Friday, August 27, 2010
The Native Lands
I was just wondering how much the natives got out of this ANSCA deal. The natives got 44 million acres of land and $962.5 million for the land they lost. But how much land did they lose? What type of land did they lose? ANSCA did its best to go to all the different villages and figure out where everybody's fishing, egging, hunting, gathering, and and other traditionally used grounds were. Approximately 65% of Alaska is federally owned. How much of that used to be natively owned? 44 million acres are only a small fraction of Alaska. $962.5 million sounds like a lot, unless the natives gave up 100 acres or more. Does anyone know how much traditionally used land was given? Anyone have an elder that lived before 1971 that could tell them how the lands they lost changed their live or culture? Cause if we could hear from one of them and hear, first hand, how that land helped them survive and support their culture, and how they were able to manage without those traditional lands, that'd be really cool.
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About how much is an acre worth? If I understand right, the reason why they gave part of the settlement in money was that the lawsuits claimed more than half of Alaska! I also understand that the settlement was not what was owed, but what was needed to survive on a subsistance basis.
ReplyDeleteWhat would happen if Natives were allowed to subsist on National Parks?
I think that Howard Luke is a good person to ask about the changes, as he is the sole surviver (at least who lives there) of a entire village.
id have to agree with you Vashti we lost a lot of land i think the Natives only own about 20% of the land and the federal government holds about 65% and that leaves the state with whatevers left over. 44 million acres sounds like a lot but once you think about how much we used traditionally its only a fraction. and what about over the water because my people (the Tlingits) would fish all across the water. what does ANCSA say about that?
ReplyDeletei do not think ANCSA fixed all past wrongs. it merely set things so that the Natives would still be able to subsist.
ReplyDeletei also think that it shouldn't matter the percent that the Natives get, just the amount that they do. i don't think it matters how much the Federal Government gets or Companies, but i do think that it matters that the Natives get enough land for their use. After that, it doesn't matter a bit to me who owns the land as long as it is legal. still, it is not fair that there is no settlement for past wrongs, hence the 962,500,000 dollars.
The sad thing is that many people now are using our traditional land less each year. With technology improving rapidly and the need for a more modern life to survive, why need the land? Of course I personally don't believe this and it disappoints me to acknowledge this but it's true.
ReplyDeleteWell when I interveiwed my grandma she told me that in the papers fedral owned land was illegal. Now how did that happen? After they said that in the papers did everyone else decided to give up 65% to the government? It's a sad thing that we lost land that was traditionally used for years.
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