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“It is critical that Sealaska complete its remaining land entitlement under ANCSA in order to continue to meet the economic, social and cultural needs of its Native shareholders, and of the Native community throughout Alaska.” – Rep. Don Young

            Bipartisan legislation that will allow the Sealaska Native Corporation to receive its remaining land conveyance under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971 has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Alaska Congressman Don Young (R).

            Young, the Ranking Member on the House Natural Resources Committee, introduced “The Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization Act” (H.R. 3560) along with cosponsors Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) and Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa).

“This legislation will redress the inequitable treatment of the Native Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska – Sealaska Corporation - by allowing it to select its remaining land entitlement under Section 14 of ANCSA from designated federal land in Southeast Alaska,” Young said.

“Congress enacted ANCSA in 1971 to recognize and settle the aboriginal claims of Alaska Natives to the lands that Alaska Natives had used since time immemorial for traditional, cultural, and spiritual purposes.  ANCSA allocated 44 million acres and nearly $1 billion to Alaska’s Native people, to be managed by the 12 Regional Corporations, including Sealaska, and more than 200 Village Corporations.  While Sealaska is one of the Regional Corporations with the largest number of Native shareholders, with 21 percent of all original Native shareholders, Sealaska received the smallest Regional Corporation land settlement – less than one percent of the total of all ANCSA lands. 

“ANCSA declared that the land settlement ‘should be accomplished rapidly, with certainty [and] in conformity with the real economic and social needs of [Alaska] Natives…’.  However, after more than 35 years since the passage of ANSCA, Sealaska has still not received conveyance of its full land entitlement.  As a result of its small land entitlement, it is critical that Sealaska complete its remaining land entitlement under ANCSA in order to continue to meet the economic, social and cultural needs of its Native shareholders, and of the Native community throughout Alaska,” Young said.

Sealaska Is Eligible For Up To 85,000 Acres To Fulfill ANCSA Requirement

The Bureau of Land Management projects that Sealaska is entitled to receive between 355,000 and 375,000 acres pursuant to ANCSA.  To date, Sealaska has secured conveyance of 290,000 acres.  Accordingly, there are up to 85,000 acres remaining to be conveyed.   ANCSA, however, limits Sealaska land selections to withdrawal areas surrounding certain Native villages in Southeast Alaska.

“The problem is that there are no lands remaining in these withdrawal areas that meet Sealaska’s traditional, cultural, historic, or socioeconomic needs, and certain of those lands should more appropriately remain in public ownership,” Young said.  “The selection limitations preclude Sealaska from using any of its remaining ANCSA land settlement to select places of sacred, cultural, traditional, and historic significance located outside the withdrawal areas that are critical to facilitate the perpetuation and preservation of Alaska Native culture and history.

“Moreover, selection from the withdrawal areas would not allow Sealaska to meet the purposes of ANCSA – to create continued economic opportunities for the Native people of Southeast Alaska.  Further, more than 40 percent of the original withdrawal areas are salt water and, therefore, not available for selection,” Young said.

Sealaska Has Worked To Provide Significant Economic Benefits Despite 36 Year Delay In Receiving Full Land Conveyance

Despite the small land base in comparison to all other Regional Corporations, Sealaska has provided significant economic benefits to not only Sealaska Native shareholders, but also to the other Native Corporations throughout Alaska.  Pursuant to a revenue sharing provision in ANCSA, Sealaska distributes considerable revenues derived from its development of its natural resources - more than $300 million between 1971 and 2005 – to the other Native Corporations.

“Unless it is allowed to select land outside of the designated withdrawal areas, Sealaska will not be able to select land that would allow it to maintain its existing resource development and management operations, or provide continued economic opportunities for the Native people of Southeast Alaska and economic benefits to the broader Alaska Native community through the revenue sharing requirements under ANCSA,” Young said.

Young’s legislation presents a solution that would allow Sealaska to complete the conveyance of its land entitlement and enable the federal government to complete its statutory obligation to the Natives of Southeast Alaska, as promised under ANCSA.  The elements of the legislation include the following:

• Sealaska would be authorized to select its remaining ANCSA land entitlement from a pool of land outside the existing withdrawal areas established in ANCSA, a majority of which is on existing forest service roads which has second-growth timber land.
• Sealaska would be authorized to use a majority of its remaining entitlement for economic development opportunities that would benefit its shareholders, the Southeast Alaska economy, and Native shareholders throughout Alaska. 
• The legislation would also allow Sealaska to use a portion of its remaining entitlement for sites with sacred, cultural, traditional, or historic significance and for remote Native Enterprise sites with traditional and recreational use value. 
• The legislation would allow the lands remaining in the withdrawal areas to remain in public ownership, almost all of which are roadless areas, old-growth timber lands, or land with important public interest value.

For more information, access the Committee on Natural Resources’ Minority website at:

http://republicans.resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.shtml

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