The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)­ - Whose Settlement Was It? An Overview of Salient Issues

Why do we want forty million acres of hunting rights when we\u27ve got the whole state? On December 18, 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), was signed into law by Richard M. Nixon. ANCSA provided a federal land settlement extinguishing aboriginal claims to the state\u27s 375 million acres of land and territorial waters by providing Alaska Natives with forty-four million acres of land and nearly one billion dollars. One of the most significant features of the bill was the establishment of twelve regional4 and approximately 200 village corporations as owners of the land and recipients of the money. The consequences of this corporate structure have reverberated through Alaska Native communities and the entire Alaskan economy and society in the years since. As Steve Colt notes, [b]y vesting the land and the money in Alaska Native business corporations and shareholders-not tribes­ ANCSA deliberately repudiated previous United States Indian policy, based on reservations and federal oversight