The state and federal governments of Alaska have never coexisted peacefully in the Kuskokwim River. Each has a stake in the management of river, but each has their own priorities. Since the Federal government has filed a suit in the name of the State, the matter has at a crossroads.
The Alaska Federation of Natives is the latest group to stand against the Federal government. A federal judge this week approved the request of AFN to join the matter.
The Kuskokwim has always been a source of salmon for the communities that straddle its shores. A few decades ago the river’s silty waters resulted in one of the biggest King salmon fisheries in the state. It was enough to support both commercial and subsistence fisheries in addition to an abundance of silvers, chum salmon and sockeyes. silvers.
In recent times the numbers of king salmon have plummeted to a level that slowed, and occasionally even shut down subsistence harvests.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stepped into the picture to ensure a subsistence-based rural policy in the lower sections of the Kuskokwim river, which runs through an official wildlife refuge of the federal government.
The state has continued to manage the fisheries downstream, but outside the refuge.
In 2021 the state decided to open all of the river for fishermen who are subsistence for all Alaska residents because the state’s managers believed that there was a surplus of fish during the season. The federal government then filed suit. The state claimed that it had not only strayed from its boundaries and failed provide the rural subsistence priority and infringed the federal law.
AFN claims it wanted to be a part of the federal lawsuit due to the fact that it believes that the state’s actions could undermine subsistence protections provided by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act which is also known as ANILCA.
AFN Legal counsel Nicole Borromeo says the landmark Katie John court case, that affirmed the importance of rural fishing to subsistence fisheries, is at risk because of the state.
“It is more than just challenging Katie John,” Borromeo declared. “The State is asserting in clear phrases the fact that Katie John is no longer an acceptable law.”
Katie John was a Mentasta elder who was successful in suing the state for opening the Copper River to subsistence fishing in the same spot which her family been fishing for generations. It ended up being a lengthy legal battle that dragged for a long time.
“We have fought for the victory. We’ve won,” Borromeo said. “But it seems that the state is yet to decide to get ready to launch a legal assault against the priority for rural areas.”
State Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang claims that it’s the federal government taking the fight and not the State, and is complying with its constitutional obligation to ensure the same access to game and fish, and ensure its rights over navigable waters.
“Well in the event that we had not responded to this, we’d have accepted the possibility it is possible that the federal government can replace the state’s management by bringing in federal management on any part of Alaska which touches Federal Reserve,” Vincent-Lang said, “and it becomes unsustainable.”
In the event that the flows can allow subsistence fishing The state has assumed the control of subsistence fisheries on Lower Kuskokwim. Lower Kuskokwim, which Vincent-Lang claims impacts the overall management of the river.
“They’re mostly managing within the refuge with the purpose of subsistence,” Vincent-Lang said. “But it’s affecting our ability to fulfill the demands of escapements on the river’s upper levels.”
There’s one thing that the states and AFN can agree on, which is that this legal battle has broad implications. Borromeo believes that this case could ultimately have to be taken all up to the U.S. Supreme Court to be settled.
In the absence of that, she adds it is likely that the State will take decisions in the management area that undermine rural development as a priority.
“The State has made it explicit that it will stop only if they get a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court tells that they should,” Borromeo said, “So we’re in need of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Vincent-Lang believes that it could occur.
“I believe that it should be resolved,” he said.
It’s a long-running conflict that’s rooted in an issue that is difficult to resolve conflicts between the Alaska constitution and federal law. The issue can only be resolved with amending the state constitution that is politically beyond reach.
