Articles

Property Rights -- Coy Koontz gets paid!!!!  In the "you can't get something for nothing" category, the St. Johns Water Management District finally paid the Coy Koontz estate $602,000 for the temporary taking of the Koontz property. While it was only 22 years late, Coy Koontz has finally been vindicated. As you recall, we took Koontz v. St. John ...

The Supreme Court will soon decide how much control federal agencies can exercise over Alaska's lands and waters. A California-sized chunk of the state sits within federal "conservation system units." These conservation areas include national parks, wildlife refuges, preserves, and so on. Such areas are subject to special federal regulations tha ...

So ruled the Ninth Circuit earlier this month in Sturgeon v. Massica.  Although the case concerned just one National Park Service regulation, its holding applies to a substantial body of land-use regulation. Sturgeon was cited for using a hovercraft within a conservation unit, in violation of National Park Service regulations.  Sturgeon argued, ho ...

The State of Alaska has asked the United States Supreme Court to review a decision of the Ninth Circuit which says that the federal government, instead of the state, has the power to regulate hunting and fishing in navigable waters in Alaska.  PLF has filed an amicus brief in support of Alaska, encouraging the high court to accept the case. As a g ...