The state of Alaska has launched the opening salvo in a border dispute with the federal government over the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. At stake is a 20 thousand acre wedge of land that the federal government counts as part of ANWR. But in a letter to the BLM today, the state asserts the government has mapped ANWR incorrectly. The state says the wedge of land between the Canning and the Staines River is actually outside the refuge, according to a 1960 legal description of the refuge border.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org.