LOCKED UP!: A HISTORY OF RESISTANCE TO THE CREATION OF NATIONAL PARKS IN ALASKA By TIMO CHRISTOPHER ALLAN A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of History MAY 2010 © Copyright by TIMO CHRISTOPHER ALLAN, 2010 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by TIMO CHRISTOPHER ALLAN, 2010 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of TIMO CHRISTOPHER ALLAN find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. _________________________________ Orlan J. Svingen, Ph.D., Chair _________________________________ John Kicza, Ph.D. _________________________________ Robert McCoy, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First I would like to thank my partner, Lynn Horvath, for her unwavering support through all of my years of graduate school. Her wise counsel and patience made this project possible. I also want to recognize the efforts of my dissertation committee, particularly Dr. Orlan Svingen whose keen eye and sound advice helped me at every juncture. Lastly, I want to thank my employers at the National Park Service for providing me with the encouragement and work flexibility that made this project much easier than it otherwise might have been. iii LOCKED UP!: A HISTORY OF RESISTANCE TO THE CREATION OF NATIONAL PARKS IN ALASKA ABSTRACT by Timo Christopher Allan, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2010 Chair: Orlan J. Svingen In Alaska few issues inspire as much heated debate as restrictions on the use of public lands. This is particularly true regarding the creation of national parks and their management by the National Park Service. Since Alaska’s earliest years as an American possession, the relationship between the federal government and the residents of Alaska has been a contentious one as local people struggled to satisfy their immediate needs and aspirations while politicians and land managers based in Washington, D.C. selected Alaskan lands in the national interest. This study examines the tumultuous history of the creation of national park units in Alaska, focusing on the conflicts triggered by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, the use of the Antiquities Act to create national monuments in 1978, and the creation of eighty million acres of national parklands by the Alaska National Interest Lands Act in 1980. The study brings to the foreground the voices of protestors who attempted to block the creation of national parks in the state and to resist the management of parks by the National Park Service. Whereas most histories of this period focus on the political struggles between conservationists and Alaskan politicians, this study resurrects a largely undocumented chapter in the history of iv Alaska’s land debate by examining the reactions of Alaskans living near new national parks who launched energetic and sustained protests to protect their way of life. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iv TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................................vi MAPS..................................................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: VOICES FROM THE FRONTIER, 1867-1959.........................................9 CHAPTER 2: NATIVE CLAIMS AND ENVIRONMENTALISM, 1959-1971............ 49 CHAPTER 3: D-2 DEBATE AND NATIONAL MONUMENTS, 1971-1978..............70 CHAPTER 4: URBAN MONUMENT PERIOD PROTESTS, 1978-1980...................105 CHAPTER 5: RURAL MONUMENT PERIOD PROTESTS, 1978-1980...................129 CHAPTER 6: ANICLA AND EARLY PARK MANAGEMENT, 1980-1989 ............169 CHAPTER 7: TOURISM AND ALASKA’S NATIONAL PARKS, 1989-2000 .........199 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................227 FIGURES ........................................................................................................................241 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................260 APPENDIX A .................................................................................................................275 APPENDIX B .................................................................................................................276 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Great Denali-McKinley Trespass, January 13, 1979. Fairbanks Daily News- Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks ............................241 Figure 2: Paul Revere at Great Denali-McKinley Trespass, January 13, 1979. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks........241 Figure 3: Overnighters at Great Denali-McKinley Trespass, January 14, 1979. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks........242 Figure 4: Angry residents hold "Cordova Coal Party," May 4, 1911. Alaska State Library, Jack Allman Papers, ASL-MS220-01-03-01 ....................................................242 Figure 5: Alaska Fever cartoon, June 13, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner............243 Figure 6: Alaska Fever cartoon, June 24, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner............243 Figure 7: Alaska Fever cartoon, June 28, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner............244 Figure 8: Alaska Fever cartoon, July 5, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner ..............244 Figure 9: Alaska Fever cartoon, July 6, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner ..............245 Figure 10: Antiquities Act protest, Fairbanks, December 6, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks..................246 Figure 11: Antiquities Act protest, Fairbanks, December 8, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks..................246 Figure 12: Burning President Carter in effigy, Fairbanks, December 11, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks........247 Figure 13: Antiquities Act protest, Fairbanks, December 12, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks..................247 Figure 14: Antiquities Act protest, Fairbanks, December 12, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks .................248 Figure 15: Antiquites Act protest, Fairbanks, December 12, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks..................248 Figure 16: Advertisement for protest march, December 15, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner .....................................................................................................................249 Figure 17: Advertisement for retail strike, January 11, 1979. Fairbanks Daily News- Miner ...............................................................................................................................249 vii Figure 18: Mike Hartman during hunger strike, Fairbanks, January 16, 1978. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Photography Coll., Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks........250 Figure 19: Eagle Action Together protest T-shirt, circa 1979. National Park Service, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Archives, Fairbanks, Alaska........................251 Figure 20: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................252 Figure 21: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................252 Figure 22: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................253 Figure 23: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................253 Figure 24: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................254 Figure 25: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................254 Figure 26: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................255 Figure 27: Protest sign, Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders ............................255 Figure 28: "Acceptable Monuments," Eagle, circa 1979. Courtesy of Pat Sanders .....256 Figure 29: Alaska Fever cartoon, September 19, 1979. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 256 Figure 30: Alaska Fever cartoon, January 31, 1980. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner..... 257 Figure 31: Alaskan Alpine Club erects protest sign, January 12, 1980. Courtesy of the Alaska Alpine Club, University of Alaska Fairbanks.....................................................257 Figure 32: President Carter signs ANILCA, December 2, 1980. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Digital Library, PH-ANILCA-01 .......................................................258 Figure 33: Joe Vogler's bulldozer in trespass, August 1984. National Park Service, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Archives, Fairbanks, Alaska........................258 Figure 34: Joe Vogler's Delta 3 transporter in trespass, August 1984. National Park Service, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Archives, Fairbanks, Alaska..........259