5. Take a stand on the issues.

There are many issues facing park management today. Follow these steps as you participate in a management meeting.

1. Introduce your cultural alter ego and listen as others introduce themselves to you.
2. Read and listen to information about each of the issues below.
3. Acting in your cultural role, take a stand on the handout: Opinion Continuum. Be prepared to share and explain the rationale behind your stand with others in your group.
4. After discussion, do you believe your cultural alter ego would change his/her position? Why or why not?

ISSUE #1: All-Terrain Vehicles in Gates of the Arctic

The people of Anaktuvuk Pass, whose village is completely surrounded by Gates of the Arctic, want to be able to use All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) to go into the park for subsistence hunting, trapping and gathering. Their ARGOS, 8-wheel vehicles, are used for summer subsistence transportation. In the winter, the people use snow machines.

The Law: Title VIII, Section 811, of ANILCA

1. The Secretary shall ensure that rural residents engaged in subsistence uses shall have reasonable access to subsistence resources on the public lands.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or other law, 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.

Viewpoints:
Click to listen to:
Riley Morry, an Alaska Native resident of Anaktuvuk Pass
Suzie Stutzman, a National Park Service employee who worked with Dick Ring, the first Superintendent of Gates of the Arctic

Now use Opinion Continuum - ATVs to help you clarify your opinion.
Click to view and print the ATV Continuum worksheet

ISSUE #2: Use of Aircraft Access for Subsistence in Gates of the Arctic

Gates of the Arctic National Park is vast and the villages where people live are often far from access to the migratory areas they need to hunt. Many residents feel they need to have access, by aircraft, when necessary.

The Law: Title VIII, Section 811, of ANILCA

1. The Secretary shall ensure that rural residents engaged in subsistence uses shall have reasonable access to subsistence resources on the public lands.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or other law, 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.

Congressional Discussion (Alaska Subsistence, NPS Management History)

ANILCA did not specifically refer to the legality of aircraft access (which, because it was not a form of "surface transportation," was not subject to clause (b)) (above), but the legislative history discussed the subject in some detail. On the House side, Representative Morris Udall stated that:

"in most new units of the National Park System the taking of wildlife by local rural residents for subsistence uses has not necessitated the use of aircraft as a means of access, but this concept is not absolute. For example, some years the caribou herds do not use the mountain passes near the village of Anaktuvuk Pass during their annual migration. Since this village has no alternative sources of food, the use of aircraft is essential for the continued survival of the Anaktuvuk Pass people. Similarly, residents of Yakutat have customarily used aircraft for access to the Malaspina Forelands in the Wrangell-St. Elias area for subsistence purposes, since traveling by boat, the only other possible means of transportation, can be extremely dangerous due to the violent storms that frequent the Gulf of Alaska.

Although there may be similar situations in other areas of Alaska in which aircraft use for subsistence hunting may be appropriate and should be permitted to continue, these types of situations are the exception rather than the rule and that only rarely should aircraft use for subsistence hunting purposes be permitted within National Parks, National Monuments and National Preserves. It is not the intent to invite additional aircraft use, or new or expanded uses in parks and monuments where such uses have not traditionally and regularly occurred."

Viewpoints:
Click to listen to:
Jack Reakoff, a longtime and well-respected resident of Wiseman

Click to read:
Comments from the National Parks Conservation Association concerning Gates of the Arctic National Park

Now use Opinion Continuum - Aircraft to help you clarify your opinion.
Click to view and print the Aircraft Continuum worksheet