Alaska Native Corporations

Sealaska will distribute almost $8 million to shareholders in April. The Southeast regional Native corporation has about 20,000 tribal members, more than half living outside the region.Related Link: Learn more about Sealaska dividends.

Sealaska says a survey it conducted shows more than half of Southeast Alaskans support a lands-selection bill it’s trying to push through Congress. The poll shows support increasing when residents learn more about the legislation. But opponents say they’ve found out enough to know it’s a bad idea.Related Link: Click here for links to earlier reports and different views.

The federal government is giving the Sealaska Corporation close to a million dollars to thin second-growth forests on Prince of Wales Island. The Forest Service also plans to thin trees using federal stimulus money. But they’ve got different aims.Related Link: Click here for more information and earlier reports.

Sealaska Corporation says alleged threats made by its board chairman will not derail efforts to get a lands-selection bill through Congress.
Albert Kookesh, also a state senator, was part of a corporate delegation visiting a recent Craig City Council meeting. Sealaska officials pushed local leaders to support its proposed takeover of valuable timberlands on Prince of Wales Island.
Kookesh angered some by suggesting state funding for city projects could be tied to support for the bill.
In an interview with CoastAlaska’s Ed Schoenfeld, Sealaska C-E-O Chris McNeil says the comment was unfortunate. But it wasn’t a threat.
Kookesh has not commented on his statements to Craig’s City Council. That’s because he expects to face legislative ethics charges for his comments.
The lands-selection bill would transfer 65,000 to 85,000 acres of Tongass National Forest to the corporation. In exchange, Sealaska would give up claims to other lands it could select without Congressional action.
The bill has received only one hearing. Opponents say it would remove valuable forest habitat and popular recreation areas from the public land base. Opposition in Craig comes in part because it would keep a local mill from accessing timber it hopes to cut.Related Link: Hear a report on Kookesh’s comments to the Craig City Council.

Older Sealaska shareholders have until November 20th to sign up for larger dividends. It’s the first time the regional Native corporation is making an extra payment to elders. But it’s not the first corporation to do so.Related Link: Find out more about the program, and those of other corporations.

Sealaska wants the federal government to spend some of its stimulus money thinning trees. The Southeast regional Native corporation has asked for close to a million dollars to expand its own forest-management program. Officials say the money could keep 40 rural residents on the job.Related Link: Find out more about Sealaska’s timber operations. Click here, then on more.