SC Alaska News

U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, along with Representative Nick Begich, all Republicans from Alaska, have reintroduced legislation aimed at addressing the exclusion of five Alaska Native communities—Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee—from land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA).

The proposed measure, called the Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, would amend ANCSA to allow these communities to form urban corporations and receive 23,040 acres each in federal land. When ANCSA was enacted in 1971 to resolve Indigenous land claims across Alaska by dividing 44 million acres among more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations, these five Southeast communities were not included.

Unlike other areas in Southeast Alaska where ANCSA urban corporations were established and given access to land and economic opportunities, residents of the excluded communities have not had similar benefits.

Senators Murkowski and Sullivan filed the bill in the Senate; Representative Begich plans to introduce it in the House when Congress is back in session.

“It is long past time that we acknowledge that these five communities were wrongfully excluded from ANCSA. Our Landless legislation would remedy this half-century injustice. I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to look at the work that has gone into this bill to strike a balance on these land selections, and help us get this done, so we can finally resolve these land claims under ANCSA in Southeast Alaska,” said Senator Murkowski.

“For over 50 years, Alaska Native residents in Southeast Alaska have been unfairly excluded from the lands and opportunities afforded under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,” said Senator Sullivan. “This exclusion is a lingering injustice that Congress must finally correct. I urge my colleagues to join the Alaska delegation and move swiftly to deliver this long-overdue recognition and fairness to these communities.”

“For over fifty years, Alaska Native communities in Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee missed the opportunity to build the same economic future that ANCSA afforded to other Alaska Native communities. ANCSA represented a landmark framework ensuring Alaska Native communities were provided the resources necessary for achieving self-determination and economic prosperity. Introduced in the House as the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act, these efforts make clear that Alaska’s congressional delegation is unified in addressing the historic oversight that excluded these five communities and is working to ensure they are provided the same opportunity for self-determination as has been provided to other Alaska Native communities through ANCSA,” said Congressman Begich.

The lands identified for transfer through this legislation were selected after consultation with local stakeholders including community members from Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Tenakee; representatives from affected areas; local governments; U.S. Forest Service officials; as well as public input processes intended to consider existing uses of those lands.

Each community would receive approximately one township or 23,040 acres—a total transfer of about 115,000 acres—which represents less than one percent of Tongass National Forest’s total area of about 17 million acres.

Efforts by members of Congress from Alaska regarding “landless” status date back several decades. Since at least the early 1990s there have been legislative attempts on behalf of these five Southeast Alaskan groups; Congressman Don Young previously led many such initiatives before his passing. In recent years proposals included mapped selections for clarity on which parcels would be conveyed if legislation passed; most recently—in December 2023—the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee reported favorably on similar efforts by today’s sponsors.

Maps detailing potential land transfers are available online via [this link](https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/AK%20Landless%20Selection%20Maps.pdf), while full legislative text can be accessed [here](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1889/text).