Indigenous Affairs
RSSAlaska Native and tribal affairs: governance, ANCSA regional corporations, subsistence rights, language, and cultural preservation. Spans roughly 20% of Alaska's population and every major policy domain the state touches.
Yaadás clan historian says he only recently traced how his clan got the beaver crest
Yaadás clan historian Benjamin Young recently traced two competing accounts of how his Haida clan acquired the beaver crest, one from early ethnography and one from fur trade history.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1d ago3 min readAI
TCC benefits staff visit McGrath Aug. 17-20, with a family night Wednesday
Tanana Chiefs Conference benefits staff visit McGrath on Aug. 19 to meet families and explain programs for employment, cash assistance, and education in person.
by Maggie AlaskaNews12h ago1 min readAI
His own community accused him of inventing the stories, David Boxley said. Then a Wrangell clan leader said his archives affirm them.
Carver David Boxley told a Juneau audience that Tsimshian history predates the 1887 mission. He is working to reclaim stories lost to colonial suppression.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2d ago4 min readAI
APIA hiring two paid employment-services interns in Anchorage and Sand Point
Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association is hiring two paid employment-services interns in Anchorage and Sand Point at $20.34 to $22.89 an hour for three-month positions.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2d ago1 min readAI
Supreme Court declines to review Alaska's challenge to rural subsistence priority
The Supreme Court declined to hear Alaska's challenge to federal subsistence priority, leaving rural residents with first claim to fish and game on federal waters when supplies run short.
by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago5 min readAI
Sealaska Heritage publishes fifth graders' documentary on Walter Soboleff
Auke Bay Elementary students produced a documentary on Dr. Walter Soboleff. The film fills a gap in classroom history materials.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAI
Juneau's casino opened on shifting ground and now faces suits on two fronts
Juneau's tribal casino opened through a federal opening since rescinded, and now faces the state, a family lawsuit and doubt about whether it's even legal.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair days before a bycatch-shaped election
Days before the final vote, the Bering Sea pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair — as salmon bycatch, and a new mandatory chum cap, roil the 2026 campaign.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readAI
NANA's fall payout works out to about $1,687 for an original shareholder
NANA's fall payout is $16.87 a share — about $1,687 for an original shareholder with 100 shares. Update your information by Nov. 6 to be paid on time.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
SBA rule drops 8(a) disadvantage presumption for individual owners, leaves Native corporations untouched
Alaska Native corporation-owned firms keep federal 8(a) contracting eligibility unchanged, but individual applicants must now prove disadvantage starting Sept. 10.
by Alaska News3d ago2 min readAI
Sealaska Heritage concludes ninth annual education conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute concluded its ninth annual education conference in Juneau, drawing hundreds of educators from Alaska and beyond for sessions on culturally responsive teaching.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Tanana's rebuilt village clinic has opened
Tanana's village health clinic has reopened after a tribe-led rehabilitation of a building that needed structural repair, one of nearly 40 clinics TCC runs in the Interior.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Doyon shareholders must update their address or miss a distribution
Several hundred Doyon shareholders won't get a distribution until they update their mailing address. Check the Undeliverable Mail List at doyon.com.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
41.3 million for Alaska Native education is freed up after a month's delay
Fifteen Alaska organizations will share $41.3 million in Native education grants that came a month late, freed up after Sen. Murkowski pressed the education secretary directly.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
A sacred site promised in 1978 is being considered by Congress to go to Doyon
A sacred Athabascan site was promised to Doyon in 1978, then a national park grew around it. Congress is finally moving to hand it over.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
A free clinic helps BBNC shareholders decide who inherits their shares
A free Dillingham clinic Aug. 13 lets BBNC shareholders write stock wills, choosing who inherits their shares instead of leaving it to default law.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Rural road access was Alaska's biggest federal award last week
Tribal transportation was Alaska's biggest federal award last week — $2.68 million for rural road access, in a state with fewer road miles than Connecticut.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Doyon opens a descendant registry with hiring preference and training
Doyon opens a Descendant Registry this fall, giving shareholders' descendants a path to hiring preference, training and internships. Gather birth records early.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Aleut Corp's Skoey Vergen elected vice chair of the regional corporation association
Skoey Vergen, head of the Aleut Corporation since 2021, has been elected vice chair of the ANCSA Regional Association, giving Aleut a leadership seat among Alaska's 12 regional corporations.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
Tlingit & Haida leaders ask tourists to stop using totem poles as social media props
Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian leaders are asking tourists to stop using totem poles as social media backdrops, saying the carved poles hold sacred stories and ancestors, not Instagram props.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Anchorage Assembly recognizes four Eklutna youth interns for Elders meal program
Anchorage Assembly recognized four Eklutna youth interns who spent the summer harvesting salmon and moose for an Elders Freezer Meal program, then delivered meals to tribal Elders' homes.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
Juneau sets hearing on $1.5M City Hall sale to Sealaska Heritage Institute
Juneau hears testimony Aug. 17 on selling the old City Hall site to Sealaska Heritage Institute for $1.5M for an arts center, or opening it to higher bids.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
20 Alaska Native students are training to bring health care home to rural communities
Twenty Alaska Native students are training as nurses, midwives and doctors on tribal scholarships — many aiming to bring care home to rural communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
A faster way to settle Native trust estates, starting in Alaska
Settling a Native allotment after a death has meant slow federal paperwork — now Interior has an online system to speed it up, and Alaska families are first to use it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
IHS picks Sitka and Bethel tribal health groups for first-ever elder care construction program
Indian Health Service picked Sitka and Bethel tribal health groups to build and expand skilled nursing facilities, the first time the federal program has funded long-term elder care in Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago1 min readAI
Alaska Native ivory carvers can now sell their work in all 50 states
A new federal law lets Alaska Native artists sell walrus-ivory handicrafts in all 50 states, fixing a mess where anti-elephant-ivory bans accidentally swept up legal Native carving
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Nominations open for Arctic shipping panel with reserved Alaska seats
Alaska Native tribes and coastal groups have until Sept. 22 to seek seats on a new federal panel shaping U.S. Arctic shipping policy as sea lanes open.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min readAI
Sealaska Heritage honors four Southeast educators at Juneau conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute awarded four Southeast Alaska educators for weaving Indigenous knowledge into classrooms at its annual conference in Juneau.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1d ago2 min readAI
At The Aleut Corporation, a promotion is a window into how a Native corporation works
The Aleut Corporation promoted Theresa Cross to oversee operations across four subsidiaries — a look at how an ANCSA regional corporation works for its Unangax̂ shareholders.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago3 min readAI
UIC just crossed $1 billion in revenue — a milestone almost no village corp reaches
UIC just crossed $1 billion in revenue. Almost no Alaska Native village corporation gets there.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Southcentral Foundation treats traditional food as medicine at a free Anchorage gathering
Southcentral Foundation hosts a free two-day Traditional Foods Gathering July 27 and 28 in Anchorage, treating Alaska Native harvests as medicine and health, not just culture.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Dorothy Grant's 40 years of Haida design come home to Juneau
Four decades of Dorothy Grant's Haida fashion, including a wedding dress on loan from the Smithsonian, are on view in Juneau through Oct. 17. Free for anyone under 18.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
Six graduate a Tanana Chiefs apprenticeship built to staff Interior clinics
Six apprentices finished Tanana Chiefs Conference's yearlong clinical training in Fairbanks — the first cohort where everyone who started made it through.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 6d ago1 min readAI
House passes Alaska Native walrus-ivory protection bill
House passed legislation allowing Alaska Native artists to sell walrus-ivory handicrafts nationwide, overriding state bans that had criminalized traditional art protected under federal marine-mammal law.
by Alaska Newsadded 2mo ago2 min readAI
Fewer geese on the Y-K Delta, and a proposal to let hunters take fewer
White-fronted geese are declining on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, so Alaska wants to cut the bag limit from 10 to 6 — in a region where geese are a staple food. Comment by Aug. 5.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
The DV hotline's non-English access rule is moving out of regulation
The rule requiring the domestic violence hotline to serve non-English speakers is leaving binding regulation for weaker grant notices, over tribal objection.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Alaska's high court reversed a decision to end a Native mother's parental rights — over how the state made its case
The Alaska Supreme Court reversed a Native mother's parental-rights termination, finding the state's ICWA cultural testimony too vague to meet the law's high bar.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Nalukataq season carries Alaska whaling traditions into summer
Nalukataq celebrations honoring bowhead whale hunts move across five northern Alaska communities from mid-June through early July, distributing whale meat and muktuk to mark the tradition.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Kuskokwim subsistence fishing reopens as salmon run strong
Subsistence fishing is back open on the lower Kuskokwim as salmon run strong — and the state is managing the mainstem again after losing a long fight over who controls the river.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Federal migratory bird subsistence rules take effect across Alaska
Alaska's spring subsistence bird harvest is older than the U.S. — and a 1916 treaty effectively banned it until 1997. This week's update continues a hunt Native communities never gave up.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
