For self-determination, like other states, we were given control of fish and game. Over the years, Congress has seen fit to unilaterally take many of these things away, without the agreement of Alaskans. They have violated a compact, which the Interior Department's lawyers now say they can't define. Instead of a total approach, we have conservation units without a plan for access to valuable resources. We have pending federal management of fish and game for subsistence but state management for sustained yield.
All westerners are glad for their franchise to vote.
End colonialism, yes. But return to the root of caring for the total. I still believe that Interior has the greatest federal mandate to care for the commons, America's vast natural resource assets. Public lands, mostly in the west, are the size of six Californias. The continental shelf is much more.