Editing Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (section)

==Background==
===Alaskan statehood===
[[File:Jay Greenfield, Ted Stevens & Emil Notti, 1969.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Jay Greenfield, U.S. Senator [[Ted Stevens]] and AFN President [[Emil Notti]] discussing ANCSA in the Senate TV Studio in 1969.]]
When Alaska became a state in 1959, section 4 of the [[Alaska Statehood Act]] provided that any existing Alaska Native land claims would be unaffected by statehood and held in status quo.<ref name=jones>{{cite web|last1=Jones|first1=Richard S.|title=Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-203): History and Analysis Together With Subsequent Amendments Report No. 81-127 GOV|url=http://www.alaskool.org/projects/ancsa/reports/rsjones1981/ANCSA_History71_Ftnts.htm#28|publisher=alaskool.org (June 1, 1981)|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=statehood>{{cite web|title=Alaska Statehood Act Public Law 85-508, 72 Stat. 339, July 7, 1958|url=https://ancsa.lbblawyers.com/state6.htm|website=ancsa.lbblawyers.com|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> Yet while section 4 of the act preserved Native land claims until later settlement, section 6 allowed for the state government to claim lands deemed vacant.<ref name=statehood/> Section 6 granted the state of Alaska the right to select lands then in the hands of the federal government, with the exception of Native territory. As a result, nearly {{convert|104.5|e6acre|km2}} from the public domain would eventually be transferred to the state.<ref name=statehood/><ref name=jones2>{{cite web|last1=Richard S.|first1=Jones|title=Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-203): History and Analysis Together With Subsequent Amendments: Introduction|url=http://www.alaskool.org/projects/ancsa/reports/rsjones1981/ancsa_history71.htm|publisher=alaskool.org|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> The state government also attempted to acquire lands under section 6 of the Statehood Act that were subject to Native claims under section 4, and that were currently occupied and used by Alaska Natives.<ref name=jones2/> The federal [[Bureau of Land Management]] began to process the Alaska government's selections without taking into account the Native claims and without informing the affected Native groups.<ref name=jones2/>

It was against this backdrop that the original language for a land claims settlement was developed.<ref name=ray>{{cite web|title=Statement of Ray Christiansen, State Senator for District K|url=http://www.alaskool.org/projects/ancsa/testimony/ancsa_hearings/r_christiansen.html|website=alaskool.org|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref>

A [[1964 Alaska earthquake|9.2-magnitude earthquake]] struck the state in 1964.<ref name=earthquake>{{cite web|title=The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964|url=http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/quakes/Alaska_1964_earthquake.html|publisher=Alaska Earthquake Center|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706212449/http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/quakes/Alaska_1964_earthquake.html|archive-date=6 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Recovery efforts drew the attention of the federal government.<ref name=ray/> The Federal Field Committee for Development Planning in Alaska decided that Natives should receive $100 million and 10% of revenue{{clarify|reason=Revenue from what? Revenue is not mentioned in the source.|date=March 2019}} as a royalty.<ref name=ray/> Nothing was done with this proposal, however, and a freeze on land transfers remained in effect.<ref name=tanana>{{cite web|last1=Grabinska|first1=Kornelia|title=Excerpts from History of Events Leading to the Passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act|url=http://www.alaskool.org/projects/ancsa/tcc2/tananachiefs.html#B.%20Campaigns%20in%20the%20Congress,%201967-1971|publisher=Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc.|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref>

===Founding of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN)===
In 1966, [[Emil Notti]] called for a statewide meeting inviting numerous leaders around Alaska to gather and create the first meeting of a committee. The historic meeting was held October 18, 1966 - on the 99th anniversary of the transfer of Alaska from Russia. Notti presided over the three-day conference as it discussed matters of land recommendations, claims committees, and political challenges the act would have in getting through congress. Many respected politicians and businessmen attended the meeting and delegates were astonished at the attention which they received from well-known political figures of the state. The growing presence and political importance of Natives was evidenced when members were able to gain election to seven of the sixty seats in the legislature.

When the group met a second time early in 1967, it emerged with a new name, The [[Alaska Federation of Natives]] (AFN), and a new full-time President, Emil Notti. AFN went on to profoundly change the human rights and economic stability of the Alaska Native population.

