By Alexandra J. McClanahan, CIRI Historian
December 18 marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act by President Richard M. Nixon. The act, known as ANCSA, has forever changed the economic and social landscape of Alaska. It led to the creation of a new type of enterprise - Native business corporations that are firmly rooted in Alaska and that care as deeply about the welfare of their shareholders as they do the bottom line.
CIRI's president and chief executive officer, Carl Marrs, has often pointed out that unlike traditional corporations, which must place most of their focus on profitability, Native corporations also concern themselves with the economic and social needs of their Native shareholders.
Sen. Henry Jackson, who was Senate Interior Committee chairman at the time of the act's passage, in his 1981 keynote address to the Alaska Federation of Natives summed up what makes Native corporations different: "This is a debate which I have watched for the past 13 years. It is a debate for which there are no ultimate answers. At one time, I thought it was a serious mistake to mix social welfare objectives with the traditional corporation's more limited objective of maximizing profitability. Today, I must confess to having changed my mind."
There are many milestones in ANCSA's history, but it might be instructive to go back to May 6, 1964, for the opening of bids for the historic Tyonek oil lease sale held by the U.S. Department of the Interior for 25,000 acres of the village's reservation lands.
The sale earlier had been scheduled for April 3, 1963, but was halted two minutes before the bids were to be opened after it became the target of lawsuits filed by the Athabascan residents of Tyonek who felt they were entitled to the proceeds. The 1964 sale netted $12 million for the village, and villagers developed a 10-point program for spending the money, including road and airstrip improvements, as well as health and welfare projects and a "family improvement plan" authorizing up to $40,000 per family. A second lease sale three years later brought in $2.7 million.
The Tyoneks generously shared some of their revenue with the newly formed Alaska Federation of Natives in grants and loans that helped support the effort to lobby for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Their handling of revenue also was cited as a model during congressional hearings on the act.
By 1971, the push for oil development, the state's desire to get the land promised to it under the Statehood Act, and Alaska Natives' efforts to save their land paid off with what would become the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. For four long years, spirited debate had focused on just how much land and cash Alaska Natives would be granted for the settlement of their claims. The final bill that emerged promised 44 million acres and almost $1 billion in cash.
People
There were about 80,000 Alaska Natives alive on Dec. 18, 1971, who could
participate in ANCSA. Most of those affected by the act were in Alaska,
but about 20,000 people lived in the Lower 48 and even other parts of
the world. Only a few corporations have issued new ANCSA stock to those
born after 1971.
Structure
The corporate structure of ANCSA was a departure for Congress. Former
CIRI President Roy Huhndorf has described ANCSA as an extraordinary national
experiment in federal relations with Native Americans. He points to the
fact that corporations, not reservations, were organized to administer
the proceeds from the historical land claims settlement for Alaska Natives.
Thirteen regional corporations were created, including 12 in Alaska and one that was created later to represent Alaska Natives living outside the state. Alaska Natives who enrolled were made shareholders when they received 100 shares of stock. The size of the regional corporations ranged from Ahtna, Inc., with about 1,000 shareholders, to Sealaska Corporation, with about 16,000 shareholders. Approximately 220 village corporations were created under ANCSA. Those individuals who elected not to enroll in a village corporation but enrolled in a regional corporation were called "at-large" shareholders.
The size of villages ranged from 25 people to about 2,000.
Money
The amount of money distributed through ANCSA was $962.5 million, which
was essentially determined on a per capita basis. It came from both the
State of Alaska and the federal government over a period of about 11 years.
The long timeframe for distribution greatly diminished its value due to
inflation. In the first five years, 10 percent of the money distributed
went to all individuals who were shareholders. The regions retained 45
percent of the total, and the remaining 45 percent was distributed to
the villages and the "at-large" shareholders on a per capita basis. At-large
shareholders were those who enrolled only to a region and not a village.
After that, the money was distributed 50-50 with half retained by the regional corporations and half distributed to the village corporations and at-large shareholders on a per capita basis.
Land
The land conveyed under ANCSA was 44 million acres, which was a little
more than 10 percent of the entire state. It sounds like a tremendous
amount of land, especially when compared to treaties the U.S. made earlier
with American Indians. When viewed as what was granted to the people who
had a valid claim to the entire state, however, the settlement seems relatively
small.
Of the 44 million acres, 22 million acres of surface estate went to village corporations on a formula based on population. This land was generally located around the village itself and consisted of prime subsistence areas. Under a compromise agreement it was decided that the subsurface estate of this land went to the regional corporations. Sixteen million acres went to the regional corporations, and that included both the surface and the subsurface estate. Two million acres were conveyed for specific situations, such as cemeteries, historical sites, and villages with fewer than 25 people. Another four million acres went to former reserves where the villages took land instead of land and money. These former reserves were granted land entitlements ranging from 700,000 to 2 million acres.
Not affected by ANCSA was Metlakatla on Annette Island in Southeast Alaska. Metlakatla was a reservation before ANCSA, and remained one afterwards. ANCSA is a document that was developed for a group of human beings who had a very real claim to their ancestral home in Alaska. Their connection to the land is a spiritual one that transcends complex regulatory schemes.
