Subsistence Hunting and Fishing in Alaska: Does Anilca's Rural Subsistence Priority Really Conflict With the Alaska Constitution?

• Publication year: 2010

§ 27 Alaska L. Rev. 221. SUBSISTENCE HUNTING AND FISHING IN ALASKA: DOES ANILCA'S RURAL SUBSISTENCE PRIORITY REALLY CONFLICT WITH THE ALASKA CONSTITUTION?

Alaska Law Review
Volume 27
Cited: 27 Alaska L. Rev. 221

SUBSISTENCE HUNTING AND FISHING IN ALASKA: DOES ANILCA'S RURAL SUBSISTENCE PRIORITY REALLY CONFLICT WITH THE ALASKA CONSTITUTION?

JACK B. MCGEE ^[*]

ABSTRACT

All parties to the subsistence controversy in Alaska (the state and the federal government, sportsmen's associations, outdoor organizations, and Native groups) have assumed that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) grants residents of rural Alaska an exclusive right to engage in subsistence hunting and fishing on public lands. As a result, there appears to be an intractable contradiction between the "equal access" provisions of the Alaska Constitution and the subsistence provisions of ANILCA. This Article will question this widespread assumption. It will argue that while it is true that ANILCA creates a subsistence priority preference for rural Alaskans in the sense that at those times when fish or wildlife populations are threatened, rural Alaskans will be the very last group to have their right to subsistence hunting or fishing limited (i.e., ANILCA's rural preference), the text of ANILCA does not support the claim that it creates a right to subsistence hunting and fishing on public lands that belongs exclusively to residents of rural Alaska. Consequently, there is no intractable contradiction between the Alaska Constitution and ANILCA.

Introduction

One of the most divisive and intractable political issues in Alaska is subsistence hunting and fishing. Although the Alaska National Interest Conservation Act (ANILCA) ^[1] creates a "priority preference" for "subsistence uses" of fish and game, ^[2] the Federal government has taken the position that ANILCA creates an exclusive right for rural residents of Alaska to engage in subsistence hunting and fishing on public (federal) lands in Alaska. ^[3] The Alaska Supreme Court, however, has ruled that the Alaska Constitution prohibits any statutory requirement "that one must reside in a rural area in order to participate in subsistence hunting and fishing." ^[4]

As a result of this impasse, the Federal government has taken over the administration of subsistence hunting and fishing on public lands in Alaska.

This state of affairs has divided Alaskans into two camps: one group argues that the Alaska Constitution should be amended to bring it into compliance with ANILCA; the other group argues that ANILCA should be amended to bring it into compliance with the Alaska Constitution.

This Article proceeds in two parts. Part One will briefly discuss the history of subsistence in Alaska up to the federal takeover of the management of subsistence hunting and fishing in 1990. Included in Part One is a discussion of the principal cases, state and federal, that have shaped the subsistence controversy.

Part Two will examine the plausibility of the claim that ANILCA limits the right to engage in subsistence hunting and fishing on public lands exclusively to residents of rural Alaska. The central conclusion of this Article is that the text of ANILCA does not support this claim.

Part Two will also examine how the factors of "customary and direct dependence," "local residency," and "availability of alternative resources" that are identified in the subsistence preference system created by ANILCA ^[5] ensure that at times when the viability of fish or wildlife populations are threatened, the residents of rural Alaska will be the very last group to have their subsistence rights limited. Lastly, this section will address the concern that the "local residency" factor of ANILCA's subsistence priority preference conflicts with the Alaska Supreme Court's decision in State v. Kenaitze. ^[6]

Part One

I. Subsistence Hunting and Fishing Prior to Alaska Statehood

Before the arrival of European explorers in 1741, Alaska had a population of between 60,000 and 80,000 Native people, ^[7] all of whom lived a subsistence lifestyle. ^[8] Although Alaska Natives increasingly relied on permanent villages after the arrival of the Europeans and the introduction of European-style commerce (commercial fur seal hunting, commercial fishing, whaling, and a cash economy), ^[9] many maintained this subsistence lifestyle into the nineteenth century. ^[10]