===Native Land Claims Task Force===
In 1967, Governor [[Walter Hickel]] summoned a group of Indigenous leaders and politicians to work out a settlement that would be satisfactory to Natives.<ref name="Miner, 1967">{{cite news |title=37 Named to Land Claims Task Force |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5848136/fairbanks-daily-news-miner/ |access-date=11 October 2022 |work=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] |date=11 November 1967 |location=Fairbanks, Alaska |page=6 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Among the appointees were politicians Raymond C. Christiansen, [[Willie Hensley]], [[Carl E. Moses]], [[John Sackett|John C. Sackett]], and [[Jules Wright (politician)|Jules Wright]]. Indigenous members included [[George Attla]], Cecil Barnes, Laura Bergt, [[John Borbridge Jr|John Borbridge]], [[Alice E. Brown|Alice Brown]], Harry Carter, Jerry Crow, Jeff David, Frank Degnan, Andrew Demonski, Mark Ewan, Richard Frank, Charles Franz, Tom Gregoroff, [[Eben Hopson]], Axel Johnson, Flore Lekanoff, Tony Lewis, [[Byron Mallott]], Emil McCord, Elva Naanes, Hugh Nicholls, [[Emil Notti]], George Olson, [[Howard Rock]], Harvey Samuelson, [[Walter Soboleff]], Seraphim Stephan, Richard Stitt, George Trigg, [[Don Wright (politician)|Donald R. Wright]] and Lula Young.<ref name="Miner, 1967" />|group="Notes"}} The group met for ten days and asked for $20 million in exchange for requested lands.<ref name=ray/> Among the other task force proposals were an outright grant of 1,000 acres per native village resident; a revenue-sharing program for state land claims and national mineral development projects; secured hunting and fishing rights on public lands; and a Native Commission to administrate state and federal compliance with the provisions of the claims settlement.<ref name="Miner, 1968">{{cite news |title=Hickel Sees Satisfactory Settling of Land Claims |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111118818/fairbanks-daily-news-miner/ |access-date=11 October 2022 |work=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] |date=12 January 1968 |location=Fairbanks, Alaska |page=7 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> They proposed receiving 10% of federal mineral lease revenue for ten years,<ref name=frigid>{{cite book|last1=Haycox|first1=Stephen W.|author-link=Stephen Haycox|title=Frigid Embrace: Politics, Economics, and Environment in Alaska|date=2002|publisher=Oregon University Press|isbn=0870715364|pages=99–112|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQUYAAAAYAAJ&q=ten+percent|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> once the freeze which had been placed on land patents to allow oil exploration was lifted.<ref name="Berry, 1975" >{{cite book |last1=Berry |first1=Mary Clay |title=The Alaska Pipeline: The Politics of Oil and Native Land Claims |url=https://archive.org/details/alaskapipelinepo00berr/page/49/mode/1up |date=1975 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-10064-1}}</ref>{{rp|49}}

===Oil===
[[File:Cliff Groh.jpg|thumb|160px|Cliff Groh was one of a number of non-Native lawyers who assisted various Native organizations and AFN's president Emil Notti in achieving passage of ANCSA.]]
In 1968, the [[ARCO|Atlantic-Richfield Company]] discovered oil at [[Prudhoe Bay Oil Field|Prudhoe Bay]] on the [[Arctic Ocean|Arctic]] coast, catapulting the issue of [[land ownership]] into headlines.<ref>{{cite news|last=Coile |first=Zachery |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/29/MNGLGEEKSF1.DTL |title=Arctic Oil: Oil is the lifeblood of Alaska, with residents ready to drill |date=August 9, 2005 |access-date=2005-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051003231635/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2005%2F08%2F29%2FMNGLGEEKSF1.DTL |archive-date=3 October 2005 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=banet>{{cite journal|last1=Banet (Jr.) |first1=Arthur C. |title=Oil and Gas Development on Alaska's North Slope: Past Results and Future Prospects |journal=Open File Reports: Bureau of Land Management |date=March 1991 |pages=6, 22 |url=http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ak/aktest/ofr.Par.49987.File.dat/OFR_34.pdf |access-date=30 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923231432/http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ak/aktest/ofr.Par.49987.File.dat/OFR_34.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 }}</ref> In order to lessen the difficulty of drilling at such a remote location and transporting the oil to the [[lower 48 states]], the oil companies proposed building a pipeline to carry the oil across Alaska to the port of [[Valdez, Alaska|Valdez]].<ref name=banet/><ref name=naske2>{{cite book|last1=Naske|first1=Claus-M.|title=Alaska: A History of the 49th State|date=1994|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=080612573X|pages=241–269|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xhQl1WDWa0C&q=Hickel+worked+with+the+AFN,+negotiating+between+Natives+and+Alaska|access-date=30 November 2014}}</ref> At Valdez, the oil would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to the contiguous states.<ref name=naske2/>

