Juneau -- Today, the Alaska House of Representatives approved a resolution sponsored by Senator Rick Halford (R-Chugiak) opposing the National Park Service's (NPS) recent closure of two million acres of Denali National Park and Preserve to snowmachine use. SJR 5 condemns the NPS closure as contrary to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act's (ANILCA) guarantee of continued access for traditional activities and requests that the Governor take any necessary action to protect Alaskans' rights to access Alaskan land.

"In 1980, we were guaranteed continued access through the more than 100 million acres of Alaska locked up by ANILCA," said Halford. "Now, the federal bureaucrats are ignoring their own agreement and denying that access."

SJR 5 recognizes the NPS's authority to reasonably regulate federal Conservation System Unit lands in Alaska, but it points out that they failed to document any actual detrimental effects, as required by law. In addition, the resolution calls attention to the flawed process used to institute this closure and the NPS's unwillingness to work with local users and groups to develop voluntary measures to limit or restrict snowmachine use.

"The federal government is moving forward on its agenda of illegally keeping Alaskans out of Alaskan land," said Halford. "Their recent actions of throwing snowmachiners out of Denali and denying fisherman the right to make a living in Glacier Bay show their continuing efforts to go back on our statehood contract."

SJR 5, which was supported by an overwhelming majority of both houses, reiterates the Alaska Legislature's continued opposition to extra-jurisdictional action by federal agencies and commitment to ensuring access to all Federal Conservation Units for traditional uses in Alaska.

# # #