Initial Report and Recommendations - Alaska Department of Law

Another resource on economic opportunity in rural Alaska is the U.S.Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Report 05-719 that reviews federalprograms benefiting Alaska Native villages. 342. RemotenessOf all of the states in the United States of America, there is no doubt that Alaskais unique. Geographically, Alaska is by far the largest state, and its coastline is longerthan the coastline of the remaining 49 states combined. Also unique are several aspectsof the transportation system. With a state capital that can be reached only by water or air,the Alaska Marine Highway System (the State-run ferry system) offers an essential linkfor Alaskans. The total inter-city public highway system totals just over 3,600 miles 35and large segments of the State can be reached only by air, water, or, in the winter, snowmachines and dog sleds.In the Congressional language that created the Alaska Rural Justice and LawEnforcement Commission, Congress defined “rural Alaska” as those parts of the Stateoutside of the Municipality of Anchorage, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the KenaiPeninsula Borough, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the City and Borough of Juneau, theSitka Borough, and the Ketchikan Borough. There are 515,369 square miles in thisCongressionally defined “rural Alaska,” which comprises an area larger than Texas, NewMexico, and Arizona combined. The rural area constitutes 90.11 percent of the State butcontains only 19.33 percent of the population, 66.25 percent of which is Native,compared with only 7.70 percent of the urban population. 36 The maps in Appendix Agraphically highlight the comparison of Alaska’s size with that of the Lower 48 states andthe limited highway system in the rural part of the State.It is this massive, sparsely populated, predominately Native, rural Alaska that isthe focus of the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission. The primarymeans of travel in rural Alaska is by air – especially for any emergency law enforcement,judicial, alcohol importation, or domestic violence or child abuse situation, the topics thatthe Alaska Rural Justice Commission was directed to address. In the summer, somevillages can be reached by skiff, and in the winter they can be reached by snow machineor dog sled – but the primary means of transport continues to be by small airplanes.3. Expense“It is very, very crucial that when it’s seen as a line item as transportation costsfor educational opportunities, whether it be for our Elders, for our staff or our council,that that be considered with great weight in Alaska because we are not like any otherState where we can drive by Interstate. Costs for airfare are not cheap in Alaska.”Tom Gambell, Sitka34 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Report 05-719, Alaska Native Villages (August 2005).www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-71935The National Highway System totals 2,113 miles, and the Alaska Highway System totals 1,507 miles,based on 2003 Alaska Certified Public Road Mileage Report, Alaska Department of Transportation andPublic Facilities. This number does include mileage through urban boroughs which were outside thescope of the Commission’s examination of rural Alaska.36Population data from the 2000 U.S. Census.Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission - Page 23