Northern Landscapes

POSTSCRIPT

ALASKA IN THE 1980S AND BEYOND

Almost exactly five years after the White House ceremony celebrating the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), Alaska Governor Bill Sheffield, Hammond’s successor, hosted a reception to commemorate it, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The occasion provided an opportunity to reflect on those events, which bracketed the most critical years of Alaska’s growth and the most sweeping changes in the history of American conservation. Sheffield, a hotel owner and Citizens for the Management of Alaskan Lands backer, described the 1980 act as a sequel to ANWR and a “positive, progressive” conclusion to the process of preserving the ...