The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service have finalized a rule restoring a long-standing Alaska-specific regulatory framework governing wildlife harvest, subsistence activities and certain public access procedures in the state’s national parks and preserves.
The rule reinstates much of the regulatory structure built under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980, which guided management of Alaska’s national parks and preserves for more than three decades before being altered. The move stems from President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14153, titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” and a corresponding Secretary’s Order of the same name issued by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
More than 60 percent of Alaska’s land area is federally owned, held mainly through national parks and Bureau of Land Management holdings. Under the restored framework, Alaska and federal agencies share management responsibilities in ways distinct from the rest of the National Park System.
“For more than three decades, Alaska’s national parks and preserves were managed under a framework that recognized Alaska’s unique circumstances, respected the State’s role in managing fish and wildlife, protected subsistence uses and conserved these remarkable lands and resources,” Secretary Burgum said. “This final rule restores that commonsense framework and gives Alaskans a stronger voice in decisions affecting the lands, wildlife and traditions they know best, while ensuring the National Park Service continues to protect park resources for future generations.”
ANILCA permits subsistence uses in certain Alaska park areas and allows sport hunting and trapping in national preserves under applicable state and federal law. The law also recognizes separate but coordinated roles for the State of Alaska, the Federal Subsistence Management Program and the National Park Service, and creates avenues for local input on decisions affecting subsistence and other authorized uses.
Subsistence hunting remains central to many Alaska communities, including Native villages, residents of the Unorganized Borough and people across the North Slope. Many other residents who do not rely on subsistence hunting for survival still prefer wild game such as moose, caribou and grouse to store-bought meat. Under Alaska law, as in every other state, hunters are required to remove all edible meat from game taken in the field.
