Conservatives’ long-running effort to end the priority for subsistence fishing on much of Alaska’s waterways ran into a dead end at the U.S. Supreme Court this week, marking their latest failure to overturn the legal precedent set in a series of cases brought by subsistence champion Katie John.
The court on Monday declined to take up the Dunleavy administration’s appeal of a case stemming from a 2021 dispute over the management of salmon on the Kuskokwim River, when the state tried to open it to fishing despite federal managers keeping it closed. That means the federal government’s authority to manage waterways and prioritize subsistence users over sport or commercial fishermen in lean times will remain.
The decision was hailed as a major victory by several Alaska Native groups, including the Alaska Federation of Natives — the state’s largest organization of Alaska Native groups.
“We are deeply gratified by the Court’s decision not to disturb the robust protections that affirm federal subsistence priorities,” said AFN President Ben Mallott in a prepared statement. “This supports the continuity of our rural subsistence rights, which are integral to our cultures, economies, and food security, and affirms the long-standing Katie John line of cases that shape federal subsistence management. We hope that this latest victory will be the final time we are called to defend our fundamental rights from legal attack by the State of Alaska.”
The rural subsistence preference has long been a target of Republican administrations in Alaska. The Alaska Constitution prohibits a subsistence preference, which conflicts with federal law. That’s created a split management of the state’s lands, yielding management decisions that are more conservative than commercial and sport user groups would like.
Gov. Sean Parnell brought a similar appeal as to Dunleavy’s, which was similarly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014. At the time, the decision was hailed as the definitive end of the legal battles over the Katie John cases, a declaration that proved premature.
Even the latest decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to leave in place the Katie John precedent isn’t the end of the efforts to roll back subsistence protections.
In a prepared statement, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said that while the state will “respect the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to not address the legal issues regarding fish and game management,” they would pursue other avenues to take over greater control of the fisheries.
“This said, we will continue to work with the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to ensure the rights Alaska was given under its statehood compact and envisioned under (the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act) are safeguarded,” he said in a statement.
The original dispute stemming from the 2021 opening on the Kuskokwim River was seen as an explicit attempt to force the courts to revisit the Katie John cases.
Meanwhile, the federal government under Trump is coincidentally reviewing its subsistence program at the request of the sport hunting group Safari Club International, which also petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the state’s appeal.
For many, it’s seen not just as a fight over jurisdiction but also as an attack on the traditional and cultural way of life of Alaska Native communities that rely heavily on fishing and hunting.
“The state government really, unfortunately, has attacked not just food security, but the culture and traditions of folks who have been on these lands for thousands of years,” Scott Kendall, an attorney who worked with the Alaska Federation of Natives on the case, told the Anchorage Daily News.
In the big picture, while the Supreme Court’s decision was welcomed by many groups, it serves as a reminder that the fight over subsistence rights is far from over.
“This ‘win’ is more a ‘sigh of relief’ and reminder that we cannot take our way of life for granted,” said AFN Co-Chair Joe Nelson in a statement. “This decision should serve as a call to action to elect more lawmakers and appoint more judges who understand, appreciate, and practice our way of life.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