In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. ^[11] The first congressional act that provided for civil government in Alaska, the District Organic Act, ^[12] said nothing about subsistence hunting and fishing. ^[13] Neither did the Alaska Territorial Organic Act passed in 1912. ^[14]

The purchase of Alaska by the United States initially had little effect on the subsistence activities of Alaska Natives. These activities persisted until salmon canneries, utilizing company-owned fish traps, took over fishing streams traditionally used by Native clans. ^[15]

Fish and game legislation affecting Alaska, passed by Congress in 1902, 1924, and 1925, generally did not address the position of Alaska Natives. ^[16] As for the Alaska Territorial Legislature, it had no power to enact laws regulating fish and game in Alaska; this authority was reserved by Congress. ^[17]

During the territorial period, it was generally true that "Natives and non-Natives . . . were able to pursue fishing for personal-use purposes with few restrictions." ^[18] And when a dispute did occur over resources, "federal agencies sometimes intervened on behalf of rural users, both Native and non-Native." ^[19]

II. Subsistence Hunting and Fishing after Alaska Statehood

A. The Alaska Statehood Act and Subsistence

On January 3, 1959, Alaska became the forty-ninth state. ^[20] Section 1 of the Alaska Statehood Act ^[21] accepted and ratified the Alaska Constitution, which had previously been adopted by the people of Alaska in an election held on April 24, 1956. ^[22]

Three sections in article VIII of the newly enacted constitution would later prove to be central in analyzing the yet unasked question of the constitutionality of a subsistence priority for rural Alaskans:

Section 3 Common Use. Whenever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife and waters are reserved to the people for common use.

.....

Section 15 No Exclusive Right of Fishery. No exclusive right or special privilege of fishery shall be created or authorized in the natural waters of the State. . . .

....

Section 17 Uniform Application. Laws and regulations governing the use or disposal of natural resources shall apply equally to all persons similarly situated with reference to the subject matter and purpose to be served by the law or regulation. ^[23]

These sections, taken together, reinforced the general principle that all Alaskans, rural or non-rural, Native or non-Native, should have equal access to Alaska's fish and game resources-at least as far as these resources are found on public land.

On the other hand, the question of what land was public and what land was owned by Natives in Alaska was left unanswered. Section 8 of Alaska's District Organic Act provided:

[t]hat the Indians or other persons in said district shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands actually in their use or occupation or now claimed by them but the terms under which such persons may acquire title to such lands is reserved for future legislation by Congress. ^[24]

This principle was also reflected in section 4 of the Alaska Statehood Act. It created a compact between the new state and the United States whereby the people of Alaska "forever disclaim all right and title . . . to any lands or other property (including fishing rights), the right or title to which may be held by any Indians, Eskimos or Aleuts (hereinafter called natives) or is held by the United States in trust for said natives." ^[25] At the same time section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act permitted the new state to select up to 102,550,000 acres from "vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved" public lands held by the United States. ^[26]

The tension between section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act on the one hand and section 8 of the District Organic Act and section 4 of the Alaska Statehood Act on the other was not resolved until the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) in 1971. ^[27]

As for the question of who has the authority to manage fish and wildlife resources on public land in Alaska, section (6)(e) of the Alaska Statehood Act mandated that the Federal government transfer this authority over to the state provided "the Secretary of the Interior certifies to the Congress that the Alaska State Legislature has made adequate provision for the administration, management, and conservation of said resources in the broad national interest." ^[28]

B. Alaska's First Fish and Game Law

In 1959, the Alaska Legislature enacted into law an act related to the management of fish and game. ^[29] The Act (the Fish and Game Code of Alaska) created the Board of Fish and Game and the position of Commissioner of Fish and Game. ^[30] It also set sport fishing and hunting license fees ^[31] and created a procedure for the licensing of commercial fishermen and vessels. ^[32]

In 1960, the Fish and Game Code was amended to include subsistence fishing. ^[33] This amendment drew a distinction between sport fishing and subsistence fishing on the basis...