The ruling in the Jim Wilde case likely will not be the end of a dispute over regulation of state owned waters inside Alaska National Parks. Wilde’s attorney Bill Satterberg will not comment on the specifics of the case, or a possible appeal, until after Wilde’s Oct. 28 sentencing.
Satterberg unsuccessfully tried to get the charges thrown out early on by challenging Park Service jurisdiction over state waters, a legal battle he says isn’t over.
Meanwhile, the National Park service welcomes this week’s guilty ruling in the Wilde criminal case, which generated ill will among some Interior residents during the last year, especially in the Yukon Charley area community of Eagle. Park Service spokeswoman Morgan Warthin says the Park service does not see the ruling as a vindication of law enforcement some locals have called heavy handed.
Warthin says a procedural change announced this spring, re-focusing Yukon Charley law enforcement on shore, will remain. She says that move reflects safety concerns, not a lack of authority.
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Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
