Page:John Sturgeon v. Bert Frost, in his official capacity as Alaska Regional Director of the National Park Service.pdf/36

2 Alaska’s federal park system, not that the Service lacks all authority over the Nation River. A reading of ANILCA §103(c) that left the Service with no power whatsoever over navigable rivers in Alaska’s parks would be untenable in light of ANILCA’s other provisions, which state Congress’ intent that the Service protect those very same rivers. Congress would not have set out this aim and simultaneously deprived the Service of all means to carry out the task.

Properly interpreted, ANILCA §103(c) cannot nullify Congress’ purposes in enacting ANILCA. Even though the Service may not apply its ordinary park rules to non-public areas like the Nation River, two sources of Service authority over navigable rivers remain undisturbed by today’s decision. First, as a default, the Service may well have authority to regulate out-of-park, nonpublic areas in the midst of parklands when doing so is necessary or proper to protect in-park, public areas—for instance, to ban pollution of the Nation River if necessary to preserve habitat on the riverbanks or to ban hovercraft use on that river if needed to protect adjacent public park areas. Nothing in ANILCA removes that power. Second, Congress most likely meant for the Service to retain power to regulate as parklands a particular subset of navigable rivers designated as “Wild and Scenic Rivers,” although that particular authority does not, by its terms, apply to the Nation River.

Because the Court does not address these agency authorities, see ante, at 19, n. 5, 26–27, n. 10, I join its opinion. I also wish to emphasize, however, that the Court’s opinion introduces limitations on—and thus could engender uncertainty regarding—the Service’s authority over navigable rivers that run through Alaska’s parks. If this is not what Congress intended, Congress should amend ANILCA to clarify the scope of the Service’s authority.