<\/a>President Jimmy Carter signs the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act on Dec. 2, 1980. (Photo courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Today, about a month after Boelman’s lecture, is the official national day of mourning for Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States. He died Dec. 29, 2024, at age 100.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
When he was 56, in December 1980, Carter signed into law the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Ronald Reagan had walloped Carter in the election a few weeks before. But Carter changed the map of Alaska in a big way on his way out.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
One of his final signatures as president made it more likely that in spring 2025 the kinglet can fly from Texas and still land in the Alaska spruce in which its great-great-great grandmother built a nest and laid her eggs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
By signing that one act into federal law, Carter ended up protecting almost half of the land area (43 percent) of this giant state, with multiple new national conservation units, including parks, wildlife refuges and monuments.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“In Alaska, we have a unique opportunity to balance the development of our vital resources required for continued economic growth with protection of our natural environment,” Carter said in December 1980 to a reporter for the Washington Post. “We have the imagination and the will as a people to both develop our last great natural frontier and also preserve its priceless beauty for our children and grandchildren.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
This was not one of those last-minute stabs at legacy building. Carter was a fan of Alaska. He had a map of the state tacked up in his office for much of his four-year term. He slept on the ground here. He felt the bend of his fly rod while he stood in Alaska waters.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Carter’s foresight — and the immense work of many professionals who drew up proposals for land worthy of protecting — preceded environmental changes that have since come to roost.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Among them is the loss of almost 3 billion birds from the U.S. and Canada since 1970. And the crash of salmon numbers in Alaska’s largest waterways, to the point where subsistence fishermen are no longer allowed to catch them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Alaska, however, is still rich in bugs. Unlike in places like Germany, where scientists recently documented a three-quarters reduction in numbers of insects, Alaska still hosts healthy populations. Entomologist Derek Sikes said that Alaska is almost 200 years behind the Lower 48 and the Tropics in regard to habitat degradation.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t