[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E15-E16]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   INTRODUCTION OF THE ANAKTU- VUK PASS LAND EXCHANGE AND WILDERNESS 
                       REDESIGNATION ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 1995
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to introduce the 
Anaktuvuk Pass Land Exchange and Wilderness Redesignation Act of 1994. 
When enacted, this legislation will ratify an agreement to settle a 
longstanding and difficult dispute between the National Park Service 
and Alaska Native landowners over the use of all-terrain vehicles--or 
ATV's for access for subsistence purposes in Gates of the Arctic 
National Park and Preserve.
  The residents of Anaktuvuk Pass and the National Park Service have 
had a longstanding dispute over the use by village residents, of 
certain ATV's for substance purposes on national park and wilderness 
lands adjacent to the village. In an effort to resolve this conflict, 
Arctic Slope Regional Corp.--the regional corporation established by 
the Inupiat Eskimo people of Alaska's North Slope under the provisions 
of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [ANCSA], Nunamuit Corp.--the 
Anaktuvuk Pass ANCSA Village Corp.--the city of Anaktuvuk Pass and the 
National Park Service have entered into an innovative agreement both 
guaranteeing dispersed ATV access on specific tracts of park land and 
limiting development of Native land in the area. The agreement will 
limit the types of ATV's allowed and will also lead to enhanced 
recreational opportunities by improving public access across Native 
lands.
  The village of Anaktuvuk Pass is located on the North Slope of Alaska 
in the remote Brooks Mountain Range, completely within the boundary of 
and surrounded by the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. 
Village residents have long relied upon the use of ATV's for summer 
access to subsistence resources, primarily caribou, on certain of these 
nearby park, and park wilderness lands. As there are no rivers near the 
community for motorboat access to park lands, ATC's provide the primary 
means by which to reach and transport game in the summer. The only 
alternative to ATV use is to walk which is not feasible in these remote 
areas. Snowmobiles are the primary mode of transportation for 
subsistence activities in the winter.
  With the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act [ANILCA] in 1980, Congress expressly reserved the rights of rural 
Alaska residents to continued, reasonable access to subsistence 
resources on public lands, by providing in section 811(a) of that 
[[Page E16]] act, ``rural residents engaged in subsistence uses shall 
have reasonable access to subsistence resources on public lands.'' 
Section 811(b) of ANILCA provides further that ``the Secretary shall 
permit on the public lands appropriate use for subsistence purposes of 
snowmobiles, motorboats, and other means of surface transportation 
traditionally employed for such purposes by local residents, subject to 
reasonable regulation.'' The National Park Service and the Native 
landowners disagree about whether ATV's are other means of surface 
transportation traditionally employed for subsistence purposes in Gates 
of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. But there is no dispute that 
ATV's are necessary for the summertime subsistence activities of the 
residents of Anaktuvuk Pass.
  Following several years of discussions, the Native landowners and the 
National Park Service have reached an agreement which will finally 
resolve the ATV controversy on the public lands surrounding Anaktuvuk 
Pass. In April 1992, the Park Service issued a final legislative 
environmental impact statement embracing the proposed agreement, and in 
November 1992, the Secretary of the Interior endorsed the agreement in 
a Record of Decision. The parties executed the agreement on December 
17, 1992.
  The parties have since executed two technical amendments to the 
original agreement.
  The agreement involves an exchange of land and interests in lands 
between the Native landowners and the Park Service. Specifically, the 
Federal Government will convey in fee approximately 30,642 acres of 
park land to Arctic Slop Regional Corp. and Nunamuit Corp. On the 
Federal land conveyed to the Native corporations, the National Park 
Service will reserve surface and subsurface access and development 
rights as well as broad public access easements. In addition, certain
 nonwilderness areas of federally owned park land will be opened to 
dispersed ATV use. In return, the Native landowners will convey to the 
Federal Government approximately 38,840 acres in fee for inclusion in 
both the national park and national wilderness systems. Native 
landowners will also convey to the Park Service additional surface and 
subsurface development rights on 86,307 acres as well as a series of 
conservation, scenic, and public access easements on other Native-owned 
lands within the boundaries of Gates of the Arctic National Park and 
Preserve. Finally, the city of Anaktuvuk Pass will convey a city lot to 
the National Park Service for administrative purposes.

  Congressional ratification of this agreement will be required in 
order to remove 73,993 acres of Federal land from the National 
Wilderness Preservation System, as well as to designate approximately 
56,825 acres of other park and presently Native-owned lands as new 
national wilderness. If ratified by Congress, the agreement will 
expressly authorize dispersed ATV use on certain lands within the park 
boundary. Without congressional approval, the agreement will become 
null and void, and none of the conveyances or creation of easements 
proposed by the agreement will occur.
  It is intended that this agreement will resolve the longstanding 
dispute over subsistence use of ATV's only on public lands in and 
around Anaktuvuk Pass. It is important to note that neither this 
agreement nor the accompanying Federal legislation will diminish, or 
otherwise affect in any way, anyone's rights and privileges to access 
public lands in Alaska for subsistence purposes. This agreement does 
not conform or deny that ATV access to public lands for subsistence use 
is a statutorily protected traditional access right under ANILCA, and 
consequently, this agreement does not purport to resolve this issue.
  As discussed previously, this legislation would remove 73,993 acres 
of wilderness from the park and designate 56,825 acres of new 
wilderness. Consistent with agreements reached during the 103d session, 
13,168 acres of wilderness will be designated along the Nigu River, 
adjacent to the park, hence, a no-net-loss, no-net-gain of wilderness 
in the area.


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