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Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (WRST) is America’s largest conservation unit. At somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 millions acres, it is considerably larger than the nation of Switzerland. But, while Switzerland has something over 45,000 miles of road, WRST has only about 120 miles of unpaved, dirt and gravel routes accessible from the major highway system. |
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Partly for this reason, when Congress created the park in 1980, they provided for people to continue to use other means of transportation. Dog sleds, snowmachines and airplanes are commonly cited as examples. They are by no means the only examples, however, so the language of the enabling legislation for the park, the Alaska National Interest Lands Claims Act, commonly referred to as ANILCA, used the terms customary and traditional. |
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Customary and traditional are words that are easy to understand. Customary means, “commonly practiced, used, or encountered; usual.” Traditional comes from tradition and means, “a timehonored practice or set of such practices.” Simply put, Congress mandated that access in WRST continue to be that which it had generally been in the past. |
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But how do we know what type of access was common in the areas that are now encompassed by the park? I’m glad you asked that question, because we have a documented answer in the form of a governmental study. |
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In 1995, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) in cooperation with the National Park Service, published a document with the title: PILOT PROJECT: DOCUMENTING TRADITIONAL AND SUBSISTENCE ACCESS IN WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE. |
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According to Tina Cunning, who is the ANILCA Program Manager with ADF&G, the project was funded by the legislature and conducted by two ADF&G employees (Terry Haynes and Stan Walker) in close cooperation with NPS at both the region and the park. |
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“The then [NPS] superintendent was very helpful with support of staff and access to files,” said Cunning, “and NPS staff assisted in phases of the project.” Many of the documents were NPS publications and files only available through their assistance in addition to cited source documents available in libraries, DOT, and BLM. |
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The study documents access and subsistence tradition in the area of what is now the park going back to the Aboriginal Period. (“A well-worn trail system connected Copper Basin villages and facilitated foot travel within the region and to neighboring areas.) |
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The Contact Period (1732-1898) deals mostly with the Russian influence, foot and river travel. |
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The European Settlement (1898-1940) talks about the transportation network expanding to provide access to furs, copper and other resources. Road building commenced, and of course the famous Copper River & Northwestern Railway was built during this period. The Nabesna Road was also constructed during the 1930s. |
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The period of most interest to us today is called the Contemporary Period (1940-1980). This is the 40 year period just preceding the area becoming a park. According to the authors, dog teams were a major means of transportation during World War II. Horses were also used to haul freight over the Cooper Pass Trail to Chisana. |
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Soon after the war, civilian use of aircraft resumed and light track vehicles (“weasels”) replaced dogsleds for ground transport of freight in the north Wrangells area. Weasels pulled wagons with aircraft tires mounted on double automobile wheel rims. The large tires enabled the wagons to travel easily over soft ground and in marshy areas. |
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Use of small aircraft and swamp buggies expanded in the 1950s and 1960s as a mode of transportation for accessing the mountainous and more remote areas of the Copper River Basin. |
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One respondent described the use of tractors, caterpillars, dog teams and pack horses during this period. Another household in the Nabesna-Nutzotin area used dog teams or tracked vehicles as their primary mode of access to the Tanada Lake area for fishing, trapping, and hunting until the late 1950s. |
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In the early 1970s, one respondent reported accessing seasonal hunting areas via tracked vehicle or snowmachine. “A common practice was to use different ground routes to minimize damage to the terrain and reduce the chance of this hunting area becoming visible overhead.” One resident said trail routes often changed as travelers sought better ground for ORVs and tracked vehicles. Around the Tok cutoff area, “tracked vehicles were commonplace.” |
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The final period covered in the study is called the Post-ANILCA Period (1981 - present). “The permitting process for use of ORVs was cited as a problem by some respondents, who reported receiving conflicting information from park officials concerning the need for permits. Some persons interpreted the actions of park officials as being designed to discourage use of ORVs on park lands. Respondents critical of current access management in the park generally believe that the unwritten goal is to restrict rather than permit access that was commonly used prior to creation of the park.” |
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The study concludes with recommendations. First, they urged further study. “Federal and state agencies should actively cooperate with residents of affected communities and local organizations to actively document subsistence and other access for traditional activities on federal public lands without delay, especially in areas where access issues have been identified or where public access authorized in ANILCA has been restricted. The involvement of local organizations from the outset is essential, if the documentation is to be comprehensive and its importance fully recognized.” |
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“We also recommend the National Park Service prepare the plan required in “ANILCA Section 1301(4): ‘A plan for access to, and circulation within {the park unit}, indicating the type and location of transportation routes and facilities, if any.’ This recommendation is consistent with the 1986 General Management Plan for WRST, in which the NPS commits to inventory access routes and areas used traditionally by motorboats, aircraft, horses, and pack animals, snowmachines, and off-road vehicles and to use this information as the basis for future decision-making related to access.” |
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In case you have wondered what an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) or Off Road Vehicle (ORV) is, we can go to the general management plan for WRST and on page 10 find this definition: “The terms ORV and ATV are used interchangeably in this section. An off-road vehicle is any motor vehicle designed for or capable of cross-country travel on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, wetland, or other natural terrain, except snowmachines or snowmobiles. This definition does not include ultralights, hovercraft, or airboats whose use within the park/preserve is prohibited. Likewise, it does not include bulldozers, loaders, or other pieces of equipment which are covered under section 1110 of ANILCA.” |
