49–010 

Calendar No. 211 

114TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 114–131 

JAY S. HAMMOND WILDERNESS ACT 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015.—Ordered to be printed 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 873] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 873) to designate the wilderness within the 

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in the State of Alaska as 

the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area, having considered the 

same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

The amendment is as follows: 

In paragraph 25 of Section 2, strike ‘‘and Dana,’’ and insert 

‘‘Dana, and Wendy’’. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of S. 873 is to designate the existing wilderness area 

in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Southwest Alaska as 

the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area in honor of the former Governor of Alaska Jay S. Hammond. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, established by Congress 

in 1980 in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 

(ANILCA, Public Law 96–487, § 201(7)(a); 16 U.S.C. 410hh(7)(a)), 

preserves and protects some 3,653,000 acres of Southwest Alaska 

on the western shore of Cook Inlet as a national park and preserve. 

Although occupied by Alaska Natives for centuries, the area was 

first explored by Russian explorers after 1741. Russian fur hunters 

plundered villages in the area in 1792. Natives retaliated and destroyed a Russian trading post on Iliamna Lake in 1800. Relations 

over the next 20 years stabilized, and Russian Orthodox missionVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Sep 13, 2015 Jkt 049010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR131.XXX SR131

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aries began to visit and convert Alaska Natives in the area by the 

1830s. 

After the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, 

Charles Leslie McKay became the first Euro-American to explore 

the area in 1881, collecting artifacts for the Smithsonian Institution. In 1891, a party led by explorer Alfred B. Schanz again traveled through the area. Included in the Schanz party was John W. 

Clark, a representative of the Alaska Commercial Company. The 

Schanz party renamed the lake from its native Dena’ina name, 

Qiz’jeh Vena—‘‘the lake where many people gather’’—to Lake Clark 

to honor John Clark. 

The first permanent non-Native resident, Brown Carlson, a trapper, moved to the area in 1903. With the advent of the float airplane in 1930, more non-Native residents moved in and settled 

around the Port Alsworth area. One early settler was Jay Sterner 

Hammond. Hammond was a former petroleum engineer born in 

New York, a U.S. Marines Corps fighter pilot serving in China and 

the South Pacific in World War II, and a settler to Alaska who arrived when it was a territory in 1947. After the war, Hammond 

studied biological sciences and graduated from the University of 

Alaska Fairbanks in 1949. In 1950, the part-time pilot, trapper, 

and guide became a biologist/field agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was stationed in Southwest Alaska. He paddled the 

entire shoreline of the 45-mile-long Lake Clark and selected a 

homestead where he built a cabin. This homestead served as his 

primary residence for nearly 55 years until his death in 2005. 

Hammond, besides being a biologist and later a game guide, also 

entered politics when Alaska became a State in 1959. He served 

three terms in the State House, two terms in the State Senate, and 

was later elected Mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough in 1972, after 

serving as its manager. He was then elected Governor of the State 

of Alaska in 1974 and was reelected in 1978. 

During his two terms, he opposed oil leasing in the Kachemak 

Bay area of Cook Inlet, opposed construction of a proposed Ramparts hydroelectric dam across the Yukon River, supported the congressional creation of a 200-mile fisheries conservation zone, proposed a state limited-entry fisheries regime, proposed and oversaw 

the creation of the nation’s largest state park, the 1.6-million-acre 

Wood Tikchik State Park to the southwest of Lake Clark, and was 

Governor when Congress passed the Alaska National Interest 

Lands Conservation Act in 1980. That Act added 104 million acres 

of land as national parks, preserves, refuges, monuments, wild and 

scenic rivers, and wilderness in Alaska, including creating Lake 

Clark National Park and Preserve of which 2.6 million acres were 

designated as wilderness. Hammond’s homestead is located inside 

the boundary of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The bill 

would name the 2.6 million-acre wilderness area in the Park to 

honor Hammond. 

Although within a national park it is rare to permanently commemorate geographic features in memory of a person, Hammond’s 

contributions and connection to the Lake Clark National Park and 

Preserve are exceptionally noteworthy and provide a compelling 

justification for this recognition. 


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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Senator Murkowski introduced S. 873 on March 26, 2015. The 

bill was co-sponsored by Senator Sullivan of Alaska. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 873 on June 10, 

2015. 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open 

business session on July 30, 2015, and ordered S. 873 favorably reported, as amended. 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 

open business session on July 30, 2015, by a majority voice vote of 

a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 873, if 

amended as described herein. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1 contains the short title, the ‘‘Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act.’’ 

