00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 31                                                                                        
01 Relating to subsistence activities of urban Alaska Natives under the Alaska                                             
02 National Interest Lands Conservation Act.                                                                               
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
04  WHEREAS a large proportion of Alaska Natives reside in urban areas of Alaska; and                                    
05  WHEREAS subsistence uses of wild renewable resources is essential for the physical,                                  
06 economic, traditional, social, and cultural existence of urban Alaska Natives, just as they are                         
07 for rural Alaska residents; and                                                                                         
08  WHEREAS the federal subsistence preference established under Title VIII, Alaska                                      
09 National Interest Lands Conservation Act (P.L. 96-487), as applied, denies urban Alaska                                 
10 Natives an opportunity to participate in subsistence activities on the same basis as rural Alaska                       
11 residents;                                                                                                              
12  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                           
13 Congress of the United States to clarify whether it truly intended to deny Alaska Natives                               
14 residing in urban areas of Alaska the opportunity to engage in subsistence activities on the                            

01 same basis as rural Alaska residents when it passed Title VIII, Alaska National Interest Lands                          
02 Conservation Act (P.L. 96-487).                                                                                         
03  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President                                
04 of the United States and President of the United States Senate; the Honorable Strom                                     
05 Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis                                    
06 Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and to the Honorable Ted                                
07 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                  
08 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.