Relating to subsistence activities of urban Alaska Natives under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

SJR 31 provides that urban Alaska Natives exercise the same rights of subsistence as do rural Alaska residents. A large number of Alaska Natives reside in the urban areas of Alaska. Urban natives rely on renewable resources for physical, economic, traditional, social and cultural existence as well as rural residents. The federal subsistence preference established under Title VIII, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, denies urban Alaska Natives the ability to participate in subsistence activities on the same level as rural residents. The Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the Congress of the United States to clarify whether it intended to deny urban Alaska Natives the opportunity to engage in subsistence activities on the same level as rural Alaska residents when it passed Title VIII, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.