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- Feb 13, 2013
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Dunleavy tells feds Alaska is taking over management of 800,000 miles of river
Gov. Dunleavy says he's exerting the state's right to control submerged lands under navigable lakes and rivers.
www.alaskapublic.org
The move by Dunleavy to effect Alaska's sovereignty over substrate rights to navigable streams across the state will, if undisputed, stop the decades old fight of state vs. fed ownership of navigable streams in the Alaska.
Federal game action is an unjustified intrusion into Alaska’s affairs
In taking its action, the Federal Subsistence Board over-reached its authority under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
www.adn.com
How this could positively affect hunters is that it seems to remove the stranglehold Native groups (using the federal subsistence board) from arbitrarily and unscientifically closing public lands to hunting. How? Lets say the Northwest communities propose through the FSB to close GMU 23 and 26A to all non-local hunters as they have attempted and succeeded several times the past 10 years. If Dunleavy's actions stick, the feds can close lands in these GMUs but all lands below the mean highwater mark would be owned and controlled by the state of Alaska and enforced by the laws passed within the Alaska state hunting regulation.
State Asks Federal Subsistence Board to Reconsider GMU 23 Caribou Hunting Closure, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
State Asks Federal Subsistence Board to Reconsider GMU 23 Caribou Hunting Closure; Alaska Department of Fish and Game Press Release.
www.adfg.alaska.gov
It also gives the state ownership of the substrate rights beneath flowing water, which could lend these lands to resource development schemes.
IMO, these are topics all public land owners, caribou and moose hunters should bookmark and revisit this year to track developments.
LB