There are lots of things I'm thinking about on July 5th. Most of these thoughts, however, do not relate to the details of how one goes about subsistence living on federal land in Alaska.
But for those who have elected such a life, this opinion certainly gives their claims fair treatment. It's super long. Sixty-six single-spaced pages. Describing at length the various rules that apply to how and to what extent the federal government allows rural subsistence existence in Alaska.
I think it'd take a major psychological break for me to ditch everything and live alone in the often-freezing depths of rural Alaska. But were I to do so, Judge Kleinfeld tells me how it'd work.
Thanks.
P.S. - Am I mistaken, or are a large fraction of the big "Alaska" cases written by Judge Kleinfeld? I know that panel assignments are supposedly (largely) random. I would also not be surprised if Judge Kleinfeld wanted to take -- and write substantial opinions in -- big-ticket Alaska cases, and the other panel members were generally willing to let him to do. So that may explain a big part of it. But I swear that at least three-quarters of the Alaska-centric opinions that I recall offhand have Kleinfeld as the author.
The guy has definitely made his impact on the state.
