Music Matters
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Chugach Alaska Corporation re-acquires lands previously in private hands since 1900s

The Chugach Alaska Corporation recently re-acquired land that has been in private hands since the 1900s. The buyers say you can’t put a price on the return of traditional lands to Indigenous stewardship.

Chugach Alaska Corporation announced the sale in mid-January. The Native regional corporationpurchased more than 150 acres of surface and subsurface estate land at the mouth of the Copper River Delta near Point Martin, Alaska, from The Nature Conservancy.

“The Copper River Delta was besides such a rich resource area,” said John F.C. Johnson, the corporation’s vice president for cultural resources. “It's kind of the migration corridor for all the different cultural groups in Alaska.”

The region was a confluence of cultures including Sugpiaq, Tlingit, and Eyak and Ahtna Athabascan people.

The property is slightly smaller than a quarter-square mile equivalent. The previous owner, the non-profit organization The Nature Conservancy, declined to disclose the sale price. It said that a third-party assessor appraised the property at fair market value.

“Your heritage and culture is priceless,” Johnson said. “What price you put on the grave of your relatives? You can't put a price on it.”

Josie Hickle is the executive vice president of ANCSA and community affairs for the Native corporation.

“The Nature Conservancy, they have restrictions. I think they would have liked to have given us the land, because they understood and respected the fact that we were the rightful owners,” Hickle said. “It's a much higher value to us than monetary value.”

Steve Cohn is the Alaska state director of the Nature Conservancy. He says the property was originally appropriated in the early 1900s through the Homestead Act. The land was held privately.

“It was through this act, this Homestead Act that allowed a private individual to stake a claim to a piece of land … but without, at that time, without any consultation or consideration for the people whose land it was.”

In the 1970s, the Chugach corporation, then the Chugach Native Incorporated, originally expressed interest in the property through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. But the land wasn’t available under that act because it was already privately owned.

The Nature Conservancy purchased the land in the 1990s.  

“We really do feel very honored to have the opportunity to return those lands back to the Native people of the Chugach region by being able to restore those lands and then have them be stewarded into the future -- for not only their natural values, but cultural importance,” Cohn said.

Cohn says the Conservancy and the Chugach corporation had been talking for about two years before the sale was final.

”What a wonderful opportunity for the recognition of Chugach for our people and our cultural significance to be able to have this property,” Hickle said. “For our shareholders and descendants to be able to have that opportunity to steward that land and use it in a way that can recognize that that really rich and important heritage.”

The Nature Conservancy expressed an interest in the corporation’s non-profit cultural arm holding the land, and Chugach corporation agreed. And Hickle says the corporation transferred the land over to Chugach Heritage Foundation.

“Their mission is to promote the culture and heritage and history of our people,” Hickle said. “It made sense for the land to be owned by them.”

The Corporation says in the news release the land “will be utilized for future cultural and historic preservation and use.” Johnson says the land is more than just a piece of real estate. 

“This historical site or historical subsistent sites need to be continually used. We are living history that evolves with every generation. If we do not define and decide our own future than others will do it for us. If we do not save our own people, then who are we saving the culture and heritage for?”

Johnson says that the Heritage Foundation will work with cultural representatives from the other surrounding Native groups to discuss future ideas on how to best utilize the land for all. 

Chugach Alaska Corporation is one of the 13 Alaska Native regional corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. It has about 2,600 shareholders. 

Photo caption: A 158-acre parcel of forests and wetlands at Point Martin on the Gulf of Alaska once owned by a timber development company has been purchased by the Chugach Alaska Corp. The Nature Conservancy purchased the land in the 1990s, sparing it from development, and has continued to steward and protect it. The Chugach Alaska Corp. purchased the culturally significant land and transferred ownership to its non-profit Chugach Heritage Foundation, ensuring the protection of its cultural and natural values for future generations. (Photo courtesy of Chugach Heritage Foundation)

Originally from the Midwest, Tripp Crouse (Ojibwe, a descendent of Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, pronouns: they/them) has 15-plus years in print, web and radio journalism. Tripp first moved to Alaska in 2016 to work with KTOO Public Media in Juneau. And later moved to Anchorage in 2018 to work with KNBA and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. Tripp currently works for Spruce Root in Juneau, Alaska. Tripp also served as chair of the Station Advisory Committee for Native Public Media.