The plan had been approved<!-- by whom? EIS dones? -->, but a permit to construct the pipeline, which would cross lands involved in the land claims dispute, could not be granted until the Native claims were settled.<ref name=naske2/> Hearings were held for the first time before the [[United States House]]'s Subcommittee on Indian Affairs in July 1968. Among those who attended the hearings were officials and legislators, as well as [[Laura Bergt]], Roger Connor, Thoda Forslund, Cliff Groh, Barry Jackson, Flore Lekanof, Notti, and Morris Thompson.<ref>{{cite news |ref={{harvid|''Fairbanks Daily News-Miner''|1968}}|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Native Land Claims Hearing |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-jul-17-1968-3493383/ |access-date=October 4, 2022 |work=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] |date=July 17, 1968 |location=Fairbanks, Alaska |page=20 |via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref>

===Government negotiations and policy===
[[File:Secretary of the Interior Hickel walking around Independence National Historical Park. (7201cca18187402a84e9cccba546100f) (cropped).jpg|205px|thumb|Alaska Governor [[Walter Hickel]] was appointed as [[Richard Nixon|President Nixon]]'s [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Interior Secretary]].]]
In 1969, President Nixon appointed Hickel as [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]].<ref name=ray/><ref name=sealaska>{{cite web|title=1 Testimony of Sealaska Corporation Native Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska's Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian People May 16, 2013|url=http://docs.house.gov/meetings/ii/ii24/20130516/100839/hhrg-113-ii24-wstate-mallottb-20130516.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://docs.house.gov/meetings/ii/ii24/20130516/100839/hhrg-113-ii24-wstate-mallottb-20130516.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=pp.41-66|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) protested against Hickel's nomination, but he was eventually confirmed.<ref name=ray/><ref name=sealaska/> He worked with the AFN, negotiating with Native leaders and state government over the disputed lands. Offers went back and forth, with each rejecting the other's proposals.<ref name=naske>{{cite book|last1=Naske|first1=Claus-M.|title=Alaska: A History of the 49th State|date=1994|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=080612573X|pages=202–205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xhQl1WDWa0C&q=Hickel+worked+with+the+AFN%2C+negotiating+between+Natives+and+Alaska&pg=PA205|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> The AFN wanted rights to land, while then-Governor [[Keith Harvey Miller|Keith Miller]] believed Natives did not have legitimate claims to state land in light of the provisions of the [[Alaska Statehood Act]].<ref name=naske/> On July 8, 1970, Nixon delivered a speech reversing the [[Indian termination policy]] in favor of allowing tribal [[Self-determination#United States|self-determination]].<ref name="Berry, 1975" />{{rp|153}}<ref name="Peroff, 2006" >{{cite book |last1=Peroff |first1=Nicholas C. |author-link=Nicholas Peroff |title=Menominee Drums: Tribal Termination and Restoration, 1954-1974 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iiiCmDGDr4C&pg=PA7 |date=2006 |edition=Pbk. |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |location=Norman, Oklahoma |isbn=978-0-8061-3777-3}}</ref>{{rp|7}}<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Natives Approve Federal Plan to Alter Role of Government |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-oct-03-1970-3491867/ |access-date=October 5, 2022 |work=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] |date=October 3, 1970 |location=Fairbanks, Alaska |page=1 |via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref> The following month, he established the [[National Council on Indian Opportunity]], headed by Vice President [[Spiro Agnew]],<ref name="newspaperarchive.com">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Laura Bergt on Council |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-aug-25-1970-3491730/ |access-date=October 3, 2022 |work=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] |date=August 25, 1970 |location=Fairbanks, Alaska |page=3 |via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref> which included eight Native leaders: Frank Belvin (Choctaw), Bergt (Iñupiat), [[Betty Mae Jumper]] (Seminole), Earl Old Person (Blackfeet), John C. Rainer (Taos Pueblo), Martin Seneca Jr. (Seneca), Harold Shunk (Yankton-Sioux), and Joseph C. "Lone Eagle" Vasquez (Apache-Sioux).<ref>{{cite journal |title=President Appoints New Indian Council Members |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHnjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP4 |journal=NCIO News |volume=1 |issue=1 |date=December 1970 |publisher=[[National Council on Indian Opportunity]] |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=2, 5 |oclc=2264644}}</ref><ref name="newspaperarchive.com"/><ref>{{cite report |last1=Taylor |first1=Theodore W. |title=The States and Their Indian Citizens |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED087583.pdf |publisher=[[Brookings Institution]] |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320204530/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED087583.pdf |archive-date=March 20, 2022 |location=Washington, D.C. |date=1972 |id=ED-087-583 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|157}}

