UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Signed into law in December 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) reclassified more than 104 million acres of Alaska into new or expanded parks and refuges. The act nearly doubled the sizes of the National Park System and National Wildlife Refuge System, tripled the size of the National Wilderness Preservation System, and set aside 25 rivers in the Wild and Scenic River System. For the first time in history the act included entire ecosystems in protected status.
The civic process leading up to the legislation included comprehensive public hearings carried out under the auspices of the Alaska Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission that were recorded on black & white videotape. Alaska Natives, non-native Alaska residents and a sample of concerned Americans living outside Alaska testified during the hearings. Alaska Native speakers at 11 locations testified through interpreters.
Conservation of wild land has become widely accepted, and the passage of ANILCA was a defining moment in this evolution. Attitudes and opinions expressed in the land-use hearings provide a good picture of public opinion on these matters in 1973.
212 video recordings of varying quality, taped at 31 locations in Alaska and 4 locations outside of Alaska between February and June 1973.
Copies of the hearings are on both VHS and DVD at the Rasmuson Library. They are available for viewing in the library or loan including inter-library loan. An additional set of DVDs is available at the Alaska State Library in Juneau.
Research only - no commercial or production use is allowed.
| Location | Date | Call Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Allakaket* | May 5, 1973 | AAF-2757 thru AAF-2761 |
| Anaktuvuk Pass * | May 12, 1973 |
AAF-2789, AAF-2791, |
| Anchorage | February 12, 1973 | AAF-2889 thru AAF-2894 |
| Anchorage | February 22-23, 1973 | AAF-2895 thru AAF-2901 |
| Anchorage | April 23-24, 1973 | AAF-2904 thru AAF-2909 |
| Anchorage | June 3, 1973 | AAF-2870 thru AAF-2886 |
| Barrow * | May 11, 1973 | AAF-2787 thru AAF-2788 |
| Bethel* | April 30, 1973 | AAF-2716 thru AAF-2720 |
| Copper Center | May 13, 1973 | AAF-2797 thru AAF-2800 |
| Cordova | May 13, 1973 | AAF-2801 thru AAF-2802 |
| Denver | May 25, 1973 | AAF-2840 thru AAF-2849 |
| Dillingham* | April 26, 1973 | AAF-2700 thru AAF-2702 |
| Emmonak* | May 2, 1973 | AAF-2727 thru AAF-2731 |
| Fairbanks | May 17-18, 1973 | AAF-2814 thru AAF-2827 |
| Ft. Yukon | May 4, 1973 |
AAF-2745, |
| Galena | May 2, 1973 | AAF-2732 thru AAF-2737 |
| Holy Cross | April 28, 1973 | AAF-2713 thru AAF-2715 |
| Iliamna | April 25, 1973 | AAF-2692 thru AAF-2696 |
| Juneau | May 16-17, 1973 | AAF-2806 thru AAF-2813 |
| Juneau | February 1974 | AAF-2752 |
| Kenai | April 26, 1973 | AAF-2703 thru AAF-2706 |
| Kiana* | May 10, 1973 | AAF-2782 thru AAF-2785 |
| King Cove | May 10, 1973 | AAF-2786 |
| Kodiak | May 9, 1973 | AAF-2774 thru AAF-2776 |
| Kotzebue* | May 9, 1973 | AAF-2777 thru AAF-2781 |
| McGrath | May 1, 1973 |
AAF-2721 thru AAF-2726 |
| Naknek | May 4, 1973 | AAF-2754 thru AAF-2756 |
| Nome | May 7, 1973 | AAF-2762 thru AAF-2768 |
| Northway | May 16, 1973 |
AAF-2804 thru AAF-2805 |
| San Francisco | May 22, 1973 |
AAF-2828 thru AAF-2839 |
| Seattle | May 15-26, 1973 | AAF-2850 thru AAF-2857 |
| Seward | April 23, 1973 | AAF-2697 thru AAF-2699 |
| Shishmaref * | May 8-9, 1973 |
AAF-2769 thru AAF-2773 |
| Tanunak* | April 27, 1973 |
AAF-2707 thru AAF-2709 |
| Togiak * | May 3, 1973 | AAF-2738 thru AAF-2744 |
| Tok | June 18, 1973 | AAF-2887 thru AAF-2888 |
| Valdez | April 27, 1973 |
AAF-2746, |
| Washington D.C. | May 30, 1973 | AAF-2858 thru AAF-2868 |
| Yakutat | May 15, 1973 | AAF-2803 |
* Denotes meetings with indigenous speakers using interpreters translating their testimony for the committee
Preservation and access to this material was made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant number 2004-073, and matching funds from the Rasmuson Foundation.
Completed December 2005