New legislation could give hundreds of thousands of Tongass and Glacier Bay acres to native corporations.

Two pieces of legislation have recently cropped up again.  One would allow Sealaska to cherrypick top Tongass wildands in order to finalize its lands entitlements.  The other would create five new native corporations.

Sealaska Bill

Senator Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Don Young introduced “revised” Sealaska bill (S. 881 and H.R 2099), on April 23, 2009, and Senator Begich co-sponsored the Senate legislation. 

The “revised” bills fail to address major public concerns and comments raised with earlier versions of the bill. The Alaska Delegation needs to hear from you that this bill misses the mark.  We need to see a balanced approach that addresses all the needs of the forest.