Open letter to Senator Bingaman: Sealaska Bill

Former Alaskan fisherman writes why he thinks Sealaska's land legislation is a bad idea.

January 28, 2010
Thursday PM

Dear Senator Bingaman,

I submitted testimony for the record when the committee you chair heard the bill Senators Murkowski and Begich introduced re handing over Federal Land on Prince of Wales Island to Sealaska Corp, a private interest.

Over my many decades in Alaska, I both lived on Prince of Wales and fished in the waters surrounding it. I hiked its mountains and fished in its streams. I shot geese, ducks, and deer there and homesteaded on its shores. My son was born and raised on the island.

In addition, I headed the largest commercial fisherman's organization in Alaska dedicated to protecting salmon streams. With my old friend and associate Chuck Zieske, I spearheaded an effort that led to passage of the National Forrest Management Act in 1976.

I am damn well opposed to Sealaska getting any federal lands transfered to its private ownership. My bones tell me it is wrong to pander to their entreaties.

Sealaska despoiled its lands.

Denuded mountain sides are bad for all of us.

Nothing they did was sustainable. They export the timber robbing Americans of jobs.

Nor, considering the recent actions of its Board Member, Albert Kookesh, is there much hope that things will get better in the future.

Read the complete letter at the SitNews.