II 

Calendar No. 211 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 873 

[Report No. 114–131] 

To designate the wilderness within the Lake Clark National Park and 

Preserve in the State of Alaska as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 26, 2015 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 

Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Jay S. Hammond Wil5 derness Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) on July 21, 1922, Jay Sterner Hammond 

4 was born in Troy, New York; 

5 (2) Hammond studied petroleum engineering at 

6 Penn State University, where he was a member of 

7 the Triangle Fraternity; 

8 (3) Hammond later served as a Marine Corps 

9 fighter pilot, serving— 

10 (A) during World War II with the famous 

11 Black Sheep Squadron in the South Pacific; 

12 and 

13 (B) in China from 1945–1946; 

14 (4) after leaving military service, Hammond 

15 flew to Alaska, where Hammond worked as a Bush 

16 pilot, trapper, guide, and laborer; 

17 (5) a war-related illness caused Hammond to 

18 enroll at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where 

19 Hammond earned his degree in biological sciences in 

20 1949; 

21 (6) after graduating from the University of 

22 Alaska, Fairbanks, Hammond went to work as a bi23 ologist, field agent, and hunter for the United States 

24 Fish and Wildlife Service; 

25 (7) in 1950, Hammond was transferred to 

26 Southwest Alaska, where Hammond— 


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1 (A) conducted predator and prey studies 

2 on the caribou herd of the Alaska Peninsula; 

3 and 

4 (B) conducted fisheries enforcement efforts 

5 out of Dillingham as a pilot; 

6 (8) Hammond— 

7 (A) was 1 of the first people to count 64 

8 brown bears at McNeil River in Southwest 

9 Alaska; and 

10 (B) once recorded nearly 500,000 Black 

11 Brant geese eclipsing the sun at Izembek Bay; 

12 (9) Hammond later cruised the entire shoreline 

13 of 45-mile-long Lake Clark counting wildlife and 

14 finding a future homestead site on the shore of Lake 

15 Clark; 

16 (10) upon Alaska entering the Union in 1959, 

17 Hammond ran and won election to the Alaska State 

18 House of Representatives; 

19 (11) Hammond served as an independent in the 

20 Alaska State House of Representatives from 1959 to 

21 1965; 

22 (12) in 1960, Hammond changed his party af23 filiation to Republican; 


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1 (13) after 3 terms in the Alaska State House 

2 of Representatives, Hammond served as a State sen3 ator from 1967 to 1973; 

4 (14) from 1972 to 1974, Hammond served as 

5 mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough; 

6 (15) during the 1960s and early 1970s, Ham7 mond served as the manager of Bristol Bay Borough 

8 during periods in which the State legislature was not 

9 in session; 

10 (16) in 1974, Hammond was drafted by friends 

11 to run for Governor of Alaska, defeating former Re12 publican Walter J. Hickel in the primary, and de13 feating the first Governor of the State, Democrat 

14 William A. Egan, in the general election; 

15 (17) the 1974 campaign for Governor was 

16 dominated by— 

17 (A) the opposition of Hammond to oil leas18 ing in Kachemak Bay; 

19 (B) concern about State salmon fisheries 

20 and environmental management; and 

21 (C) fear about State overspending after the 

22 discovery of oil on the North Slope; 

23 (18) Hammond— 

24 (A) won the Republican primary for Gov25 ernor in 1974 by 7,874 votes; and 


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1 (B) won the general election for Governor 

2 in 1974 by a mere 221 votes after 2 recounts; 

3 (19) in 1978, Hammond again defeated Walter 

4 J. Hickel in the Republican primary by 98 votes, the 

5 closest margin in a statewide election in the history 

6 of Alaska; 

7 (20) Hammond defeated Walter J. Hickel, a 

8 write-in candidate, and Democrat Chancy Croft in 

9 the 1978 General Election by 16,000 votes; 

10 (21) as Governor, Hammond— 

11 (A) oversaw construction of the Trans12 Alaska Pipeline; 

13 (B) championed the creation of the Alaska 

14 Permanent Fund; 

15 (C) authored the Alaska Permanent Fund 

16 Dividend program, which provides citizens of 

17 Alaska a yearly dividend check from interest 

18 earnings of the State share of petroleum reve19 nues placed in the Alaska Permanent Fund; 

20 (D) won approval of a constitutional budg21 et reserve; 

22 (E) opposed the repeal of the State income 

23 tax; 

24 (F) championed agricultural development 

25 in Interior Alaska; and 


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1 (G) oversaw the purchase of the Alaska 

2 Railroad by the State; 

3 (22) with respect to environmental issues, 

4 Hammond— 

5 (A) opposed construction of a proposed 

6 Ramparts hydroelectric dam on the Yukon 

7 River; 

8 (B) supported the congressional creation of 

9 a 200-mile fisheries zone off the coast of the 

10 State, which improved State fishery stocks; 

11 (C) oversaw the creation of a limited entry 

12 fisheries regime in the State; 

13 (D) oversaw the creation of the largest 

14 State park in the United States, the Wood 

15 Tikchik State Park in Southwest Alaska, which 

16 contains 1,600,000 acres of wilderness; and 

17 (E) in 1980, as Governor, oversaw the en18 actment of the Alaska National Interest Lands 

19 Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), 

20 which— 

21 (i) dissolved the placement of 

22 120,000,000 acres of Alaska into protected 

23 status under chapter 3203 of title 54, 

24 United States Code; 


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1 (ii) designated 104,000,000 acres of 

2 land as units of the National Park System, 

3 units of the National Wildlife Refuge Sys4 tem, National Monuments, components of 

5 the National Wilderness Preservation Sys6 tem, and components of the National Wild 

7 and Scenic Rivers System; 

8 (iii) added 5,500,000 acres in 14 new 

9 units of the National Wilderness Preserva10 tion System; 

11 (iv) added more than 40,000,000 

12 acres in 10 new units of the National Park 

13 System, including the 3,860,000-acre Lake 

14 Clark National Park and Preserve, bring15 ing to 54,000,000 acres the total size of 

16 National Park System holdings in the 

17 State; 

18 (v) added a number of new units of 

19 the National Wildlife Refuge System in the 

20 State, bringing to 19 the number of units 

21 of the National Wildlife Refuge System 

22 covering 76,800,000 acres in the State; 

23 (vi) created 13 components of the Na24 tional Wild and Scenic Rivers System run25 ning 3,131 miles; and 


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1 (vii) resulted in Alaska containing 

2 57,900,000 acres of wilderness; 

3 (23) a talented and prolific writer and poet, 

4 Hammond— 

5 (A) presented to the University of Alaska 

6 Library Archives an impressive collection of 

7 speeches, testimony, notebooks, and papers; and 

8 (B) wrote several books on life in Alaska, 

9 including his first book entitled ‘‘Tales of Alas10 ka’s Bush Rat Governor’’; 

11 (24) Hammond died on August 2, 2005, at age 

12 83, in his sleep, at his homestead at Port Alsworth, 

13 Alaska, after having survived— 

14 (A) 5 plane crashes; and 

15 (B) innumerable close calls with death, in16 cluding during— 

17 (i) Hammond’s first flight to Alaska 

18 and numerous subsequent flights during 

19 Hammond’s 59 years in the State; and 

20 (ii) a fire at the homestead at Lake 

21 Clark; 

22 (25) Hammond was survived by— 

23 (A) his wife, Bella; and 

24 (B) his daughters, Heidi and Dana, Dana, 

25 and Wendy; 


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1 (26) Hammond— 

2 (A) was well-respected for reaching across 

3 the aisle to forge bipartisan alliances; and 

4 (B) enjoyed many close friendships— 

5 (i) with colleagues in both political 

6 parties; and 

7 (ii) members of his staff, who were 

8 deeply loyal to Hammond; and 

9 (27) the designation of the 2,600,000 acres of 

10 wilderness in Lake Clark National Park and Pre11 serve, in which the homestead of Hammond is lo12 cated, would— 

13 (A) honor Hammond; and 

14 (B) be a fitting tribute to the honorable 

15 life and legacy of Hammond, who was described 

16 by the Anchorage Municipal Assembly on Au17 gust 7, 2005, as ‘‘the finest example of a true 

18 public servant . . . there are few men who have 

19 influence through their quiet articulation of 

20 what is right and fair in the way of Jay Ham21 mond’’. 

22 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF JAY S. HAMMOND WILDERNESS 

23 AREA. 

24 (a) DESIGNATION.—The approximately 2,600,000 

25 acres of National Wilderness Preservation System land loVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:27 Sep 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S873.RS S873

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1 cated within the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve 

2 designated by section 201(e)(7)(a) of the Alaska National 

3 Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

4 410hh(e)(7)(a)) shall be known and designated as the 

5 ‘‘Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area’’. 

6 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, map, reg7 ulation, document, paper, or other record of the United 

8 States to the wilderness area referred to in subsection (a) 

9 shall be deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Jay S. Ham10 mond Wilderness Area’’. 


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emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 211 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 873 

[Report No. 114–131] 

A BILL 

To designate the wilderness within the Lake Clark 

ka as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area. National Park and Preserve in the State of AlasSEPTEMBER 9, 2015 

Reported with an amendment 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS