Mission Statement

We, the residents, land owners and subsistence users of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, are forming a citizen’s group to collectively address the access issues and other problems we are continuously encountering with the National Park Service (NPS).

Our initial goals are to:

Compile a membership of interested locals by: advertising our efforts through local radio and newspapers, by reaching out to and teleconferencing with existing group in other areas within the Wrangell-St. Elias Park, setting up an often updated, informative website and by approaching our neighbors and friends. This membership search will (hopefully) serve to band together all parts of the Wrangell-St. Elias Park in a unified force.

Through this membership survey, compile a database of all people who access their property across NPS land or use or cross NPS land to live a “traditional and customary” subsistence lifestyle (i.e., hunting, logging, or trapping). This will be initially accomplished by distributing a questionnaire to identify:

1	Existing access routes needing to be protected.

2	Problems with the NPS on (or regarding) those routes.

3	RS2477 status of routes in the park.

4	Dates of trail creation, maintenance and usage.

5	Customary and traditional use of motorized vehicles.

6	Customary and traditional upgrades of existing trails and roads.

7	Other documentation as necessary regarding park/subsistence user access/interactions.

8	Other customary and traditional use on NPS, private or state land that should be protected.

9	Other customary and traditional activities etc. that may be threatened by the encroaching presence of the NPS.

·	Prepare a list of park-wide grievances, access problems and general concerns

Share our list of issues with the state governor, senators and representatives as well as authorities of the NPS who are “higher on the totem pole” than our local authorities, encouraging all to negotiate to protect state right-of-ways, especially those which are designated RS2477 trails and were in existence prior to the 1980 ANILCA.

·	Encourage the NPS to document existing law which gives them jurisdiction to: close off access to legitimate state right-of-ways protected by ANILCA, require permits for access, charge access fees and close off legitimate trails to motorized vehicles.

·	Encourage NPS to: define “customary and traditional use”, recognize the unique rights and necessities of an Alaskan bush community existing within the NPS lands, and modify their current regulations and procedures to honor their promise of preserving existing right-of-ways as outlined in ANILCA.

Ease tensions with NPS by: working with them peacefully and reasonably, setting up a regular meeting schedule to address problems. Also, encouraging them to give us: written documentation of their permit procedures and who they affect, written information regarding the overall regulations for this park, and prior notice of new regulations with the option for us to comment on or influence those decisions.

·	Protect the existing motorized vehicle (and ATV/snow machine) rights of access of all residents and users of this park.

·	Protect the customary and traditional uses and lifestyles of residents and users of the Wrangell-St. Elias lands.