Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act - Use of The Antiquities Act

Use of The Antiquities Act

Under then Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus the Interior Department and NPS became concerned as 1978 dragged on that no action would be taken at all on the "national interest lands" included in the proposals; mining and forestry claims, among other issues, were beginning to be levied against the lands and time was running out. At Secretary Andrus' behest, President Carter used the Antiquities Act to designate the proposed lands as National Monuments by executive order on December 1, 1978.

Carter stated that he had been forced to use the Antiquities Act by Congress's failure to act in a reasonable time, but his actions nevertheless caused wide protest across Alaska. President Carter was burned in effigy in Fairbanks. Residents in the Cantwell area undertook a large act of civil disobedience known as the Great Denali Trespass — they went into the park, fired off guns, made campfires, and conducted various other activities prohibited under Federal regulations. The towns of Eagle and Glennallen, both in the shadow of new monuments, produced official proclamations stating that the towns would not support NPS authorities, not enforce NPS regulations, and would shelter individuals who broke the regulations.

Though these protests continued for some time, the designation of the monuments broke the legislative opposition to ANILCA. Some in Congress, and various oil and gas industry, and other development interest, continued to oppose passage of the bill, but in the wake of Carter's proclamations most opponents recognized the need to work toward passage of an acceptable bill, rather than no bill at all. However, in 1978, 75 seats in the House of Representatives had changed hands, producing a much more conservative body than the one that had supported Carter's use of the Antiquities Act. Proponents were forced to continue to work compromises, and the bill's passage was further delayed.