Postmark: Aug 31,94 7:58 AM Delivered: Sep 09,94 10:01 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/9/94
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Message:
*Most subsistence communities have customary rules for treating the land and the ecosystem.
*Rules have been passed down through successive generations: “Do not waste”; “Take only what is needed”; “treat the animals with respect”; “Do not damage the land without cause”; and many more.
*It is generally believed that if these laws are followed, then the land and ecosystem will continue to provide.
*Although they may not use the terms, subsistence people are the original land & resource managers because their lives depended on it.
*Many rural residents commonly obey two sets of laws–those set down by the State and Federal administration, and those handed down from their forefathers as customary law.
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.
