Indian Termination Policy - Alaskan Natives

Alaskan Natives

Because Alaska had not previously been admitted to statehood, Native American issues played out differently there. The discovery of oil in the Kenai Peninsula and Cook Inlet regions in 1957, and along the North Slope in 1968, brought the issue of native land ownership to the forefront of a conflict over state land selection. In 1936, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) was extended to include the Alaskan natives. Due to the fact that Alaska did not become a state until 1959, the Alaskan Natives were passed over as termination policy formed in 1953, and the fervor for termination faded before Alaskan Natives came into discussion. Alaskan Natives hurriedly filed land claims with the Department of the Interior as state land selections and statehood drew closer.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall was a supporter of the Natives. In 1966, he issued a freeze on state land selections, and later issued the Deep Freeze in 1969, which declared ninety percent of the state off limits to any form of federal land transfer. One of the main bodies responsible for representing the interests of the Alaskan Natives is the Alaska Federation of Natives. From 1966 to 1971, this group lobbied for a fair land claims settlement act, which resulted in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). ANSCA was intended both to provide the state with land promised in gaining statehood and the Natives with a 40-million-acre (160,000 km2) land base.

This act (43 U.S.C. § 1617) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971. It revoked previous land claims by the Alaskan natives. Initially, the legislation divided the land into twelve regional (a thirteenth would be added later for natives living outside of the state) and 220 local corporations. U.S. citizens with one-fourth (equivalent to one grandparent) or more Alaska Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut blood living when the Act was passed were considered Native American, and were qualified to participate in receiving dividends. Natives could register with their village or, if they chose not to enroll with their village, could become “at large” shareholders of the regional corporation. (Note: The Tsimshian Indians of the Annette Island Reserve of Metlakatla had been granted a reserve from Congress after emigrating from Canada; they were exempt from ANSCA.)

Each registered member of the village corporations received 100 shares of stock in the village corporation. The corporations were granted the 44-million-acre (180,000 km2) land base, or about twelve percent of the state of Alaska. In addition, they received around $962.5 million from both federal and state governments, which was distributed over eleven years. The first five years saw ten percent of the money received go to the shareholders of the company, and 45 percent each to the regional and local corporations. Afterward, half of the money was distributed to the regional corporations and half to the village corporations and "at large" shareholders on a per capita basis.