This bill recognizes five previously excluded Southeast Alaska Native communities, allows them to form Urban Corporations, and grants them specific land entitlements and compensation under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Nicholas Begich
Representative
AK
This bill recognizes five previously excluded Southeast Alaska Native communities—Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell—under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. It authorizes these communities to form new Urban Corporations and grants them specific entitlements of federal land. The legislation also establishes rules for shareholder eligibility and protects existing distribution rights for affected Alaska Natives.
Alaska Native Recognition Bill Grants 115,000 Acres to Five Southeast Communities by 2027
For over 50 years, a handful of Southeast Alaska communities have been stuck in a legal blind spot. When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed in 1971, the Native residents of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell were left out of the loop. This bill finally hits the 'reset' button, allowing these five communities to form their own Urban Corporations and claim about 23,040 acres of federal land each—roughly the size of a small city for every group. It’s a massive transfer of land and resources intended to fix a decades-old clerical snub.
The New Corporate Landscape
This isn't just about recognition; it’s about tangible assets. Each eligible resident will receive 100 shares in their new Urban Corporation. For someone living in Wrangell or Ketchikan, this means a direct stake in a company that owns thousands of acres of local land. The bill also ensures that these new shareholders don't lose out on existing benefits; they’ll still get their 'at-large' checks from the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska. It’s essentially creating a new layer of local economic power that should have been there since the 70s.
Land, Access, and the Fine Print
The government has a two-year deadline to start handing over the keys to these 115,000 total acres. But if you’re a local hunter or hiker, don't worry about 'No Trespassing' signs just yet. The bill specifically mandates that these lands stay open for subsistence use and noncommercial recreation. However, there is a bit of a gray area: the new corporations can slap 'reasonable restrictions' on that access for safety or environmental reasons. It’s a balancing act—giving Native communities control over their ancestral lands while trying to keep the trails open for the weekend warrior.
Roads and Local Business Ripples
If you run a guiding or outfitting business in the Tongass National Forest, your current federal permits will technically end when the land moves to the corporations. The bill protects you in the short term by requiring the new owners to give you a 10-year renewal under your current terms, but after that, you’ll be sitting at a new negotiating table. There’s also a complex 'mutual use' requirement for roads. The Forest Service and the new corporations have to play nice and share their road networks, ensuring that loggers, tourists, and locals can still get from point A to point B without hitting a bureaucratic dead end.