Southeast Alaska: Legislative Hearing Held for Landless Native Communities of Southeast Alaska By MARY KAUFFMAN - Alaska Congressman Don Young (R-AK), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs, held a hearing Wednesday on legislation he introduced to resolve the longstanding issue facing “landless” Alaska Natives from the southeast communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee and Wrangell.

Congressman Young poses with Leo Barlow, Wrangell representative for the Southeast Alaska Landless Corporation (SALC) pictured on the right, and Sealaska Director Richard Rinehart (Seattle) pictured on the left.
Photograph courtesy Sealaska

The Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act (H.R. 2386) would provide Alaska Native residents of these Southeast Alaska Native communities the same 23,000 acres granted to other Alaska Native communities in Southeast under ANCSA.

“These Alaska Natives were denied the opportunity to establish village or urban corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) process in 1971,” said Congressman Don Young in his opening statement. “Natives who enrolled in these communities became at-large shareholders in their Southeast Alaska regional corporation, but were denied aboriginal rights to land and local resources that other village and urban corporations received under ANCSA. Unfortunately, ANCSA prohibits these communities from obtaining an administrative or judicial solution, which is why I’ve made legislative efforts to provide these groups with the lands and rights they deserve.”

The Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act, would recognize five Southeast Alaska communities under ANCSA, establish urban corporations for these communities, and provide a process for the newly established urban corporations to negotiate with the Department of the Interior to select surface estates of federal land that would be conveyed to the corporations as compensation —the same amount of land that other native villages received under ANCSA.

The Obama Administration claims that, because these five communities were originally deemed ineligible for receiving land under ANCSA, the issue should be closed despite the unjust determination. Congressman Young contends that the Administration’s opposition to H.R. 2386, based on the idea it would set bad precedent for aboriginal land claims, is entirely misguided. He says it is Congress’ authority to pass, review and update laws.

“You use the word precedent, but is there any good reason to deny the aboriginal land claims of these five native communities?” Congressman Young asked. “Only we can open it up. You see, there is no precedent. Only the Congress can do it… We passed [ANCSA] and what we pass, we can rectify. That’s our role as this Committee.”

Leo Barlow, Wrangell representative for the Southeast Alaska Landless Corporation (SALC), testified on H.R. 2386 urging members of Congress to recognize the five “landless” communities. “The 3,425 Natives who originally enrolled to Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell comprised over 20 percent of the shareholders of Sealaska Corporation in 1972,” said Barlow. “Over the years we have received revenue-sharing distributions from Sealaska to section 7(j) of ANCSA, but have not enjoyed the social, economic and cultural benefits of owning shares in a Village, Urban, or Group Corporation.”

Asked by Congressman Young why he believes these five communities were excluded from the ANCSA land conveyance, Leo Barlow – testifying on behalf of the Southeast Alaska Landless Corporation – said there is no definitive answer on record. - More...
Friday PM - June 19, 2015

Alaska: Special Investigator’s National Guard Report Released - Alaska Attorney General Craig Richards released the public report this week from the special investigator, retired Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins, regarding the Alaska National Guard (AKNG).

Collins was asked to take a comprehensive look into the circumstances surrounding allegations of sexual abuse and harassment within the Alaska National Guard between 2010 and 2014 and report her findings. Her investigation included going over all of the previous reports; reviewing thousands of pages of documents, including the unredacted records recently released in relation to the public records litigation; conducting over 60 interviews; and accessing additional information from various agencies and individuals. The original contract with Collins allowed up to $50,000 for an hourly fee of $156.84. In the end, the investigation took over four months to complete, and Collins donated over 100 hours of her time pro bono to complete the investigation, after the contract amount had been reached.

It was Collins’ extensive background in criminal justice and long career on the bench that made her an excellent candidate to take on this task. “Patricia brought a wealth of judicial and criminal law experience to the job,” said Attorney General Richards.

“As a judge, she is used to weighing evidence and taking an independent view. She is also adept at asking questions and digging deeper to get to the truth. I sincerely appreciate her willingness to take on this task and for the countless hours she has spent over the past five months conducting her investigation.”

The public report from Collins, released on June 15, 2015, concludes that the command climate at AKNG was not conducive to reporting complaints of any kind much less those of sexual assault and harassment prior to 2013. While a system existed for reporting sexual assaults, the environment of the AKNG at the time resulted in significant fear of retaliation by National Guard members if claims of sexual assault or harassment were brought forward. - More...
Friday PM - June 19, 2015

Fish Factor: Strong Dollar One Bright Spot in Seafood Sales By LAINE WELCH - As Alaska’s salmon season heads into high gear, a few bright spots are surfacing in an otherwise bleak global sales market.

Sales and prices for all salmon (especially sockeye) have been in a slump all year. And amidst an overall glut of wild and farmed fish, Alaska is poised for another huge salmon haul, with the largest run of sockeye salmon in 20 years predicted along with a mega-pack of pinks.

Meanwhile, the single toughest thing stacked against Alaska’s sales to traditional overseas customers is the strong US dollar.

“Overall, the dollar is up anywhere from 11 percent to 45 percent or more in some cases, versus the currencies of our buyers,” said Andy Wink, a seafood economist with the Juneau-based McDowell Group. “That makes it really difficult to maintain pricing, because those buyers have to pay more and usually it adjusts somewhere in the middle.”

Exports typically account for 60-70 percent of Alaska’s wholesale seafood sales each year. However, the strong dollar will force more sellers and buyers to turn towards U.S. retail outlets, Wink said, and that could be a good thing.

“The expectation is this will entice retailers because anytime you’re able to buy at lower wholesale prices, typically you’re able to turn better margins,” Wink said. “Hopefully, it will get them to do more promotions and spur more sales because we certainly need it. After last year’s big run of sockeye, the 2013 record pink run, and heading into this year, we’ve got a lot of product out there. But that is great for the long term, because building that consumption is going to build demand.”

That is exactly what has happened over the past year, said Larry Andrews, Retail Director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the state’s lone marketing arm. To shrink the amount of carryover heading into another bounteous salmon season, ASMI has hosted over 5,000 frozen sockeye demos at 10 retail chains, representing 4,530 stores in the Pacific Northwest, California, the Rockies, Texas, the Midwest, South and Southeast. - More...
Friday PM - June 19, 2015