News Release
Date: May 1, 2020
Contact: Peter Christian
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The National Park Service (NPS) invites public comments on a proposal to align its regulations with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Sturgeon v. Frost. The proposed regulation would provide clarity regarding navigable waterways within national parklands in Alaska.
In March 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court in Sturgeon v. Frost decided that the NPS could not enforce a regulation prohibiting the operation of a hovercraft on part of the Nation River that flows through the NPS-managed Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. It was decided that NPS regulations apply exclusively to federally managed lands and waters within the boundaries of national park areas in Alaska. Lands that are not federally managed, including submerged lands under navigable waters, are not subject to the NPS’s regulatory authority.
Members of the public are invited to submit their comments on the proposed regulation by June 29, 2020.
Last updated: May 1, 2020