Alex Wayne Bolt v. United States of America, U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Ptarmigan Co.

O’SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:

We consider whether the annual rec-ordation requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (“FLPMA”) are applicable to mining claims located within national parks.

I

Ptarmigan Company, Inc., is a corporation owned almost exclusively by Kirk Stanley. Ptarmigan owned a number of lode mining claims, the most valuable of which were the unpatented “Eambler Claims” in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve near Nabesna, Alaska.

Under section 314 of FLPMA, codified at 43 U.S.C. § 1744, mining claims must be recorded annually with the Bureau of Land…