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.
Tlingit & Haida back a Ketchikan plan to treat addiction closer to home
The Tlingit & Haida tribe backs a Ketchikan plan for a residential addiction treatment center so Southeast Alaskans no longer have to leave the region for care.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The federal government wants to lift roadless protections, including in the Tongass
USDA wants to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule across 58.5 million acres, including the Tongass. Alaskans have until Sept. 21 to weigh in on it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
AFN holds a subsistence listening session in Fairbanks on Aug. 31
The Alaska Federation of Natives holds a subsistence listening session in Fairbanks on Aug. 31, gathering harvesters' and elders' input on the future of subsistence.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Tlingit law student Gloria Wolfe wins the Judson L. Brown Leadership Award
Tlingit law student Gloria Wolfe won the 2026 Judson L. Brown Leadership Award and $5,000 scholarship for her work leading Indigenous organizations and founding a consulting practice.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Tlingit & Haida moves to expand its printing business into a historic Juneau building
Tlingit & Haida is seeking up to $375,000 to expand its tribally owned printing business and move it into a historic Juneau building it recently bought.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
The State Fair is open now
The Alaska State Fair is back in Palmer through Sept. 7 — a stacked concert lineup, giant cabbages and pumpkins, carnival rides and fair food.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
AFN gives delegates another week to file convention resolutions
AFN gave delegates another week to file convention resolutions, now due Aug. 28. Divisive issues go to the Board rather than to the delegates.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A Tlingit infant, held for years in a Seattle museum, is coming home to Petersburg
A Tlingit infant girl whose remains were held for years in a Seattle museum is returning home to Petersburg, where her tribe will welcome her Sept. 4.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Tanana Chiefs wins federal grant for suicide prevention in 15 villages
Of 122 youth referred to Tanana Chiefs behavioral health last year, 76 were admitted. A new federal grant funds suicide prevention in 15 Interior villages.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bering Straits firm wins environmental work at four Air Force bases
An Anchorage firm owned by Norton Sound shareholders will run environmental compliance at four Air Force bases, two of them nuclear-mission installations.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Koniag shareholders get nine chances to question their corporation's leadership in person
Koniag shareholders get nine chances this month to question their leadership in person, from the Kodiak Archipelago to Seattle, Portland and Soldotna.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska tribes get their yearly say on Head Start funding, against a backdrop of documented shortfalls
Alaska tribes running Head Start get their annual say next month on how the program's money is divided, amid research finding tribal programs underfunded.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Money for Alaska Native education keeps flowing, but no new competition has opened in nearly two years
Money for Alaska Native education keeps reaching current grantees, but no new competition has opened since late 2023, leaving no clear door for new applicants.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Koniag subsidiary lands State Department writer work, up to $1.6 million
Koniag Professional Services won a State Department contract worth up to $1.6 million to staff a writer and editor position, though the job is based in Virginia, not Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Ouzinkie village corporation wins courthouse contracts in Florida
A village corporation from a 110-person Alutiiq island is fixing courthouse restrooms in Florida. One of the five awards bought only a new contract number.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tanana Chiefs benefits staff come to McGrath on 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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
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 1mo ago1 min read
A Tsimshian carver, accused of inventing clan stories, is affirmed by another clan
Accused by some in his own community of inventing Tsimshian migration stories, carver David Boxley was publicly affirmed by a Wrangell clan that shares them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
APIA is hiring two paid interns in Anchorage and Sand Point
APIA is hiring two paid interns, in Anchorage and Sand Point, for hands-on work in employment and social services for Alaska Native communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
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 News1mo ago3 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago5 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Haida class spends two years recovering a 74-line migration story
A Haida class spent two years retranscribing a single 74-line migration story, uncovering meaning a century-old English translation had flattened — and connecting a scattered Haida diaspora through the work.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tribes objected to a federal rollback of Native welfare rules. HHS did it anyway.
HHS is cutting federal rules governing Native welfare-to-work programs run by Alaska's tribal nonprofits — over objections from tribal organizations that said they weren't properly consulted, and that called it a sovereignty concern.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
