The Alaska Wolf War: Action on the Prince of Wales Island Complex
Edward A. Fitzgerald
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This Article examines Alaska’s management of the Alexander Archipelago wolf on the Prince of Wales Island Complex, pursuant to constitutional and statutory requirements. It begins by reviewing the history of unsuccessful efforts to declare the wolf a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. It then analyzes Bennett v. State, which focused on the changed management regime and devastating wolf harvest of the 2019–20 season. The Article argues that the district and Alaska Supreme Court’s decisions in the case were flawed because they failed to properly implement the “hard look” doctrine.
A Trainwreck in the Making: The Alaska Railroad Right-of-Way
John W. Pletcher & Mia E. Manney
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This Article argues that the Ninth Circuit erred in Alaska Railroad Corp. v. Flying Crown Subdivision Additions Nos. 1 & 2 Property Owners Ass’n by recognizing an exclusive use easement that permits the Alaska Railroad Corporation to unilaterally exclude private property owners from non-interfering uses of the right-of-way. Drawing on common law easement principles reaffirmed in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, the Article demonstrates that exclusivity must be conferred through specific language in a creating instrument and cannot be implied from federal railroad legislation. The Article calls for legislative reform and remedial judicial interpretation to curtail the ongoing expansion of railroad control over privately owned land and to restore non-interfering use rights to affected property owners.
Protecting Bearded Seals in Alaska: The ESA, Critical Habitat Designations, and Climate Change
Caitlyn Leary
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Rapid climate change in the Arctic has accelerated the loss of sea ice, threatening the survival of one of Alaska’s most vital species: the bearded seal. In 2012, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed the bearded seal as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Ten years later, the agency designated approximately 174 million acres of occupied critical habitat for the seals on the northern coast of Alaska, along the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. NMFS reasoned that a large designation was necessary to account for the dynamic and seasonal nature of sea ice. In 2024, however, the U.S. District Court of Alaska vacated the designation, holding that NMFS failed to adequately explain why the area was “essential” to the conservation of the bearded seal. The district court relied on a flawed reading of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fortunately, in March 2026, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision and reinstated the bearded seals’ critical habitat designation. Still, this evolution reveals a troubling trend in habitat protection and underscores the need for the immediate, proactive protection of our planet’s most vulnerable species from climate change.
Carbon Cash Back: A Green UBI for a Decarbonized Future
Lily Skopp
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This Note supports a framework for climate governance that transforms carbon tax revenues into equal per‑capita cash distributions for all United States residents: a green universal basic income (UBI). It examines how the institutional structure of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) can guide the design of a federal resource‑based dividend. By combining economic analyses of efficiency and distribution with legal scholarship on political salience and administrative design, the Note uses Alaska’s PFD as an empirical case study to connect two often separate literatures. The Note introduces the PFD’s key features—universality, independent fund management, and a narrative of collective resource ownership—and evaluates how those features can inform the design of a federal carbon-dividend system. Although the proposed framework may not represent the theoretically most efficient pathway to decarbonization, it prioritizes political viability and institutional resilience in a fragmented governance environment. In doing so, the Note offers a practical approach for transforming carbon pricing from a politically vulnerable tax into a durable public institution.
