The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...
signed by
President
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Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including
national parks
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
,
national wildlife refuges
National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...
,
national monuments,
wild and scenic rivers,
recreational areas,
national forests, and
conservation areas
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
. It was, and remains to date, the single largest expansion of protected lands in history and more than doubled the size of the
National Park System
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properties ...
.
The Act provided for of new national parklands in Alaska; the addition of to the National Wildlife Refuge System; twenty-five wild and scenic rivers, with twelve more to be studied for that designation; establishment of Misty Fjords and Admiralty Island National Monuments in Southeast Alaska; establishment of
Steese National Conservation Area
The Steese National Conservation Area encompasses of public land about northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System. Created by the Alaska National Int ...
and
White Mountains National Recreation Area
White Mountains National Recreation Area is a national recreation area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located to the north of Fairbanks between the Elliott Highway and the Steese Highway in the White Mountains, with about within its bound ...
to be managed by the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
; the addition of to the
Wilderness Preservation System, and the addition of to
Tongass and
Chugach National Forest
The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...
s.
Protected areas
The act provided for the creation or expansion of several Conservation System Units (CSUs) including:
* significant changes to the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildlife ...
*
Admiralty Island National Monument
*
Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve
*
Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
*
Cape Krusenstern National Monument
Cape Krusenstern National Monument and the colocated Cape Krusenstern Archeological District is a U.S. National Monument and a National Historic Landmark centered on Cape Krusenstern in northwestern Alaska. The national monument was one of fifte ...
*
Denali National Park
Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is an American national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous preserve e ...
*
Gates Of The Arctic National Park and Preserve
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is an American national park that protects portions of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. The park is the northernmost national park in the United States, situated entirely north of the Arctic Circ ...
*
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. C ...
*
Katmai National Park and Preserve
Katmai National Park and Preserve is an American national park and preserve in southwest Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park and preserve encompass , which is between the sizes of Connecticut a ...
*
Kenai Fjords National Park
Kenai Fjords National Park is an American national park that maintains the Harding Icefield, its outflowing glaciers, and coastal fjords and islands. The park covers an area of on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska, west of the town ...
*
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife habitat preserve located on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. It is adjacent to Kenai Fjords National Park. This refuge was created in 1941 as the Kenai National Moose Range, but in 198 ...
*
Kobuk Valley National Park
Kobuk Valley National Park is an American national park in the Arctic region of northwestern Alaska, located about north of the Arctic Circle. The park was designated in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to preserve the ...
*
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is an American national park in southwest Alaska, about southwest of Anchorage. The park was first proclaimed a national monument in 1978, then established as a national park and preserve in 1980 by the Alas ...
*
Misty Fjords National Monument
Misty Fjords National Monument (or Misty Fiords National Monument) is a national monument and wilderness area administered by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Tongass National Forest. Misty Fiords is about east of Ketchikan, Alaska, along ...
*
Noatak National Preserve
Noatak National Preserve is a United States National Preserve in northwestern Alaska that was established to protect the Noatak River Basin. The Noatak River system, located just north of the Arctic Circle, is thought to be the last remaining c ...
*
Wrangell - St Elias National Park and Preserve
Wrangel or Wrangell is a Germanic surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Wrangel family, or Wrangell, a Baltic German noble family, including a list of notable family members
*Basil Wrangell (1906–1977), Italian film and televisio ...
*
Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve
*
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge covering about in southwestern Alaska. It is the second-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, only slightly smaller than the Arctic National Wildlife R ...
*
Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wetland area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It encompasses most of the Yukon Flats, a vast wetland area centered on the confluence of the Yukon River, Porcupine River, and Chandalar River.
...
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
In 1971 the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing i ...
(ANCSA) was signed into law to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in Alaska, as well as to stimulate economic development throughout Alaska. Section 17(d)(1) gave the
Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to:
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* United States Secretary of the Interior
See also
*Interior ministry ...
ninety days to withdraw from development any lands necessary "to insure that the public interest in these lands is properly protected."
Additionally, Section 17(d)(2) directed the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw up to 80 million acres of land from development for conservation purposes. These lands, referred to as "d-2" lands, were to be available for potential congressional designation as National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, Wild and Scenic rivers, or National Forests. The "d-2" provision of ANCSA gave the Secretary nine months to withdraw lands before they would re-open to development. On December 17, 1972, Interior Secretary
Rogers Morton
Rogers Clark Ballard Morton (September 19, 1914 – April 19, 1979) was an American politician who served as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce during the administrations of presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford ...
forwarded of selected lands to Congress under 17(d)(1) and 17(d)(2), known as the "Morton Proposal."
These lands were withdrawn from all forms of public appropriation under the public land laws pending action from Congress, setting the stage for the eventual passage of ANILCA.
Sunset provisions
As stated, the "d-2" provision of ANCSA set a deadline for the Secretary to withdraw lands within nine months of the passage of ANCSA. In addition, ANCSA also set a deadline for Congress to act on the Secretary's withdrawal within five years of the passage of ANCSA; if the Secretary did not act to withdraw lands earmarked for special protections within nine months of the passage of ANCSA, or Congress did not act to implement the Secretary's selection within five years of the passage of ANCSA, the lands would be reopened to development.
Early Legislation
On January 29, 1973 Congressman
James A. Haley
James Andrew Haley (January 4, 1899 – August 6, 1981) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Florida.
Born in Jacksonville, Alabama, Jacksonville, Alabama, Haley attended the public schools and the Univer ...
(D-Florida) introduced the Morton proposal as H.R. 12336, and the next day Senator
Henry M. Jackson
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and a ...
