Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§3112 Congressional Statement of Policy

Title 16 › Chapter 51— ALASKA NATIONAL INTEREST LANDS CONSERVATION › Subchapter II— SUBSISTENCE MANAGEMENT AND USE › § 3112

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Public lands in Alaska must be managed so healthy fish and wildlife are conserved and rural people can keep living by subsistence. Management must follow good science and the purposes of the protected areas, and it must try to cause the least harm to rural residents who depend on these resources. If limits are needed to keep a population or subsistence use going, nonwasteful subsistence taking gets priority over other uses. Federal land agencies must work with nearby owners and managers (including Native Corporations), and with appropriate State, Federal, and international partners, unless other laws say otherwise.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §3112

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress that—
(1)consistent with sound management principles, and the conservation of healthy populations of fish and wildlife, the utilization of the public lands in Alaska is to cause the least adverse impact possible on rural residents who depend upon subsistence uses of the resources of such lands; consistent with management of fish and wildlife in accordance with recognized scientific principles and the purposes for each unit established, designated, or expanded by or pursuant to titles II through VII of this Act, the purpose of this subchapter is to provide the opportunity for rural residents engaged in a subsistence way of life to do so;
(2)nonwasteful subsistence uses of fish and wildlife and other renewable resources shall be the priority consumptive uses of all such resources on the public lands of Alaska when it is necessary to restrict taking in order to assure the continued viability of a fish or wildlife population or the continuation of subsistence uses of such population, the taking of such population for nonwasteful subsistence uses shall be given preference on the public lands over other consumptive uses; and
(3)except as otherwise provided by this Act or other Federal laws, Federal land managing agencies, in managing subsistence activities on the public lands and in protecting the continued viability of all wild renewable resources in Alaska, shall cooperate with adjacent landowners and land managers, including Native Corporations, appropriate State and Federal agencies, and other nations.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This Act, referred to in pars. (1) and (3), is Pub. L. 96–487, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2371, known as the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Titles II through VII of this Act enacted sections 410hh to 410hh–5, 460mm to 460mm–3, 539 to 539e, and 1285b of this title, amended section 1274, 1276, 1279, and 1280 of this title, enacted provisions set out as notes under section 668dd, 1132, 1274, and 3145 of this title, and enacted provisions listed in a table of National Monuments Established Under Presidential Proclamation set out under section 320301 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 3101 of this title and Tables.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 3112

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60