[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12181-S12182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MURKOWSKI:
  S. 2615. A bill to study options to improve and enhance the 
protection, management, and interpretation of the significant natural 
and other resources of certain units of the National Park System in 
northwest Alaska, to implement a pilot program to better accomplish the 
purposes for which those units were established by providing greater 
involvement by Alaska Native communities, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


                  Alaska National Interest Legislation

 Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, the legislation that I have 
introduced today will require the Secretary of the Interior to report 
on what he has done, or not done, to implement the requirements of 
sections 1307 and 1308 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act. Those provisions sought to mitigate the effect of the 
designation of over 100 million acres of land in Alaska for permanent 
preservation on the Alaska Natives who have lived in the areas for 
centuries. Those provisions required the Secretary to allow those who 
were already providing visitor services to continue to provide such 
services and also provided a preference in hiring at those conservation 
units for local residents.

  Those provisions were intended to accomplish several objectives. 
First and foremost, they were designed to ensure that local residents 
who would assume the costs attendant to the establishment of these 
conservation units as a result of future limitations on economic 
opportunities received some of the benefits from whatever jobs were 
created. The provisions also ensured that the rich history and 
knowledge of the area that the local native population possessed was 
made available to visitors. For a change, Washington could learn from 
those in the surrounding communities. There would also be an incidental 
benefit from hiring local residents to the budget of the National Park 
Service since they would not have to pay employees to relocate to 
Alaska.
  Mr. President, while speaking to the issue of benefits, I have been 
told by several of the residents of Kotzebue that they have assisted in 
the rescue of Park Service personnel on a number of occasions. It makes 
little sense to me to bring someone to the Northwest parks from the 
lower forty-eight who is unfamiliar with the rugged terrain and 
treacherous weather. It makes better sense to hire an individual who 
stands little chance of getting lost or stranded.
  This is not a new concept. In various other units of the National 
Park System we have made provisions to take advantage of local 
communities, especially where the resource has particular historic or 
religious significance. At Zuni-Cibola Historical Park, for example, 
section 4 of Public Law 100-567 specifically authorizes the Secretary 
to enter into cooperative agreements with the Zuni Tribe and individual 
tribal members to provide training for the interpretation, management, 
protection, and preservation of archaeological and historical 
properties and in the provision of public services on the Zuni Indian 
Reservation to accomplish the purposes for which that unit of the Park 
System was established.
  At the National Park of American Samoa, the Secretary has been 
directed to establish a program to train native American Samoan 
personnel to function as professional park service employees and to 
provide services to visitors and operate and maintain park facilities. 
The law establishing the park also provided a preference for the hiring 
of local Samoans both as employees and under any contract. The general 
management plan for the park is to be developed in cooperation with the 
Governor of American Samoa. It is also conceivable, under the 
legislation, that after fifty years, sole authority to administer the 
park could be turned over to the Governor of American Samoa from the 
Secretary.
  There are other examples, but I think the time is long overdue for 
this philosophy to be realized at conservation units in Alaska. The 
Department of the Interior, in my view, has been dragging its feet and 
has failed to take advantage of the rich human resources present in the 
Alaska Native communities that lie in proximity to National Parks and 
Refuges. These units are remarkable and this Nation is not well served 
when the Secretary fails to take advantage of the local population.

  In particular, the four northwest Alaska units of the National Park 
System would be a good place for the Secretary to begin complying with 
section 1307 and 1308 of ANILCA and start contracting with the local 
people for the management of these park units.
  Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is a remnant of the land bridge 
that connected Asia with North America more than 13,000 years ago. The 
land bridge itself is now overlain by the Chukchi Sea and the Bering 
Sea. During the glacial epoch, this area was part of a migration route 
for people, animals, and plants whenever ocean levels fell enough to 
expose the land bridge. Scientists find it one of the most likely 
regions where prehistoric Asian hunters entered the New World.
  Today Eskimos from neighboring villages pursue subsistence lifestyles 
and manage their reindeer herds in and around the preserve. Some 112 
migratory bird species may be seen in the Preserve, along with 
occasional seals, walrus, and whales. Grizzly bears, fox, wolf, and 
moose also inhabit the Preserve. Other interesting features are rimless 
volcanoes called Maar craters, Serpentine Hot Springs, and seabird 
colonies at Sullivan Bluffs.
  Cape Krusenstern National Monument is comprised of 659,807 acres of 
land and water--a coastal plain dotted with sizable lagoons and backed 
by gently rolling, limestone hills. The Cape Krusenstern area has been 
designated an Archeological District in the National Register of 
Historic Places, and a National Historic Landmark. The core of the 
archeologic district is made up of approximately 114 marine beach 
ridges. These beach ridges, formed of gravel deposited by major storms 
and regular wind and wave action, record in horizontal succession the 
major cultural periods of the last 4,500 years. The prehistoric 
inhabitants of northwest Alaska occupied the cape seasonally to hunt 
marine mammals, especially seals. As new beach ridges were formed, 
camps were made on the ridges closest to the water. Thus, over 
centuries, a chronological horizontal stratigraphy was laid down in 
which the oldest cultural remains were found on the beach ridges 
farthest from the ocean. The discoveries made at Cape Krusenstern 
National Monument provided a definite, datable outline of cultural 
succession and development in northwest Alaska.
  The park contains approximately 1,726,500 acres of federal lands and 
encompasses a nearly enclosed mountain basin in the middle section of 
the Kobuk River in the Northwest Alaska Areas. Trees approach their 
northern limit in the Kobuk Valley, where forest and tundra meet. 
Today's dry, cold climate of the Kobuk Valley still approximates that 
of late Pleistocene times, supporting a remnant flora once covering the 
vast Arctic steppe tundra bridging Alaska and Asia. Sand created by the 
grinding of glaciers has been carried to the Kobuk Valley by winds and 
water. The great Kobuk Sand Dunes--25 square miles of shifting dunes--
is the largest active dune field in the arctic latitudes.

[[Page S12182]]

  Native people have lived in the Kobuk Valley for at least 12,500 
years. This human use is best recorded at the extensive archeological 
sites at Onion Portage. The Kobuk Valley remains an important area for 
traditional subsistence harvest of caribou, moose, bears, fish, 
waterfowl, and many edible and medicinal plants. The slow-moving, 
gentle Kobuk River is tremendous for fishing and canoeing or kayaking.
  Noatak National Preserve lies in northwestern Alaska, in the western 
Brooks Range, and encompasses more than 250 miles of the Noatak River. 
The preserve protects the largest untouched mountain-ringed river basin 
in the United States. The river basin provides an outstanding resource 
for scientific research, environmental education, and subsistence and 
recreational opportunities.
  Above the Arctic Circle, the Noatak River flows from glacial melt 
atop Mount Igikpak in the Brooks Range out to Kotzebue Sound. Along its 
425-mile course, the river has carved out the Grand Canyon of the 
Noatak. The preserve is in a transition zone between the northern 
coniferous forests and tundra biomes. The river basin contains most 
types of arctic habitat, as well as one of the finest arrays of flora 
and fauna. Among the Preserve's large mammals are brown bears, moose, 
caribou, wolves, lynx, and Dall sheep. Birdlife also is plentiful in 
the area because of the migrations from Asia and the tip of South 
America. The Noatak River supports arctic char, whitefish, grayling, 
and salmon and is an important resource for fishing, canoeing, and 
kayaking.
  Mr. President, these are the human and natural resources of Northwest 
Alaska. This legislation will direct the Secretary to finally bring the 
two together for the benefit of both Alaska Natives and the 
nation.
                                 ______