Lisa Murkowski

A bill allowing five Alaska Native communities in Southeast to receive land entitlements passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Alaska US Senator Lisa Murkowski announced July 16 that her bill had advanced to the Senate floor. The legislation, called the Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, would allow Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg and Tenakee to form Alaska Native corporations and receive 23,040 acres each of federal land. Those communities were excluded from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act when it became law 50 years ago. …The landless movement is not without controversy. ANCSA mandated that the newly recognized Native corporations seek to make profits for their shareholders. Because of this, some who oppose the bill argue that it would privatize 115,000 acres in the Tongass National Forest. …“There are no better stewards of our Alaska lands than the people who have lived on them for thousands of years,” Murkowski said.