Last week, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland finalized the decision to maintain protections on 28 million acres of public lands in Alaska in an attempt to protection of cultural and livelihood resources, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Haaland’s approval comes in response to the previous administration’s unlawful decision in its final days to end longstanding protections without sufficient analysis of the impacts on subsistence hunting and fishing. This sweeping action would have opened millions of acres of public lands to extractive development activities, such as mining and oil and gas drilling, and removed federal priority for subsistence from millions of acres, according to a press release from the Department of the Interior.
“Tribal consultation must to be treated as a requirement – not an option – when the federal government is making “I am grateful to the team at the Bureau of Land Management for taking the time to ensure that we made this decision with feedback from Alaska Native communities and tribal leaders who shared with us the impacts a potential repeal of the repeals would have on their people,” Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Continuing these essential protections, which have been in place for decades, will ensure continued access to and use of these public lands now and in the future.”
The Bureau of Land Management analyzed a range of alternatives, ranging from partial to full revocation. The BLM’s analysis found that revocation of a of the Conservation measures would likely harm subsistence hunting and fishing in communities that would lose their federal right-of-way over certain areas. This ranges from 44 to 117 communities, depending on the alternative. The The analysis also found that eliminating all or even some of the withdrawals could have lasting negative consequences for nature, vegetation and permafrost.according to the Ministry of the Interior.
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