Rep. Young meets with park service over Yukon-Charley arrest

According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Congressman Don Young recently sat for a meeting with National Parks Service Director Jon Jarvis and Alaska Regional Director Sue Masica to express his displeasure -- centering on the agency's heavy-handed arrest of a man last summer in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Young called the arrest an "egregious abuse of power" in a statement, and said he told the officials he believes the agency's boating safety checks in the Preserve overstep the authority delineated in 1980's Alaska National Interest Land Claims Act. In the statement, Young also threatened to use his pull as a member of the incoming majority on the House Natural Resources Committee: "I will have no qualms about bringing him and his team before the committee time and time again until it is resolved." The Park Service says it is committed to a good relationship with the local community around the Yukon-Charley, and it maintains its authority over waterways flowing through its lands. A park service spokesman says the agency will train agents more thoroughly about how to co-exist with residents and will continue to reach out to residents for comment on its management. Read much, much more, here.