Hearing held on Sealaska lands bill

U.S. Rep. Don Young defended a bill Wednesday to give Sealaska Corp. its remaining lands under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

U.S. Rep. Don Young defended a bill Wednesday to give Sealaska Corp. its remaining lands under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Young, a Republican, faced opposition from two federal agencies and others. He said 39 years is long enough for the southeast Alaska Native regional corporation to wait for lands awarded under the act, which was intended to compensate Alaska Natives for the loss of lands historically used or occupied.

"I think everyone should be ashamed of the bureaucracy. This is their land," Young said in the hearing before the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C.

The bill has been criticized by conservation groups and some local communities as an unfair land grab by Sealaska because it would allow the Native corporation to choose choice lands outside the established boundaries.

Sealaska has said the transfer of up to 85,000 acres of federal land is an unpaid debt and long overdue, which will create new economic opportunities apart from timber harvesting.

The corporation, which has more than 20,000 shareholders, wants to diversify its businesses into boutique tourism and renewable energy projects.

Byron Mallott, on Sealaska's board of directors, told the committee that the Native corporation has worked closely with federal agencies in the past, and perhaps the private sector is best for moving management of the Tongass forward.

Mallot said in a statement after the hearing that, "It was clear that the committee members were confused by opposition to our bill and were sympathetic to the real environmental and historical issues at play."

But Don Hernandez, a commercial fishermen from Point Baker, said if Sealaska gets the land around his town, he expects the Native corporation to aggressively go after the old-growth timber and turn the land into a "managed tree plantation."

"The ability of the forest to provide for future uses would be in serious doubt," Hernandez said.

The bill likely would disrupt a "delicate balance" as the Tongass moves from old-growth timber harvesting and toward biofuels and second-growth cutting, said Jay Jensen, a deputy undersecretary with the Department of Agriculture.

"The department views this proposed legislation in the broader context of the suite of economic challenges facing southeast Alaska, challenges not just to the Sealaska Corp. but to the 32 communities in that region," he said.

Work needs to be done on the bill to reduce user conflicts, Jensen said. 

Read the complete story at the Juneau Empire.