ROW meeting

A panel of speakers addressed the group, many with more than 25 years of experience in state and national lands' rights and access issues: Paula Easley, board member and former Executive Director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska and monthly columnist for the Anchorage Daily News; Chuck Cushman, Executive Director of the American Land Rights Association (ALRA); Russell Brooks, managing attorney of the Pacific Northwest office of the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF); Ray Kreig, inholder, Chairman of the Kantishna Inholders' Association, and head of the Alaska offices for the ALRA; J.P. Tangen, Anchorage attorney, currently representing the Pilgrim family; and Rick Kenyon, editor of the Wrangell St. Elias News.

After ROW members took a few minutes to explain the goals of the organization and list the issues of immediate concern, the audience was encouraged to share their problems and document them by filling out ROW’s NPS Land Use Questionnaire (printed in the July/August issue of the Wrangell St. Elias News) in hopes of compiling a data base of community problems.

Neil Darish spoke of his access problems for his business in McCarthy and the importance of preserving the unique culture of our communities. Doug Frederick of the Nabesna area gave an account of his family’s long battle to maintain their right to operate their business despite NPS’s restrictions to their access. I described problems that my husband and I are having with right-of-way permit and access fee requirements to reach our homestead off the McCarthy Road. Papa Pilgrim stressed the importance of bonding together to solve access for everyone and related some stories of their personal struggle. Rick Kenyon spoke of his and Bonnie’s role in reporting NPS issues over the years in their newspaper.

Ray Kreig, active in lands’ issues for more than 20 years, opened by describing how NPS spent ten to twenty million dollars to drive the miners from the Kantishna area after Denali National Park was formed and how the fishermen were forced out of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. He cited NPS abuses over the last eighty years in conservation units across the country affecting tens of thousands of people. Ray explained the ANILCA 1110(b) provisions for special access and access to inholdings and cited cases of crushing Environmental Impact Statement and permitting processes as well as exorbitant right-of-way permit fees.

J.P. Tangen, involved in ANILCA and D(2) issues since the early seventies, defined the original RS2477 right-of-way legislation. He stressed the urgency in bonding together now while we have a sympathetic and favorable climate in Washington, an Alaskan congressional delegation willing to stand up for Alaskans’ rights, and positive legislators in Juneau. Tangen feels we have a rare “window of opportunity” to settle a national issue that has been debated for decades.

Russell Brooks praised the audience for being there to uphold their constitutional rights. He stressed the importance of seeking cooperation from the federal government to protect our rights and the importance of allowing us to be stewards of our land, allowed to care for our own legitimate needs. PLF is a non-profit organization, funded by private donations, which has been helping to resolve the access issues of private citizens for 30 years.

Chuck Cushman, appointed by Ronald Reagan to The National Park System Advisory Board, has a special insight into park procedures. He has been called to intervene in access issues across the country, where ALRA finds peaceful and often humorous ways to create an environment where citizens can get the help they need from their legisla¬tors. He stressed the import¬ance of working as a team and knowing that winning is possible. Cushman cited numerous ALRA success stories where their involvement has cut land acquisition funding for NPS, saved areas of Washington and Oregon from wild and scenic river status, saved private lands from park encroachment, and changed the mindset of legislators.

The meeting was long, but many people stayed on to participate in a discussion period during which many residents came forward to share their personal problems with the NPS over the course of the last twenty years. Many topics were covered; NPS interpretation of ANILCA regulations, selective enforcement, legality of access fees, NPS vehicle access to Kennicott during recon¬struction, attempts by NPS to change federal subsistence boundaries, inappropriate NPS behavior, NPS harassment at hunting camps, excessive shows of force and weaponry, illegal trail closures, the ALRA-organized Pilgrim airlift, the need for legislative action to settle RS2477, and the inappropriate¬¬ness of current inholder permitting requirements.

Our panelists suggested that a first course of action for anyone experiencing problems with NPS or other agencies should be to write to their congressional delegation, explaining their situation in a concise, one-page letter, followed up by other letters, stressing the urgency of legislative action needed to resolve our issues. Dealing with large powerful agencies can be intimidating, but through the cooperation and unity of community members and the help of ALRA and PLF, we can see hope in resolving our issues. Anyone interested in joining ROW or ALRA may contact ROW at PO Box MXY #63, Glennallen AK 99588 or www.residentsofWrangells.bravepages.com or visit the ALRA website at www.landriqhts.orq/ak/. Future meetings of ROW will be announced to discuss