Alaska Natives & subsistence

Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) recognizes "subsistence" as the customary and traditional uses of fish and wildlife and other renewable resources by for food, clothing, shelter, and handicrafts. The law establishes a priority for these uses by rural Alaska residents over other uses, such as sport hunting and fishing, on national wildlife refuges, national parks, national forests and other federal public lands. In 1986, Alaska passed a law mandating a rural subsistence priority to bring it into compliance with ANILCA, but in 1989, in McDowell v. Alaska (785 P.2d 1 (Alaska 1989)), the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the "rural" priority violated the Alaska Constitution. Because Alaska law no longer provided for a "rural" priority in conformance with federal law, management of subsistence use of federal public lands has been handled by the Federal Subistence Board since 1990. Alaska continues to manage non- subsistence uses of fish, game, and other renewable resources on federal public lands. Since 1990, Alaskans have been looking at options for subsistence management in Alaska. Although ANILCA specifies a subsistence preference based on place of residence (rural v. urban), not race or ethnicity, Alaska Natives, many of whom depend heavily on subsistence for their livelihoods, have much to gain or lose depending on what solution is ultimately found to the subsistence dilemma.

See also:
American Indians > American Indians & subsistence

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA)
Pub. L. No. 96-487, December 2, 1980.

• Title VIII. The portion of ANILCA addressing subsistence management and use.
• 16 USC §§ 3101-3233. Codification of ANILCA; from Cornell University's Legal Information Institute.
• Introduction to ANILCA. From the Office of Subsistence Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Background on subsistence in Alaska

• "Subsistence in Alaska". Alaska Fish & Wildlife Conservation Fund and Alaska Outdoor Council, Apr 21, 1995. A briefing paper prepared for the public and public officials for use in developing "a fair and lasting resolution of the subsistence issue in Alaska." The briefing paper presents options suggested by various interests for changes in laws governing the priority use of fish and game and other renewable resources. Of particular interest are statements about the relationship between subsistence and Alaska Native sovereignty.
• Ecology, Environment and Education. from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network.
• Subsistence Curriculum Materials by Cultural Area and Grade Level. Bibliography of curriculum materials for subsistence among 12 Alaska Native culture groups from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. See also abstracts of many of the relevant reports from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Technical Paper Series.
• Alaska Natives Commission, Final Report. Anchorage: Alaska Natives Commission, 1994. Volume III includes the commission's report on Native subsistence.

Office of Subsistence Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has lead responsibility in the interagency federal subsistence management program. The Office of Subsistence Management provides primary staff support to the Federal Subsistence Board, which sets regulations for subsistence hunting, trapping and fishing on federal public lands in Alaska. Includes links to relevant laws and regulations and an informational brochure.

Alaska Division of Subistence
A division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game created in 1978 charged with conducting studies on all aspects of the role of subistence hunting and fishing in the lives of Alaska residents, participating in preparing management plans, and assist in the implementation of legislation regarding subsistence uses of wild resources in Alaska. See the main Alaska Department of Fish and Game site for links to regulations.

• Alaska Fish and Game Subsistence Abstracts. This report provides abstracts of the Technical Paper Series of the Alaska Division of Subsistence.

Governor's Task Force on Subsistence
This site includes the final plan adopted by the Task Force on September 23, 1997. The "Plan for a Subsistence Priority and Returning Fish and Wildlife Management to the State" is an interdependent package of amendments to ANILCA, the Alaska Constitution, and the Alaska Statutes, all of which will be implemented only by a vote of the Alaska people.

• Proposed Amendments to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). September 23, 1997.
• Governor's Subsistence Leadership Summit. August 15-16, 2001, Anchorage.

Subsistence.org: Subsistence Knowledge for Alaska
A website oriented towards protection of the subsistence lifestyle in rural Alaska.

Alaska Outdoor Council (AOC)
AOC exists to "[protect] the hunting, fishing and trapping heritage of all Alaskans -- and the resource base upon which those activities depend" and to "[protect] our individual right to keep and bear arms." AOC's membership is primarily sports hunters and fishermen; as such, AOC is a major stakeholder in any solution to the subsistence debate. It opposes harvest preferences based on residency, culture, or ethnic background.

• Subsistence in Alaska. Briefing paper by the Alaska Fish & Wildlife Conservation Fund and the Alaska Outdoor Council, April 21, 1995.

Katie John Subsistence Case
In 1995 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Katie John's claim that the federal government was obligated to extend ANILCA's subsistence protections to fishing activities in federally reserved waters in Alaska. Therefore the federal government assumed management of subsistence fisheries in 60 percent of Alaska waters in October 1999. In 2000 the State of Alaska was granted a petition for rehearing on the case by the Ninth Circuit. See the Native American Rights Fund's Case Updates: Alaska Subsistence.

• Alaska v. Bruce Babbit & Katie John v. United States (12/19/95), 95 C.D.O.S. 9660 (9th Circuit)
• "All We Ever Wanted Was To Catch Fish". A discussion of the Katie John subsistence fishing case (State of Alaska v. Babbitt, F.3d, [9th Cir. 1994]); 1994 WL 231341 [9th Cir. (Alaska)]) and the Native American Rights Fund's involvement in it. NARF Legal Review 20(2), Summer/Fall 1995.