Sealaska Bill Goes After the Best of the Tongass

Southeast Alaska's regional native corporation; Sealaska, has not finalized the land selection and transfer granted to it in 1971 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). 

In September 2007 Congressman Don Young introduced H.R. 3560, a bill to finalize Sealaska's outstanding land claims estimated at 60,000 to 65,000 acres.

ANCSA clearly defines the withdrawal areas from which Sealaska is to select its entitlement.  Roughly 327,000 acres are still available to Sealaska for selection from these withdrawal "boxes."  In Representative Young's bill, H.R. 3560, however, Sealaska argues that these remaining lands are not of high enough quality and instead wants to select all of its remaining entitlement "outside the box."  The land Sealaska is seeking is among the richest and most biologically productive in the Tongass and also includes some of the forest's most popular bays and river valleys.