National Park Service finalizes Alaska wildlife and access rule

The National Park Service published a final rule Monday changing regulations for hunting, fishing, trapping, other harvest activities and public access in Alaska park areas. The rule is scheduled to take effect November 18.

The agency says it restores much of the Alaska-specific framework that operated from 1981 before changes adopted in 2015, 2017 and 2024. According to the rule, it removes a permit requirement for collecting animal parts for subsistence handicrafts, restores public hearings before closures affecting fish and wildlife harvest, and reinstates local notice requirements for rural residents. Interior says state-authorized wildlife harvest methods will again apply in national preserves where consistent with federal law.

The rule says it does not change the federal subsistence priority or the rural preference for qualified users under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. It also says the changes do not expand or restrict the Park Service's closure authority beyond what Congress has provided for Alaska.

The final rule appears in the October 19 Federal Register as document 2026-21299.