is a village of approximately 550 people which has already lost a large percentage of the young adults to suicide in the last year and a half.

What pushed these individuals to suicide and murder is not really known. In some cases, it was alcohol and for others it could have been a feeling of hopelessness or the stress caused by trying to find a place in a culture which is undergoing dramatic social and cultural change. What we do know, however, is that people in our region are under a terrific amount of pressure to simply survive in today's modern world.

In Alaska, the Calista region is notoriously known for having the highest unemployment rates and the lowest per capita income of any region in the state. But this really isn't surprising because the Calista region is totally undeveloped and has no major economic activities such as timber, mining or oil exploration or high value fishery to spur the local village economies. In many villages, the unemployment rate is between 80 and 90% during the winter, although it may fall to 60 or 70% during the summer. In light of the high unemployment rates, it is not surprising to find that the Calista region is also ranked as the region with the lowest per capita income. In 1986, the per capita income for Alaska was $18,378, whereas the per capita income for the Calista region was $9,887 which was 46% below the state's average. And of the income received by local residents, 31% is usually from transfer payments such as aid to families of dependent children, social security and general assistance. The remaining income usually comes from commercial fishing or the few part-time government funded jobs in the villages such as community health aid, headstart teacher or postal clerk. So as you can see, the people in the Calista region are very dependent, either directly or indirectly, on state and federal assistance for their survival.

of the major problem areas, health and social problems in the Calista region have been addressed by state and federal agencies on an on-going basis, albeit with limited success, but little

assistance has been provided in terms of solving the region's economic crisis. We feel that by improving the economic climate and the quality of life in the region, many of the social and health problems which now exist would be lessened. Without some form of economic development in the region, it will be necessary to continue providing large infusions of state and federal monies to subsidize existing programs so that the present level of services can be maintained.

With the exception of the occasional community construction project, there has been little economic development in the Calista region. Since its inception, Calista Corporation has tried to promote economic development in the region either by operating business enterprises or by supporting legislation and activities which encourage economic development in rural Alaska. Unfortunately, Calista's business ventures in the region have largely failed due to the extremely high costs associated with doing business in Bush Alaska, which can only be likened to doing business in a Third World country. Just to name a few, we have seen a fisheries business fail because we couldn't compete due to high transportation costs and being far from the world markets; our wholesale distributorship failed because some villages couldn't afford to pay their bills after they purchased goods; and again, we couldn't compete with the large suppliers in Anchorage and Seattle because of high overhead and transportation costs involved with transporting small quantities of goods to an extremely rural area.

Furthermore, we are precluded from investing in expensive development activities such as oil and gas exploration because the corporation simply cannot afford to risk spending millions of dollars looking for mineral deposits or oil and gas reserves on the corporation's land. Although it is believed that there are major mineral deposits in the Calista region, the capital and data necessary for the exploration and development of these resources is simply not available, consequently, the region remains static with respect to economic development.

ANCSA was passed with the intent to give Alaska Natives a cash and land settlement which could be used to provide an opportunity for Alaska Natives to compete with the non-Native population and to raise their standard of living. Congress partially based the size of the settlement on the extreme poverty and underprivileged status of Alaska Natives and recogniztion that there was a need for adequate resources if Alaska Natives were to help themselves economically. Unfortunately, the economic opportunities that the cash settlement was to have provided never materialized, especially in the Calista region. Had the economic climate in Alaska remained fairly constant, this intent might have been accomplished.

Nobody predicted, nor could they have predicted, that the state's and nation's economy would change as dramatically as it did in the 1970's. It was impossible to predict that this country would go through its worst inflationary years during this time and Alaska would experience the biggest boom ever when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was constructed. Furthermore, it was impossible to predict that oil would go from below $5 per barrel to $40 per barrel providing the state of Alaska with an incredible infusion of cash in a short period of time which would be used to build multi-million dollar facilities in Anchorage, provided school loans to students and home loans to just about anyone wanting to buy a house in an urban community.

The buying power and the window of opportunity that was thought to be available to Native corporations as a result of the $962 million quickly shrank or dried up. The inflationary measures associated with pipeline construction and North Slope development also ate into the Native corporation buying power.

The nationwide inflation; the infusion of outside capital; the creation of wealth from Alaska oil; the meteoric expansion of state government and the rapid decline of the Native corporation buying power all played their part in guaranteeing that the Native community would not have adequate resources to fulfill the expectations of Congress with respect to ANCSA. In the end, the Native cor

porations were not in a position to compete as well as had been expected with the non-Native community, nor were they able to take the same position in the economic circles in Alaska that they might otherwise have taken without the unexpected change in the state's economic conditions.

Although improvement in the living standards for Alaska Natives has been made in recent years, ANCSA has made a relatively minor contribution. It was mainly federal and state monies that were used to fund social programs and capital improvements in the villages for health clinics, sewer and water systems and housing. Instead, most of the Native corporations, in particular the village corporations, have used a large portion of their cash settlement simply to implement ANCSA. Over the years, substantial amounts of money have also been spent by the regional corporations on legal fees for ANCSA associated litigation, in particular, on clarification of 7(i) revenue sharing, conveyance issues and enrollment/eligibility provisions of ANCSA. Little of the money from the settlement has been available to promote economic development.

In terms of the individual Alaska Native, the impact of the actual cash settlement has been minor as well. At-large shareholders received about $6,500 in dividends over the course of the Alaska Native fund distributions and those enrolled to the village corporations received about $400 over the same period of time. Considering Alaska's high cost of living and inflation, these amounts were insignificant.

When asked how ANCSA can help them, Calista shareholders say that the only way the corporation can benefit them directly is to give them jobs or pay them a regular dividend. То no one's surprise, Calista Corporation has been able to employ only a small number of shareholders and, with a few exceptions, has yet to pay regular or substantial dividends. Instead, the corporation has had to provide numerous services to its shareholders that are not regular functions of a normal business corporation and should not have involved a major corporate effort. In turn, the provision of these services has

resulted in the corporation having less money available for business investments and ventures in the region and elsewhere.

At the time of ANCSA's passage, Congress and individuals expected that the corporations would administer the settlement and would serve as vehicles for achieving far-ranging goals, especially with respect to economic development. It was widely believed that through ANCSA, Alaska Natives would realize a higher standard of living and self-sufficiency, both through the direct settlement benefits and through efforts initiated by the village and regional corporations. The corporations were seen as vehicles to promote the health, education, social and economic welfare of their shareholders. Everyone believed that the assets conveyed to the corporation would be used to initiate a process of economic development in rural Alaska which, by a "trickle-down" effect, would benefit all Alaska Native villagers.

These expectations have resulted in unrealistic demands being placed on Calista Corporation, many of which are more appropriate for governments than of corporations. The corporation is limited legally and financially in what it can do to meet the social, cultural and income needs of its shareholders. Calista Corporation can no longer ignore its fiscal responsibilities or divert its focus from profitmaximizing activities without jeopardizing its corporate survival. The corporation cannot fully engage in the mainstream of Alaskan economic activity and at the same time fully serve the aspirations of over 13,300 shareholders, many of which continue to state that .control of the land and preservation of the traditional way of life should be the corporation's primary objective. In summary, Calista Corporation has not been able to fulfill the range of high expectations placed on it by its shareholders, and it is highly unlikely that we may ever do so.

It is impossible to estimate the revenues lost to Calista Corporation during the early years of implementing ANCSA, as well as from direct litigation costs associated with seeking the conveyance of title to our land. The greatest loss to this corporation,