| The CIRI villages of Chickaloon, Seldovia, Knik, Tyonek and Ninilchik
have appealed a ruling by the United States District Court denying
the villages certain ANCSA land selections made on the west side of
Cook Inlet in 1974. The lawsuit stems from a 25-year dispute between
the villages and the Department of Interior over the meaning and effect
of a 1976 agreement involving CIRI, the villages and the federal government.
The 1976 agreement was designed to resolve disagreements over lands
selected on 50 miles of west Cook Inlet coastline, adjacent to what
is now Lake Clark National Park.
The villages and CIRI maintain that the federal government is bound by the terms of the 1976 agreement to convey the disputed lands to the villages. The federal government, however, has refused to convey the land, arguing that the agreement mandates exhaustion of other lands before the disputed west Cook Inlet lands may be conveyed. Last month Judge James K. Singleton ruled in the federal government's favor, refusing to order conveyance of the selected lands. |
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"This is just one more example of the federal government promising one thing and doing another with Native lands," said Carl Marrs, CIRI president and chief executive officer. "We believe the government should convey to the villages the selections made on the west Cook Inlet coast, and we are confident the Court of Appeals will recognize their right to have it. We will continue to support the villages in their efforts to receive conveyance of these valuable lands selected some 25 years ago."
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