"Alaska," the U.S. Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that stripped the National Park Service of authority to regulate rivers that run through its units in the state, "is different."

Little more than a week remains to comment on an environmental assessment the National Park Service has written to ease back on protections for predators in national preserves in Alaska. The Park Service's latest position is a wholesale reversal from where it stood in 2015 when it pushed back against Alaska's requests to allow for the killing of more wolves and bears from national preserves and refused to back down.

National Park Service staff, who have been asked to relax sport hunting regulations for wolves and bears in national preserves in Alaska, are relying on the state of Alaska's position that increased hunting of the predators will not have an overall impact on their populations. But the regulatory changes likely would reduce opportunities for wildlife viewing and degrade wilderness character in the preserves, the Park Service adds in an assessment of the rule changes.

After 11 years of battling the lower courts, an Alaska man will have the U.S. Supreme Court consider whether the National Park Service can deny him the use of his hovercraft on a river in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in Alaska.