[[File:Ted Stevens 1979.jpg|205px|thumb|left|alt=Senator Ted Stevens in 1979, wearing a black suit & dark tie. The image is in black & white. Wikipedia caption reads "Ted Stevens was key in the bill's passage.".|[[Ted Stevens]] was key in the bill's passage.]]During the state administration of Governor [[William A. Egan]] positions were staked out upon which the AFN and other stakeholders could largely agree.<ref name=haycox2>{{cite book|last1=Haycox|first1=Stephen|title=Alaska: An American Colony|date=2006|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=0295986298|pages=271–287|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=natRq6WCu4oC&q=land+selection|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> Native leaders, in addition to Alaska's congressional delegation and the state's newly elected Governor Egan, eventually reached the basis for presenting an agreement to Congress.<ref name=naske/><ref name=haycox2/> Bergt attended a March 1971 conference of the [[National Congress of American Indians]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] and was able to persuade Agnew there to meet with national officials, herself, Christiansen, an Alaska State Senator; [[Al Ketzler]], chair of the [[Tanana Chiefs Conference]]; and [[Don Wright (politician)|Don Wright]], president of the Alaska Federation of Natives a week later.<ref name="Berry, 1975" />{{rp|153}}<ref name="Tundra, 1971">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->  |title=Drama Tinges Meeting on Claims between Agnew, Native Leaders |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-mar-17-1971-3493083/ |access-date=October 5, 2022 |work=[[Tundra Times]] |date=March 17, 1971 |location=Fairbanks, Alaska |pages=[https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-mar-17-1971-3493083/ 1], [https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-mar-17-1971-3493095/ 6] |via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref> That meeting held on March 12, marked a turning-point in negotiations with the various parties.<ref name="Tundra, 1971" /> The proposed settlement terms faced challenges in both houses but found a strong ally in Senator [[Henry M. Jackson]] from [[Washington (state)|Washington state]].<ref name=haycox2/> The most controversial issues that continued to hold up approval were methods for determining land selection by Alaska Natives and financial distribution.<ref name=haycox2/>

With major petroleum dollars on the line, pressure mounted to achieve a definitive legislative resolution at the federal level.<ref name=morehouse>{{cite web|last1=Morehouse|first1=Thomas A.|title=Native Claims and Political Development: A Comparative Analysis|url=http://www.alaskool.org/projects/ancsa/international/tmwrsa1.html|date=1987|publisher=alaskool.org|access-date=30 November 2014}}</ref> In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was signed into law by President Nixon.<ref name=thomas/> It abrogated Native claims to aboriginal lands except those that are the subject of the law.<ref name=thomas/><ref name=fws>{{cite web | title= Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act | publisher = U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | url= http://laws.fws.gov/lawsdigest/alasnat.html | access-date= 2005-09-01| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050831174048/http://laws.fws.gov/lawsdigest/alasnat.html| archive-date= 31 August 2005 | url-status= live}}</ref> In return, Natives retained up to {{convert|44|e6acre|km2}} of land and were paid $963 million.<ref name=thomas/><ref name=fws/> The land and money were to be divided among regional, urban, and village tribal corporations established under the law, often recognizing existing leadership.<ref name=dixie>{{cite journal|last1=Dixie|first1=Dayo|title=Institutional innovation in less than ideal conditions: management of commons by an Alaska Native village corporation|journal=International Journal of the Commons|date=2010|volume= 4| issue = 1|url=http://www.thecommonsjournal.org/index.php/ijc/article/view/146|access-date=30 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=urban>{{cite web|title= 43 U.S.C. § 1602(o), "Urban Corporation" |url=https://ancsa.lbblawyers.com/1602.htm |access-date=30 November 2014}}</ref>

Alaskan officials were originally divided on the bill, though by 1970, with Interior Secretary [[Walter Hickel]], Governor [[William A. Egan|William Egan]], Representative [[Nick Begich Sr.|Nick Begich]] & Senators [[Ted Stevens]] & [[Mike Gravel]] all backing the bill, the opposition died down. Stevens was particularly strongminded, and was key in the bill's passage. Stevens, a freshman Senator for most of the fight, would later remark:<ref name="tsancsa">{{cite web|url=https://tedstevensfoundation.org/ts_and_ancsa/|author=Ted Stevens Foundation|title=Ted Stevens and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act|date=3 May 2019 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=ANCSA was my baptism of fire as a Senator from Alaska{{nbsp}}.... It didn't occur to me that some Senators had the opportunity to ease into their jobs. Life in the Senate for me was fast-paced from the beginning{{nbsp}}.... With my experience working in the Department of the Interior and with the Statehood Act, and my faith in the determination and unity of purpose of Alaska's Native people, I believed from the beginning that a settlement could be achieved{{nbsp}}.... My memories of the Congressional action as ANCSA took shape aren't of a battle as much as they are of long hours of tough, hard negotiating, often two steps forward and one step back{{nbsp}}....}}