President Richard M. Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act on Dec. 18, 1971, breathing life into an act that has since been amended many times in its 30-year history, and is a living document. Although Alaska Natives had pursued land claims for decades prior to 1971, the lobbying effort to pass ANCSA began in earnest in 1966 when Native leaders from across the state organized the Alaska Federation of Natives.

Many people made sacrifices to ensure that the effort was successful, donating time and money. The first significant financial contributions came from the Native Village of Tyonek, which made grants and loans to the fledgling AFN. Representing the village at a recent celebration of the ANCSA anniversary was Adam Kroto, a tribal member of the Native Village of Tyonek, who was one of the first councilmen from 1965 to 1980. He held several positions on the Tyonek council during that time, including secretary/treasurer, president and vice-president.

Kroto said at the celebration that over the years he felt a great deal of pride when people would see him at statewide gatherings and acknowledge Tyonekšs critical role in the passage of the act. He joked, however, that although AFN eventually paid back the loans, the money was paid back without interest.

Through ANCSA, Alaska Natives retained about 44 million acres of land in Alaska, amounting to approximately 10 percent of the statešs land area, and they were awarded $962.5 million. Native regional and village corporations were created to manage the assets.

Kroto, 69, today lives a subsistence lifestyle in Tyonek. He and his wife Violet raised eight children.

Bids were opened on May 6, 1964, 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 for 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, 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 village's handling of its revenue was cited as a model during congressional hearings on the act.

B. Agnes Kaloa Brown, a founding AFN board member, gave the invocation at the ceremony, which drew several hundred people to the Alaska Native Heritage Center on Dec. 17, the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Act. The University of Alaska Anchorage, CIRI, and AFN sponsored the celebration. Originally from Tyonek, Brown has been a member of the CIRI Board of Directors since 1974, and she currently serves as secretary.

Emcees for the ceremony were Gloria O'Neill, president/chief executive officer of Cook Inlet Tribal Council, and Jack Zayon, general manager for NANA Oilfield Services. Other speakers included Willie Hensley, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company federal government director and a founding AFN board member; AFN President Julie Kitka; Barbara Donatelli, executive vice president of CIRI; and University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor Lee Gorsuch.

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who was involved in the passage of ANCSA and many of the amendments to the Act through the years, was unable to attend the ceremony, but staff member Marie Nash represented the senator.

The program was opened by the Miracle Drummers and Dancers, a Yup'ik group based in Wasilla. They were followed by Neil Nelson, performing "Angel." It ended with Nelson singing "Amazing Grace." Nelson is 14 and from Dillingham. He is of Yup'ik, Aleut and German descent.

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