As Alaska's land-use fight intensified, Jimmy Carter signed a 1980 law protecting 104 million acres, including 57 million designated as wilderness

Jimmy Carter signed ANILCA in 1980, protecting more than 104 million acres in Alaska, including 57 million acres designated as wilderness. On December 2, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed a law that reshaped Alaska's public-land map. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, known as ANILCA, placed more than 104 million acres under conservation protections, including 57 million acres designated as wilderness. The legislation, recorded in the 1980 volume of the United States Statutes at Large, settled a long-running dispute over how much of Alaska's vast federal land should remain protected and how much could be open to development. The final acreage exceeded the 80 million acres contemplated in the 1971 law.Signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980, ANILCA protected more than 104 million acres in Alaska, including 57 million acres of wilderness. The law expanded parks, refuges, forests, and rivers while balancing conservation with resource-development interests. (Wikimedia Commons)The act protected land and water valued for wildlife, subsistence, recreation, science, scenery, and history. It expanded a network of parks, refuges, forests, monuments, conservation areas, and rivers while recognizing Alaska's resource development interests.An issue based on land claims in AlaskaANILCA was a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The legislation addressed land issues involving Alaska Natives and aimed to foster economic development. This act instructed the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw up to 80 million acres of unappropriated federal land for possible incorporation into national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and wild river systems. Section 17(d)(2) of the act became the beginning point of the process, which eventually led to the passage of ANILCA in 1980.As described by the National Park Service, ANILCA went beyond the original 80 million-acre directive, adding more than 100 million acres to conservation system units. Congress identified areas of national significance for wildlife habitat, subsistence, wilderness, recreation, science, scenery, and history. The legislation therefore addressed several competing interests rather than focusing solely on whether Alaska's lands should be preserved or opened to development.The law established or added 13 national parks, 16 wildlife refuges, two national forests, two national monuments, two conservation areas, and 26 wild and scenic rivers. Over 104 million acres of land were protected, while over 57 million acres were designated as wilderness. Wilderness areas constitute the highest level of protection for public lands in the federal system.However, Carter had already advanced conservation efforts in Alaska before 1980, when he designated 11 national monuments under the Antiquities Act. The National Park Service describes his December 1978 proclamations as the most substantial use of the Antiquities Act to expand the National Park System. These designations followed the failure of Congress to pass an Alaska lands conservation bill before the December 1978 deadline. They served as temporary protections while lawmakers continued negotiations over the legislation that eventually became ANILCA.ANILCA added more than 47 million acres to the National Park System, creating new parks and preserves in Alaska. It also barred presidents from expanding the state’s park system by proclamation, giving Congress a central role in future designations. (Wikimedia Commons)Changes brought by ANILCAAccording to Carter's National Park Service biography, ANILCA added more than 47 million acres to the National Park System. This exceeded the nearly 45 million acres assigned to the system through the provisional national monument proclamations and surpassed by nearly 50% the 32.3 million acres proposed seven years earlier. That earlier proposal was part of the federal government's Alaska land-planning process in 1973, before Carter became president in 1977. The act transformed monuments into national parks and preserves, and the latter allows hunting and trapping.Immediately before Carter's December 1978 proclamations, Alaska had one national park, two national monuments, and two national historical parks, according to the National Park Service. After December 1980, it had eight national parks, two national monuments, 10 national preserves, two national historical parks and one wild river. Glacier Bay and Katmai monuments became national parks with adjoining preserves, while Denali National Park was joined by a Denali National Preserve.ANILCA further prohibited expansion of the National Park System in Alaska by presidential proclamation, according to the Park Service. This provision placed a limit on future unilateral expansion and gave Congress a central role in decisions about additional national park designations. It also reflected the compromise behind the legislation, which sought to conserve large tracts of land in an underdeveloped state while accounting for areas with potential for resource development.The law was signed by Carter late in his presidency, on December 2, 1980. Its importance stems from the diversity of the lands protected, which include national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, and wild rivers.The Hindustan Times US Desk brings you the latest news and developments from across the United States. 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