A bill making its way through Congress offers new hope for five Native communities in Southeast Alaska to secure their own land for the first time. For more than 50 years following the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the five tribes left out of the pivotal agreement that fundamentally changed tribal governance and land ownership in the state have been working to secure their homelands. Tribal leaders celebrated as the bill cleared the U.S. House of Representatives. But it’s not without opposition; environmental groups and others worry the land transfer will turn over vast expanses of pristine old growth wilderness to a for-profit corporation intent on maximizing financial returns through extensive timber harvests and mining. We’ll hear about what this latest policy momentum accomplishes and discuss how we got here.

GUESTS

Cecilia Tavoliero (Tlingit), president of the Southeast Alaska Landless Corporation

Nicole Hallingstad (Tlingit), Alaska Natives Without Land representative of Petersburg

Sandy Churchill (Tlingit), vice president of the Wrangell Cooperative Association

Albert Rinehart (Tlingit), tribal administrator for Wrangell Cooperative Association