Section 2 contains the findings. 

Section 3 designates the approximately 2,600,000 acres of existing wilderness in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve as the 

Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area and deems any reference to the 

wilderness area in any law, map, regulation, document, paper, or 

other record to be a reference to the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness 

Area. On a going-forward basis, the National Park Service will 

amend maps, regulations, documents, papers or any other record to 

reflect its designation as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of costs of this measure has been provided 

by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 873—Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act 

S. 873 would designate the 2.6 million acres of wilderness in the 

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve as the Jay S. Hammond 

Wilderness in honor of Alaska’s fourth governor. The wilderness 

represents about 65 percent of Lake Clark’s 4 million acres. 

Based on information from the National Park Service on the cost 

of changing the name of a wilderness area, CBO estimates that S. 

873 would have no significant effect on discretionary spending because revising federal maps and signs to reflect the new name 

would be done in conjunction with scheduled reprinting and other 

routine maintenance. 

Enacting S. 873 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

S. 873 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not 

affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Marin Burnett. The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant 

Director for Budget Analysis. 


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REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 873. 

The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing 

Government-established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

No personal information would be collected in administering the 

provision. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 873, as ordered reported. 

CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

S. 873, as ordered reported, does not contain any congressionally 

directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The testimony provided by the Department of Interior at the 

June 10, 2015, National Parks Subcommittee hearing on S. 873 follows: 

STATEMENT OF VICTOR KNOX, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PARK

PLANNING, FACILITIES AND LANDS, NATIONAL PARK

SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present 

the Department of the Interior’s views on S. 873, a bill to 

designate the wilderness within the Lake Clark National 

Park and Preserve in the State of Alaska as the Jay S. 

Hammond Wilderness Area. 

The Department supports S. 873, which would designate 

the approximately 2.6 million acres of National Wilderness 

Preservation System land located within the Lake Clark 

National Park and Preserve as the ‘‘Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area.’’ This designation is a fitting and appropriate way to recognize Hammond’s significant contributions to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 

Act (ANILCA), the National Park System, and Lake Clark 

National Park and Preserve, which was an important part 

of an extraordinary legacy of public service. 

In 1946, following his military service as a fighter pilot 

during World War II, Jay Hammond came to Alaska and 

became a bush pilot, guide and trapper. In 1949, Hammond graduated from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 

and went to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

As a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee, Hammond 

conducted wildlife surveys of the Lake Clark area and located a homestead along Lake Clark. He lived with his 

wife Bella in their lakeside homestead from about 1982 

until his death on August 2, 2005. Bella still resides in the 

homestead and enjoys the splendid views of the wilderness 

area. 


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In 1959, Hammond was elected to the state legislature 

and served several terms before being elected as a state 

senator in 1967. From 1972 to 1974, Hammond was the 

mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough. In 1974, he was elected 

Governor of Alaska, and served the state in that role until 

1982. During his tenure, he oversaw the building and the 

opening of the Alaska Pipeline and preserved a large portion of the oil lease revenues in the form of a Permanent 

Fund which has been in existence for three decades. As a 

governor who sought to balance the development of Alaska’s energy resources with the conservation of the state’s 

vast untouched natural resources, he worked with the Federal government to achieve enactment of the legislation 

that became ANILCA. 

ANILCA protected 104 million acres of land. It added 

more than 40 million acres in 10 new units of the National 

Park System, including the 3.86 million-acre Lake Clark 

National Park and Preserve. The law also designated the 

2.6 million acres of wilderness within Lake Clark National 

Park and Preserve. Governor Hammond later said that 

what President Carter had done with the signing of 

ANILCA was ‘‘locking Alaska open’’ for future generations 

of Americans to enjoy and preserve for all time. 

The National Park Service Management Policies 2006 

states that ‘‘to be permanently commemorated in a national park is a high honor, affording a degree of recognition that implies national importance.’’ The policies support the commemorative naming of national park resources only in cases where there is a compelling justification for the recognition. In general, a compelling justification involves an association between the park and the person that is of exceptional importance, as well as a lapse of 

at least five years since the person’s death. The designation of wilderness within Lake Clark National Park and 

Preserve in honor of Jay S. Hammond meets these criteria. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony, and I would 

be happy to answer any questions you or other members 

may have. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no changes in existing law are made by the bill as ordered reported. 

Æ 


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