Tanana Chiefs warns Dalton corridor transfer threatens subsistence lands

Tanana Chiefs Conference warned that the U.S. Department of the Interior's transfer of significant acreage in the Dalton Utility Corridor to the State of Alaska could place subsistence lands, wildlife habitat, and culturally significant areas at greater risk as development pressures increase across the region.

Shauna Hildebrand, Tribal Development Director at Tanana Chiefs Conference, made the statement during the organization's May 19 weekly radio broadcast on KRFF 89.1 FM. "These are our ancestral homelands," Hildebrand said. "They are places where our people have hunted, fished, gathered, traveled, and passed down our way of life for generations."

The Interior Department announced May 6 the conveyance of approximately 1.4 million acres in the corridor to Alaska as part of statehood land entitlements. Alaska News previously covered the transfer announcement.

Tanana Chiefs Conference expressed concern about expanded oil, gas, mining, and infrastructure development in the corridor. The organization called on state and federal agencies to ensure tribes are meaningfully involved in future decisions affecting the lands.

For decades, the lands were managed under federal public land orders. Both federal and state land management systems include regulatory frameworks for subsistence and wildlife protection, though the specific rules and enforcement mechanisms differ between jurisdictions.