Summary of main priority:

Section 14(c)(3) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) required every Native Village Corporation formed under the Act to turn a portion of the lands it received in the Village under the Act over to the State of Alaska to be held in trust for the eventual creation of a municipal government in the area. 43 U.S. Code §1613(c)(3). Many Villages have already turned land over, and in some cases, that land has become municipal lands when municipalities were formed.

In the case of many rural Villages, however, the land is still being managed in apparent perpetuity by the State Municipal Land Trust (MLT), an office that is underfunded and overtasked. Decades after passage of ANCSA, and many years after these Villages turned over land, no municipalities have been formed and no end is in sight. This was not envisioned by the crafters of ANCSA. For remote Native Villages in Alaska, with no foreseeable possibility of a feasible municipality on the Horizon, it is time to return these lands to those Villages that want to own and manage the lands in their Villages themselves. 

Alaska Native Village Corporation Association (ANVCA) Represents 177 Alaska Native Community owned entities each representing a village in Alaska. see ANCSA fact sheet

Through the creation of Alaska Native regional and village corporations, Congress established a novel approach to federal Indian policy and for nearly 50 years, these unique corporations have served the health, educational, welfare and cultural needs of more than 140,000 Alaska Native shareholders.

ANCSA Legislative Priorities:

• Hold a series of roundtables on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to bring to light unfinished business 50 years after the Act

• Complete ANCSA Land transfers, it has been 50 years

• Amend section 14 c(3) of ANCSA to include language requiring the State of Alaska to reconvey any lands under subsection 14 C (3) without restrictions see full white paper HERE see legislative language HERE

• Alaska Federation of Natives fully supports this action see resolution

• Establish a Federally Sanctioned Carbon Credit program in Alaska for Alaska Native Corporations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions