Number: 1981-37
WHEREAS, President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act into law (Public Law 96-487) on December 2, 1980; and;
WHEREAS, this legislation contains a new Federal wildlife management program of Title VIII, Subsistence Management and Use; and
WHEREAS, Title VIII, Sec. 802(2) states: “Nonwasteful subsistence use of fish and wildlife and other renewable resources shall be the priority consumptive uses of all such resources on the public lands of Alaska”; and
WHEREAS, the public lands of Alaska are defined by Sec. 102(3): “The term public lands means land situated in Alaska which, after the date of enactment of this act, are Federal lands except (A) land selections of Alaska–; and (B) land selections of a native Corporation; and–; (C) lands referred to–Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act”; and
WHEREAS, federal lands are defined by Sec. 102(2): “The term Federal lands means lands the title to which is in the United States after the date of enactment of this Act;” and
WHEREAS, Sec. 801 states: “The Congress finds and declares that (1) the continuation of the opportunity for subsistence uses by rural residents of Alaska, including both natives and non-natives, on the public lands and by Alaska natives on native lands is essential to native physical, economic, traditional, and cultural existence and to non-native physical, economic, traditional and social existence; and
WHEREAS, Sec. 803 states: “As used in this Act, the term subsistence uses means the customary and traditional uses by rural Alaska residents of wild, renewable resources for direct personal or family consumption as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools, or transportation; for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of nonedible byproducts of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family consumption; for barter, or sharing for personal or family consumption; and for customary trade”; and
WHEREAS, Sec. 804 states: “Except as otherwise provided in this Act and other federal laws, the taking on public lands of fish and wildlife for nonwasteful subsistence uses shall be accorded priority over the taking on such lands of fish and wildlife for other purposes”; and
WHEREAS, Sec. 203 states: “Subsistence uses by local residents shall be allowed in national preserves and, where specifically permitted by this Act, in national monuments and parks”; and
WHEREAS, Sec. 201 allows subsistence uses by local residents in accordance with Title VIII in Aniakchak National Monument, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Denali National Park, Gates of the Arctic National Park, Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark National Park, and Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park; and
WHEREAS, the traditional management of national parks is to allow wildlife and other renewable resources to exist in their natural state without manipulation or consumptive use by man; and
WHEREAS, the State of Alaska’s 1978 Legislature passed into law house Bill 960 which established subsistence use as a priority use of Alaska’s fish and wildlife resources; and
WHEREAS, recent judicial decisions–Native Village of Tyonek vs. the Alaska Board of Fisheries, Case No. 80-3073, and State of Alaska vs. Danny Ewan, Case No. 3GL80 S21–clearly indicate that Alaska’s fish and game resources are to be managed on a cultural basis and may be taken for subsistence when needed without restriction of season or bag limit; and
WHEREAS, the sportsmen of Alaska have found this concept of management for cultural purposes (no season or bag limit) as an unacceptable method of wildlife management and are placing an Initiative before the voters of Alaska to remove the subsistence laws from Alaska statutes;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled in Norfolk, Va., March 26-29, 1981, hereby requests the Secretary of the Interior to declare that non-consumptive use is the first priority use of new national parks as established by Public Law 96-487, excluding new national preserve areas; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation continue its opposition to special cultural allowances for Alaskan and other native peoples; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation hereby supports the efforts of Alaskan sportsmen to remove subsistence priorities from Alaska law.