News Release

Western Arctic National Parklands News Release

You are viewing ARCHIVED content

This content was published online before January 20, 2025. Please note that this content is NOT UPDATED, and links may not work. For current information, visit https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/index.htm.

News Release Date: August 23, 2018
Contact: Maija Lukin, 907 442 8301
Contact: Hannah Atkinson, 907 442 8342
Contact: Scott Sample, 907 455 0616

WESTERN ARCTIC, Alaska – Due to administrative delays in the Federal Rule Making Process, the Federal Subsistence Board (Board) has approved temporary delegated authority to the Superintendent of Noatak National Preserve and the Federal land manager for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to issue special actions enacting changes to Federal Subsistence Regulations adopted by the Board at its April 2018 regulatory meeting. This delegation of authority is established pursuant to 36 CFR 242.10(d)(6) and 50 CFR 100.10(d)(6).

Pursuant to this temporary delegated authority,  the Superintendent for the Noatak National Preserve in Unit 23 (see map) is issuing an emergency special action to close Federal public lands within a 10 mile wide corridor (5 miles either side) along the Noatak River from the western boundary of Noatak National Preserve upstream to the confluence with the Cutler River; within the northern and southern boundaries of the Eli and Agashashok River drainages, respectively, to caribou hunting by all except Federally qualified subsistence users. This emergency special action is effective immediately and will also expire in 60 days or when the 2018-2020 Federal Subsistence Wildlife Regulations are published in the Federal Register, whichever occurs first.

Simultaneously, the BLM land manager in Unit 23 (see map) is issuing an emergency special action to close Federal public lands within the Squirrel River drainage to caribou hunting by all except federally qualified subsistence users. This special action is effective immediately and will expire in 60 days or when the 2018-2020 Federal Subsistence Wildlife Regulations are published in the Federal Register, whichever occurs first.

Adopting this closure in a portion of Unit 23 implements the decision made by the Federal Subsistence Board at its April 2018 regulatory meeting and represents a reasonable compromise to address the complex issue of user conflicts in the area and the difficulty Federally qualified subsistence users have been having harvesting caribou as a result of these conflicts. This emergency special action to enact this partial closure is also consistent with recommendations from the Northwest Arctic, Seward Peninsula, and Western Interior Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils. Information on Notatak National Preserve may be found on the web at: https://www.nps.gov/noat/index.htm and additional information on the Federal Subsistence Management Program may be found on the web at www.doi.gov/subsistence.

–NPS–

More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 417 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities.

RSS Feed | What is RSS?