Over 130 Alaskans Hired Due to Murkowski Local Hire Efforts
Legislative Fix Gives Upper Hand to Alaskans’ Regional Knowledge
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Lisa Murkowski welcomed news from the Department of the Interior that more than 130 Alaskans are benefiting from a Department-wide local hire program she was able to restore in a recent Department of the Interior spending bill through her role as the top Republican on the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
“On the subcommittee, we worked extremely hard to improve the local-hire program that for years had been bogged down and misinterpreted by federal government bureaucrats in Washington, DC,” said Senator Murkowski. “Today, we see just how impactful that fix was, and how many local Alaskans who live on the lands can use their unique knowledge to benefit their communities.”
Today, Murkowski received word that the National Parks Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management are making the best use of her legislative fix to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and once again hiring over a hundred local Alaskans who best understand the singular issues surrounding living and working on Alaska’s lands.
"We are pleased that we were able to utilize the local hire program to hire over 130 Alaskans this year from local communities to bring their skills and special knowledge to the management of our federal lands in Alaska,” said Pat Pourchot, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska Affairs.
The local-hire program was created in 1980 under ANILCA. In addition to creating or expanding 15 national parks in Alaska – totaling almost 80 million acres – the unique local-hire program was established to allow local residents and communities who have regional and traditional knowledge to enjoy employment and economic benefits from the establishment and enlargement of those new national conservation system units. Changes made to hiring requirements since its creation undermined the local-hire program and hindered the hiring of Alaskans until Senator Murkowski’s recent change was enacted into law.
