As many of you will remember we have been having trouble with the National Park Rangers overstepping their bounds and harrassing people. Congressman Don Young has finally stepped up to the plate. He is slow to respond, but once he does he usually gets results. Got this from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. Rog
Don Young takes on National Park Service over Yukon River boater's arrest
by Tim Mowry / tmowry@newsminer.com Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Dec 02, 2010 | 6085 views | 66 | | 16 | |
FAIRBANKS — U.S. Rep. Don Young told the director of the National Park Service on Wednesday that the federal agency is “overreaching” its authority by stopping boaters on the Yukon River for safety checks as they travel through the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
Young met Wednesday with National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis and Alaska Regional Director Sue Masica to discuss “the egregious abuse of power displayed” by park service employees this summer, according to a news release issued by Young’s office.
Young is the latest party to enter the fray on behalf of Jim Wilde, the 70-year-old Central man who was arrested by park service rangers in September during what federal officials say was a routine safety check. Wilde was traveling on the Yukon River within the preserve when two rangers approached his boat and demanded to conduct a safety check.
According to Wilde’s lawyer, Bill Satterberg of Fairbanks, Wilde told the rangers it was unsafe to board a boat in the middle of the river and told them he would go ashore.
As Wilde headed for shore, Satterberg said, rangers brandished a shotgun and pointed it at Wilde, his wife and a 65-year-old friend.
The rangers threw Wilde to the ground just after he set anchor and then handcuffed him and arrested him, Satterberg said. They took him to Eagle and then flew him to Fairbanks, where he was placed in jail for four days. Wilde was charged with four misdemeanors. His trial is set for Jan. 18.
Young, who requested the meeting after learning of Wilde’s arrest, said he “made it very clear” to Jarvis — the former head of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska — that he believes the park service is overstepping its authority under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980.
“I was in Congress when ANILCA was passed, and I believe the park service is blatantly misinterpreting the law regarding jurisdiction over navigable waters,” Young said. “The National Park Service has worked hard to build a rapport with Alaskans, and the rash actions taken by local enforcement authorities only serves to harm that relationship.”
Park service spokesman John Quinley said the agency is still pursuing the case against Wilde and maintains its authority on waters flowing through federal lands.
The park service values good relations with communities, visitors and subsistence users, Quinley said, and Jarvis assured Young the agency will continue “to reach out and engage those folks” with any concerns they have about how the park service is managing the preserve.
According to Young, Jarvis “has assured me that he will work to ensure the NPS officials in Alaska receive proper training in how to co-exist with Alaskans who hunt and sport fish and those that depend on subsistence for their survival, and will investigate this situation further.”
Young said he “will absolutely hold him to that.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski earlier asked the park service for a full review of the incident. Gov. Sean Parnell filed a court brief on Wilde’s behalf. He also asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to amend federal regulations that the park service claims gives the agency jurisdiction on state waterways.
The city council in Eagle, a small town that borders the Yukon-Charley preserve near the Canada border, also recently wrote a letter to the park service, Gov. Sean Parnell and Interior lawmakers, both federal and state, complaining about heavy-handed treatment by rangers.
Young threatened to use his power as a member of the incoming majority on the House Natural Resources Committee.
“I will have no qualms about bringing him and his team before the committee time and time again until it is resolved,” Young said in the news release.
Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.
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