(D-Washington) introduced the Senate version of the bill. These bills were the first of many failed proposals leading to the eventual passage of ANILCA seven years later. Over the course of the seven years many bills were introduced with a wide range of proposals for disposal of the selected lands.
As the sunset date approached in 1978 both chambers of Congress scrambled to pass a bill. On May 19, 1978, H.R. 39 was passed by the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
. H.R. 39 was referred to the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources, including nuclear development; irrigation and recla ...
for mark up and combined with a number of other bills pertaining to Alaska lands. Senator
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left o ...
(R-Alaska) was instrumental in making significant changes to the original House resolution. The final bill submitted by the Senate energy committee was deemed unacceptable by the Carter administration and supporters of H.R. 39 in the House. With limited time left before adjournment, the House and Senate conferenced in order to resolve differences between the two bills. Senator
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel ( ; May 13, 1930 – June 26, 2021) was an American politician and writer who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 as a member of the Democratic Party, and who later in life twice ran for ...
(D-Alaska) inserted himself into the negotiations, making a number of new demands not included in either bill. Changes made to the bill did not satisfy Gravel, and he refused to support the bill. With adjournment fast approaching, a provision to extend the (d)(2) protections for one more year to allow for additional time to pass a bill was passed in the House, and introduced in the Senate on October 16, 1978. Gravel threatened a
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
, and the provision did not pass the Senate. The sunset provision of section (d)(2) of ANCSA was set to expire on December 18, 1978.
Use of the Antiquities Act
The
Interior Department
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Named "ministry"
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and the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
became concerned as 1978 dragged on that no action would be taken on the "national interest lands" included in the Morton Proposal, and as early as July 1978 the Park Service had taken the first steps to secure additional protection when it began to draft national monument proclamations for proposed NPS areas.
President Carter used the
Antiquities Act
The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential procla ...
to designate 56 million acres as 17 National Monuments by executive order on December 1, 1978. Much of the lands designated as National Monument were part of the original Morton Proposal. An additional 40 million acres were withdrawn under the authority of section 204(c) of the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) is a United States federal law that governs the way in which the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are managed. The law was enacted in 1976 by the 94th Congress and is ...
by Interior Secretary
Cecil Andrus
Cecil Dale Andrus (August 25, 1931 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician who served 26th and 28th governor of Idaho, for total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981 during the ...
.
Carter stated that he had been forced to use the Antiquities Act by Congress's failure to act in a reasonable time, but his actions nevertheless caused wide protest across Alaska. President Carter was burned in effigy in
Fairbanks
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...
. Residents in the
Cantwell area undertook a large act of
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
known as the ''Great Denali Trespass'' — they went into the park, fired off guns, made campfires, and conducted various other activities prohibited under Federal regulations. The towns of
Eagle
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and
Glennallen, both in the shadow of new monuments, produced official proclamations stating that the towns would not support NPS authorities, not enforce NPS regulations, and would shelter individuals who broke the regulations.
Though these protests continued for some time, the designation of the monuments broke the legislative opposition to ANILCA. Some in Congress, and various oil and gas industry, and other development interest, continued to oppose passage of the bill, but in the wake of Carter's proclamations most opponents recognized the need to work toward passage of an acceptable bill, rather than no bill at all. However, in 1978, 75 seats in the House had changed hands, producing a much more conservative body than the one that had supported Carter's use of the Antiquities Act. Proponents were forced to continue to work compromises, and the bill's passage was further delayed.
Final passage
In early November 1980, Jimmy Carter lost re-election to
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, and the
Republican Party won a majority of seats in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. Conservationists and other proponents of the legislation recognized that if they did not accept the compromise then on the table, they would be forced to begin again in the next Congress with decidedly less support. The bill was passed in late November, and signed into law by President Carter in December.
Selected provisions
* Lands claimed by Alaska Natives under ANCSA are officially recognized.
* Native land claims pending as of December 18, 1971, are officially approved.
* Existing timber contracts are to be filled with timber from other
national forest lands.
* If private land is surrounded by conservation system units "adequate and feasible" access must be guaranteed.
Ramifications
Senator Gravel, meanwhile, took considerable blame in Alaska for forcing Carter's hand with the Antiquities Act.
Though Carter was hardly held blameless for the creation of the new national monuments, Gravel was taken to task for the unpopular decision as well and was denied his party's nomination for his Senate seat in the
1980 election.
With the passage of time, however, and now, several decades later, support for the vision of ANILCA has increased, even among former detractors in Alaska—as the spectacular parks, monuments, refuges and other areas set aside by the 1980 legislation have become a significant boon to Alaska tourism and the State's economy. A telephone poll in 2000 showed that 45 percent of Alaskans supported the protection of the ANILCA-designated 1002 coastal plain area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the most controversial aspect of ANILCA's protected areas, while 49 percent opposed the protection.
The final bill accelerated logging in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest, by giving the US Forest Service a yearly $40,000,000 appropriation to cut timber, not subject to the appropriation laws but derived from the taxes on oil etc, and by providing that 450 million board feet of trees would be clearcut each year. This was the price conservationists paid in the compromise.
Impact on Alaska Natives
Under Title VIII, Subsistence Management And Use, not just Alaska Natives qualified but also rural residents were granted hunting and fishing rights when fish and game are not under outside threat.[Steven McNabb (1992). "Native Claims in Alaska: A twenty-year review", from Etudes/Inuit/Studies, Quebec, QC.] In addition the bill expedited the enactment of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
References
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Native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
Alaska Natives and United States law