Number: 1981-38
WHEREAS, the Alaska State Constitution states, Article VIII, Section 3, Common Use: “Wherever occurring in their natural state fish, wildlife and waters are reserved to the people for common use”; and
WHEREAS, the Alaska State Constitution states, Article VIII, Section 14, Access to Navigable Waters: “Free access to navigable or public waters of the State, as defined by the Legislature, shall not be denied any citizen of the United States or resident of the State, except that the Legislature may be general law regulate and limit such access for other beneficial use or public purpose”; and
WHEREAS, the Alaska Statehood Act (P.L.85-509) granted to the State of Alaska: 1. All lands permanently or periodically covered by tidal waters up to but not above the line of mean high tide; all lands which are covered by non-tidal waters that were navigable under the laws of the United States at the time the State became a member of the Union, up to the ordinary high water mark as heretofore or hereafter modified by accretion, erosion, and reliction; and
WHEREAS, historically the waterways and lakes of Alaska have been and will continue to be the only primary means of access throughout the State; and
WHEREAS, all fresh waters of Alaska are considered non-navigable by the Department of the Interior until found to be navigable by administrative action; and
WHEREAS, to administratively examine each of these thousands of waterways and lakes is time-consuming, costly and realistically impossible; and
WHEREAS, much dispute and litigation has and is occurring concerning the navigability of Alaskan water ways;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 26-29, 1981, in Norfolk, Virginia, hereby requests that the Secretary of the Interior and other federal agencies with authority over these waters declare to the maximum extent of their authority that all Alaskan waters are navigable until proven otherwise; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Interior and other federal agencies be requested to work closely with the State of Alaska and others to resolve any disputes over the non-navigability of Alaska waters.