House subcommittee hears testimony on conveying 21,578 Denali acres to Doyon

Geese House is not a building. It is a natural rock formation near Lake Minchumina that runs through the oral traditions of the Northern Athabascan people of the Upper Kantishna region, and one of only a handful of physically defined cultural sites Doyon, Limited chose when Congress let Native corporations select such places under the 1971 land claims settlement. Doyon formally selected it on Sept. 18, 1978. Forty-eight years later, the land still belongs to the federal government.

Two years after the selection, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act drew the boundaries of Denali National Park and Preserve around it. The conveyance was never completed, and the Park Service eventually determined that only Congress could finish it.

That is what brought a House subcommittee to the subject Thursday. Rep. Nick Begich's bill would convey about 21,578 acres to Doyon within a year of enactment, bar mining and mineral activity, bar any transfer to anyone but the federal government, and bar development that would diminish the site's cultural significance. The acreage counts against Doyon's remaining ANCSA entitlement, and the Interior secretary would redraw the preserve boundary afterward. "They have been waiting ever since," Begich said of the 1978 selection.

Sarah Obed, Doyon's senior vice president of external affairs, testified for the corporation's board and its more than 20,700 shareholders. She described a light touch: shareholder access, some clearing of overgrowth inside the rock amphitheater, preservation. Getting there is not simple. "When we went out there 2 years ago, we went by helicopter," she said.

Nobody testified against it. Begich said the bill has the support of the Tanana Chiefs Conference and every village corporation and tribal government in the region, and that the Interior Department backs the identical Senate bill from Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. Ranking Member Teresa Leger Fernández said she saw no strong opposition. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee already voted to advance its version in July. The subcommittee did not vote Thursday.

Obed noted that the Geese House site is not the only thing outstanding. Doyon was entitled under ANCSA to more than 12 million acres across Interior Alaska and has received title to just over 11.8 million. The rest waits on survey work or, as here, on Congress.