Postmark: Aug 30,94 3:23 PM Delivered: Sep 02,94 10:01 AM
Status: Previously read Filed
Subject: Subsistence News-9/2/94
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Message:
*Recently the National Park Service (NPS) and Justice Department asked that all charges against Gregory Brown be dropped. Brown, a Tlingit from Hoonah, was charged in October of 1992 with killing a seal in Glacier Bay National Park. The seal was used for a traditional Tlingit memorial potlatch.
*The government has asked that all charges in the case against Brown be dropped. The defendent requests that the case proceed on its merits, as many unanswered/unresolved questions remain.
*Brown maintains that his conduct is permitted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; he is protected under the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution; and the NPS did not have the authority to prohibit his taking a seal in Glacier Bay. Brown argues that the NPS does not own the submerged lands and waters of the park, and lacks the authority to regulate submerged lands and waters of Glacier Bay.
Postmark: Aug 25,94 3:45 PM Delivered: Aug 26,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-8/26/94
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Message:
*Subsistence News is one year old.
*The Southeast Native Subsistence Commission (SENSC) has been awarded a $50,000. Historic Preservation Grant for a multi year project documenting indigenous place names throughout SE Alaska. The first phase of the project will focus on the communities of Angoon, Craig, Hoonah, Kake, Klawock, and Yakutat.
*The Southeast Regional Advisory Council (RAC) will meet in Juneau between October 5-7, and the Southcentral Regional Council (RAC) will meet in Soldotna between October 6-7. Minimally, the RAC’s will review proposed 1995-96 Federal Subsistence Hunting Regulations and deal with other issues.
*The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently determined that the plaintiffs in McDowell v. U.S. have no standing, and has remanded the case back to the Anchorage District Court of H. Russell Holland. Judge Holland initially ruled that ANILCA’s rural preference meets equal protection standards under the US constitution, that Congress has ample powers to act on the issue, and that states’ rights are not impaired.
Postmark: Aug 18,94 11:52 AM Delivered: Aug 19,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-8/19/94
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Message:
*The Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) met in Anchorage on August 17th. The Board took action on several “requests for reconsideration” for 1994-95 Federal Subsistence Management Regulations, which took effect on July 1, 1994. The Board voted not to rescind regulations allowing subsistence users to harvest deer from boats in GMU-4; and voted not to change the brown bear harvest limit, and permit and sealing requirements in GMU-5.
*The Katie John v. U.S. lawsuit is currently under appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is anticipated that the Appeals Court will uphold the earlier District Court ruling, which mandates Federal assumption of subsistence fisheries management within Alaska’s navigable waters.
*A supplemental EIS to the “Subsistence Management for Federal Public Lands in Alaska”, and accompanying rule making, may be necessary should the courts mandate federal subsistence management of an additional 60 million acres of selected (but not conveyed) Native and State lands. This could extend federal subsistence management responsibility to approximately 260 million acres within the state of Alaska.
*Subsistence chum salmon fishing on the Yukon River has been closed.
