Navigable Waters Lawsuit Working Way Through Courts

An Alaska case challenging National Park Service authority is working its way through the courts.  Central resident Jim Wilde is appealing his misdemeanor conviction stemming from a 2010 run in with park rangers during a boat safety check on the Yukon River.  The appeal challenges the Park Service’s authority to police navigable waters.  Wilde’s attorney Bill Satterberg of Fairbanks says the appeal filed in the 9th Circuit Court in January has been thrown back to a lower court.

Jim Wilde refused to cooperate with the rangers who were trying to do a safety inspection on his river boat, where it passes through the Yukon Charley National Preserve.  Navigable rivers like the Yukon are generally under state jurisdiction, but courts have upheld some national park service regulatory authority, where rivers pass through federal parks and preserves.

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Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.

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