U.S. Supreme Court rules for moose-hunter over Alaska park access
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled for the second time in three years in favor of an moose hunter over his challenge to a federal ban on hovercraft on National Park Service land in Alaska in a case involving federal control of public lands.
The court in a unanimous decision handed a victory to hunter John Sturgeon, who park rangers had prevented from riding his hovercraft on a river through a federal preserve to reach remote moose-hunting grounds in the northernmost U.S. state.
People in some parts of the United States, especially western states, have complained about too much federal control of public lands.
In March 2016, when the case first reached the Supreme Court, the justices ruled unanimously against the federal government and directed the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling against Sturgeon. But the 9th Circuit in 2017 again ruled in favor of the government, prompting Sturgeon to appeal.
Sturgeon was traveling on the Nation River in 2007 in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve when park rangers detained him, saying he could not use his hovercraft. Sturgeon argued that the regulation banning hovercraft in federal parks and preserves had no force in Alaska because the river fell under the jurisdiction of the state, which allows hovercraft.
The state of Alaska supported Sturgeon, noting that Congress in 1980 specifically limited National Park Service jurisdiction over land within a conservation area that is not federally owned. The nationwide rule regarding hovercraft, which travel on a cushion of air, dates to 1996.
Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham
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