ANILCA created a massive federal land framework and embedded a rural subsistence priority on federal public lands.
Congress enacted ANILCA, expanding/creating conservation system units and establishing a federal framework that heavily influenced access, land management, and subsistence practices. It introduced a durable “federal overlay” to Alaska’s land governance—layering rules and agencies over landscapes that Alaska Native people rely on.
This is the origin point for modern confusion: ANCSA corporations operate under state corporate law, but subsistence and vast land management decisions operate under federal land law—often affecting the same communities and expectations.