(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - U.S. Senator Mark Begich has urged the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture to make a final determination, as authorized under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), that Saxman is a rural community for subsistence purposes.

In a letter to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Begich also asked for expedited adoption of a new regulation for rural determination proposed in April 2014 by the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB).

“The FSB at long last made a common sense decision by proposing significant changes that greatly simplify the rural determination process,” said Begich. “The proposed rule in essence would have the FSB determine which communities in the state are non-rural—meaning that all communities and areas not identified would be considered rural. The proposed rule has numerous advantages over the one currently in place, including removing the fear of rural communities that their rural status might change as a result of a mandatory review every 10 years.”

Referencing the recent lawsuit filed by Saxman to keep its rural status, Begich also urged the secretaries to use their authority to take administrative action “rather than requiring Saxman or your Departments to unnecessarily expend scarce financial resources on litigating Saxman’s right to a subsistence priority.”

In 2006, despite a staff recommendation and overwhelming public support in favor of Saxman retaining its rural status, the FSB decided to group Saxman with Ketchikan, effectively eliminating Saxman’s priority for subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering of the local resources. The DOI and USDA Secretaries at the time held the rule in abeyance for a 10 year period, and also ordered the FSB to engage in a new rulemaking process. In April 2014, the FSB proposed a new rule for rural determination.



Edited by Mary Kauffman

Related News:

Saxman sues federal officials over non-rural status - The Organized Village of Saxman filed a lawsuit July 25th in the U.S. District Court to prevent the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture from implementing a 2007 final rule grouping the rural community of Saxman with the non-rural community of Ketchikan stripping away its rural status. - More...
SitNews - August 06, 2014

On the Web:

August 14, 2014 Letter to DOI Secretary Sally Jewell and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack
http://www.sitnews.us/0814News/082114/Vilsack-Jewel-letter.pdf

Source of News: 

Office of U.S. Senator Mark Begich
www.begich.senate.gov

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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