Alaska vs. the Interior Department.

• Author: Randall, Sharon

It's Alaskan legislators in one corner, Bruce Babbitt in the other. Among the spectators are the governor, native groups, rural and urban citizens, all with different ideas about who should manage fish and wildlife and how it should be done.

Alaska - our biggest state by landmass, our next to smallest in population - is at war with the federal government. And if it doesn't win the battle, many Alaskan legislators say, other state constitutions and rights will be in jeopardy.

The turmoil started nearly 20 years ago with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), passed by Congress in 1980, that gives priority in subsistence hunting and fishing on federal public lands to a narrowly defined group of "rural" Alaska residents. That provision conflicts with the common use clauses of the Alaska Constitution, which provide for all citizens equally. Over the years, state lawmakers have made many unsuccessful attempts to resolve the complex issue, passing laws to conform with the federal act, only to have them struck down by the Alaska Supreme Court, which says that the state constitution guarantees equal access to fish and game for all citizens.

This year, the conflict came to a head when Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt said the state had dragged its feet long enough. He gave lawmakers an ultimatum: Change the constitution and remove its equal protection rights and common use protections, or the Interior Department will take over fish and game management on all federal lands in Alaska. The state has until Dec. 1 to comply.

Can Babbitt do this? It depends on what Congress intended in 1980 when it passed the act. The act says the state would assume responsibility for the priority subsistence program on federal land if it conformed to federal law. To do this, Alaska has to amend its constitution. But the act also says: "Nothing in this Act is intended to ... amend the Alaska Constitution."

Was there a clear intent in Congress to preempt the Alaska Constitution? Legislators say there wasn't, and they're gambling that federal courts will see things that way. The Legislative Council, made up of 14 members of the House and Senate leadership, filed suit Jan. 12 in the Washington, D.C., federal district court against the secretary of interior and miscellaneous federal agency heads.

"The issue is whether the federal government has the authority and the right to essentially take over management of what is a state-owned resource," says...