National Park Service photograph, Dr. Carol Ann Woody
Congress recognized the importance of local input and participation in managing subsistence on National Park Service lands and included provisions in ANILCA. Section 808 requires the NPS to establish subsistence resource commissions to provide local knowledge and perspectives on regulatory proposals, policies, and management plans for each new park and monument created by ANILCA, including the Aniakchak National Monument.
These commissions are a key element of NPS subsistence management and provide a direct link between subsistence users, park superintendents and subsistence managers. They are also unique to the NPS with respect to other federal public lands in Alaska - of all the conservation units created by ANILCA, NPS parks and monuments have advisory bodies specifically devoted to subsistence issues.
NPS photo
The SRCs are composed of nine members: three appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, three by the Governor of the State of Alaska, and three by the Regional Advisory Council(s) in that area/region. The SRCs connect local rural residents who rely on park and monument resources for subsistence to the larger Federal Subsistence Management Program.
The SRCs were originally tasked with development of a hunting plan to guide the management of subsistence hunting in each park and monument where subsistence uses were authorized. However, the expansion of the Federal Subsistence Management Program into areas such as subsistence fisheries management has broadened SRC participation in subsistence management processed on NPS lands.
As the Federal Subsistence Management Program has evolved, superintendents have come to rely on parkand monument SRCs to provide input on subsistence issues affecting preserve areas and as a key source of local and traditional ecological knowledge.
Last updated: January 11, 2024