Statement from Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) established more National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and Wilderness Areas than any in history and has been called our country’s most significant conservation law. It was my honor to work with Congress and citizens throughout our great nation on the passage of ANILCA. 

The goal of ANILCA was to establish and enhance the conservation and subsistence values of over 100 million acres of national public lands, while striking a careful and lasting balance between development and protection. 

The split-panel Circuit Court decision in Friends of Alaska Nat’l Wildlife Refuges v. Haaland does not reflect that balance. It is overbroad and permits the Secretary of Interior to undo Congressionally designated wilderness. Unless reversed, it would open tens of millions of acres of public lands for adverse development.

I am asking the Ninth Circuit to review the decision and to defend the unrivaled wilderness in the national public lands of Alaska.

Contact: Matthew De Galan, matthew.degalan@cartercenter.org

Related Resource:

Read President Carter's full amicus brief: Brief of Jimmy Carter as Amicus Curiae in Support of the Petition for Rehearing En Banc (PDF)

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The Carter Center
Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.