0:54

Lisa Murkowski

35:07 - 36:02

"you've got about 35,000 Alaska Natives in this part of the state that have not received any of their lands under the Settlement Act. And so what you have is, is an inequity, an unfairness that has existed for some 50 years now. And so to remedy all of this, we have been working again for years, for decades really, to complete this settlement and to allow for the formation of 5 what we call urban Native corporations. We in this legislation specify the exact parcels of land that would fulfill these Native communities' land entitlements."

“you've got about 35,000 Alaska Natives in this part of the state that have not received any of their lands under the Settlement Act. And so what you have is, is an inequity, an unfairness that has existed for some 50 years now. And so to remedy all of this, we have been working again for years, for decades really, to complete this settlement and to allow for the formation of 5 what we call urban Native corporations. We in this legislation specify the exact parcels of land that would fulfill these Native communities' land entitlements.”

Speaker: Lisa Murkowski
Timestamp: 35:07 – 36:02
Source: Senate Energy and Natural Resources (Murkowski): Business meeting to consider S.365 and H.R.1729, bills to amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to allow for additional entities to be eligible to complete the maintenance work on Bolts Ditch and the Bolts Ditch Headgate within the Holy Cross Wilderness, Colorado, S.764, to provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, S.791, to establish the Justice Thurgood Marshall National Historic Site in the State of Maryland as an affiliated area of the National Park System, S.888, to designate certain land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service in the State of Oregon as wilderness and national recreation areas, to withdraw certain land located in Curry County and Josephine County, Oregon, from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws, S.945, to amend the Smith River National Recreation Area Act to include certain additions to the Smith River National Recreation Area, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain wild rivers in the State of Oregon, S.1088, to provide that the memorial to commemorate the sacrifice and service of the women who worked on the home front to support the efforts of the United States military during World War II may be located on the National Mall, S.1175, to amend section 6903 of title 31, United States Code, to provide for additional population tiers, S.1341, to amend the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to add certain land to the Sarvis Creek Wilderness, S.1349, to withdraw the National Forest System land in the Ruby Mountains subdistrict of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the National Wildlife Refuge System land in Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Elko and White Pine Counties, Nevada, from operation under the mineral leasing laws, S.1413, to authorize additional funding for the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act, S.1476, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Gila River system in the State of New Mexico as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, to provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of New Mexico, S.1737, to designate and expand wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest in the State of Washington, and to designate certain rivers in Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park as wild and scenic rivers, S.1870, to adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, S.2554, to provide for the recognition of certain Alaska Native communities and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, S.2754 and H.R.5911, to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey to the City of Ouray, Colorado, certain land managed by the Forest Service, together with a reservoir, S.3526, to provide for the protection of and investment in certain Federal land in the State of California, S.3725, to require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of constructing a project to supply municipal, rural, and industrial water to expand the capacity and reach of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, Inc. (doing business as "Lewis & Clark Regional Water System"), in the States of Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota, S.3732, to amend the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act to authorize assistance under the storage program, H.R.249, to redesignate certain facilities at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park in honor of Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr, and the nominations of William Hague, of Washington, to be an Assistant Secretary, Kevin Lilly, of Texas, to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, both of the Department of the Interior, and Kaveh Farzad, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (International Affairs).
Community: Alaska News
Captured at: July 16, 2026

From the transcript

We've asked for a review and an understanding of that, but the fact of the matter is that you've got about 35,000 Alaska Natives in this part of the state that have not received any of their lands under the Settlement Act. And so what you have is, is an inequity, an unfairness that has existed for some 50 years now. And so to remedy all of this, we have been working again for years, for decades really, to complete this settlement and to allow for the formation of 5 what we call urban Native corporations. We in this legislation specify the exact parcels of land that would fulfill these Native communities' land entitlements. And believe me, that's not an easy process.

Related Coverage

Thursday, July 16, 2026Thu, Jul 16, 2026

Senate committee advances bill to give land to five landless SE Alaska Native communities

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted July 16 to advance legislation that would let five Southeast Alaska Native communities excluded from the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act form urban corporations and receive land entitlements, sending the bill to the full Senate.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2h ago2 min readAI

Southeast Alaska

Cover image for article: Senate committee advances bill to give land to five landless SE Alaska Native communities

View full transcript