness Kobuk Valley Wilderness Lake Clark Wilderness Noatak Wilderness Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness	Aleutian Islands Wilderness Andreafsky Wilderness Arctic Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Becharof Wilderness Innoko Wilderness Izembek Wilderness Kenai Wilderness Koyukuk Wilderness Nunivak Wilderness Togiak Wilderness Semidi Wilderness Selawik Wilderness Unimak Wilderness	Admiralty Island National Monument Wilderness Coronation Island Wilderness Endicott River Wilderness Maurille Islands Wilderness Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness Petersburg Creek-Duncan Salt Chuck Wilderness Russell Fjord Wilderness South Baranof Wilderness South Prince of Wales Wilderness Stikine-LeConte Wilderness Tebenkof Bay Wilderness Tracy Arm-Ford's Terror Wilderness Warren Island Wilderness West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness

Extension of existing protected areas

The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge was created from the Clarence Rhode National Wildlife Range , Hazen Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Nunivak National Wildlife Refuge , plus an additional 54,000 km² of land. The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge emerged from the Izembek National Wildlife Range . The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge was expanded to include the islands of Afognak and Ban . The Togiak National Wildlife Refuge emerged from the Cape Newenham National Wildlife Refuge with an additional 15,500 km² of land.

National Park System	National Wildlife Refuge System
Glacier Bay National Park (+ 2,100 km²) Katmai National Park (+ 4,200 km²) Denali National Park (+ 9,800 km²)	Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (+ 2,300 km²) Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (+ 37,000 km²) Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (+ 1,000 km²) Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge (+ 200 km²) Togiak National Wildlife Refuge (+ 15,500 km²) Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (+ 54,000 km²)

Subsistence farming

The subsistence use of the country's resources in the form of hunting, fishing and shelter was first legally regulated in Alaska in the state constitution, which came into force in 1959, after having been the livelihood of the indigenous people for thousands of years . Fish and game were released for unrestricted general use by the population.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 partially restricted this use in favor of the indigenous people. This law was the first engagement of the federal government in the interests of Alaska in terms of subsistence agriculture ( Subsistence Management ). The ANILCA finally obliged the state to limit the rights of use in the areas that are owned by the federal government to the rural population. Otherwise Alaska would lose its right to administer the usage regulations there.

The state had passed a law regulating subsistence farming as early as 1978, which did not coincide with the ANILCA, as it provided for unrestricted use. A 1986 amendment brought the law into line with the ANILCA. In 1989, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the amended law was inconsistent with the Alaskan Constitution. After failed attempts to change the constitution on this point, on July 1, 1990, the federal government took over the management of subsistence farming on federally owned areas.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns : The National Parks - America's Best Idea . Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. ISBN 978-0-307-26896-9 . Page 357–35
2. ↑ ^{a b} ANILCA Title II - National Park System ( Memento from May 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ ^{a b} ANILCA Title III - National Wildlife Refuge System ( Memento from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ ANILCA Title VI - National Wild and Scenic Rivers System ( Memento from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ ANILCA Title VII - National Wilderness Preservation System ( Memento from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ ANILCA Title XIII §1315 - Administrative Provisions (Wilderness Management) ( Memento from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ ANILCA Title VIII - Subsistence Management and Use Findings ( Memento from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Subsistence Management Information on subsistmgtinfo.org ( Memento from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Full legal text (English)
• Summary from the Federal Wildlife Laws Handbook ( Memento from February 9, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) of the University of New Mexico School of Law (English)
• Alaska History and Cultural Studies - ANILCA ( Memento of April 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file, English)