00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 1                                                                     
01 Urging the United States Congress to remove Land and Water Conservation Fund                                            
02 restrictions on Alaskaland, formerly known as Pioneer Memorial Park.                                                    
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant program was established in                                   
05 1965 to provide funds for the acquisition of land and development of outdoor recreation areas;                          
06 and                                                                                                                     
07       WHEREAS, in 1966, $400,000 in Land and Water Conservation Fund grant money                                      
08 was used toward the development of Alaskaland, then known as Pioneer Memorial Park; and                                 
09       WHEREAS properties acquired or developed with Land and Water Conservation                                       
10 Fund assistance are prohibited from conversion to any use other than public outdoor                                     
11 recreation uses; and                                                                                                    
12       WHEREAS public outdoor recreation is no longer the sole highest and best use of the                             
13 park's 44-acre site; and                                                                                                
14       WHEREAS historical and cultural preservation are equally as important as                                        
15 Alaskaland's primary uses, providing both residents and tourists with a place where the                                 
16 history and cultural heritage of Fairbanks can be preserved and shared; and                                             

01       WHEREAS  the restriction on the use of Land and Water Conservation Fund assisted                                
02 properties is a perpetual restriction that can only be removed by an Act of Congress;                                   
03       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the Alaska                               
04 delegation in Congress to pursue legislation to lift restrictions on the use and development of                         
05 Alaskaland and urges the United States Congress to swiftly approve legislation to remove                                
06 restrictions imposed by the Land and Water Conservation Fund on the use and development                                 
07 of Alaskaland.                                                                                                          
08       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader                            
09 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                               
10 Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable                                
11 Richard A. Gephardt, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to the                                   
12 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                         
13 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.