COUNCIL OF ATHABASCAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS 126 • fort yukon, alaska 99740 (907) 662-2587 or (907) 662-2581

p.o.

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Daniel K. Inouye, Chairman

Select Committee on Indian Affairs

Washington, D. C.

SUBJECT:

20510-6450

TESTIMONY OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF ATHABASCAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS REGARDING THE STATUS OF ALASKA NATIVES

My name is Clarence L. Alexander. I am the Chairman of the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (CATG) and, in that position, represent 10 federally recognized tribal governments in the Yukon Flats in the Interior of Alaska. Attachment 1 to my written testimony is an "Organizational Background Summary" with maps and an organizational plan. The CAT6 has been meeting since September of 1985 to develop the economy, strengthen and unify the villages of the Yukon Flats, and to protect the land and resources we depend on for our livelihood. There are so many areas of concern that we must deal with every day that it will be difficult to give you even a basic idea of the problems we face and the solutions by which we are trying to solve them. The following paragraphs will be an attempt to outline some of the issues we feel are important to deal with.

ALASKA NATIVE REPRESENTATION

We keep hearing from representatives of Congress and their staff people that we must have one unified voice before they will listen to us. We also sense that many of these same people listen to the Alaska Federation of Natives as the voice of the people of Alaska. The truth is that AFN represents only the interests of the Native Corporations of Alaska. These are organizations that exist only on paper

of the people.

they do not represent people or the governments

We do not recognize the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

(ANCSA) nor the Corporate structure as having any relationship to the tribal

governments of Alaska. Through this Act of Congress, Native lands have been confiscated from the people who depend on them and, recently, the Act has been used to claim that there are no tribes in Alaska. We never once voted

on ANCSA and we remain on our land today as we have for thousands of years and nothing can erase the record of our inherent sovereignty and rights.

We ask that Congress recognize the reality of this situation just as they recognized the tribal rights of the Menominee Tribe in their struggle against termination. The Menominee Tribe was also saddled with a dysfunctional and inappropriate corporate structure but Congress recognized this error and the Menominee Tribe now has its land back under trust. would ask that the land that has been taken away from the tribes of Alaska be returned to the tribes of Alaska.

We

LOCAL CONTROL OVER PROGRAMS, SERVICES, AND RESOURCES

valuable resources

We have spent a lot of time and money struggling and following one dead end after another - someone elses solution to their perception of our problems. It seems that for every program for Indian Tribes for Self-Sufficiency and Economic Development, we have found that

there is always one more thing to do to accomplish our goals

more study required or something is missing from the plan.

there is one

After many years

of going through the process of failure after failure, we see the problems and we also see solutions. What we need is adequate support for our own planning process while we design our own projects and programs and for implementation of our own social and economic development plans.

We know what will work in our communities and our region

projects and programs fail because they are not integrated into our

CATG TESTIMONY BEFORE THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 5/27/89 Page 2

value system.

Federal and State programs are developed without our input

and they are often very restrictive, leaving no room for adjustment for the

As an

processes that are part of our own way of life and value system. example, our trappers were given assistance after the devastating fires of 1988 under the Job Training Partnership Act, but in the end, we were asked to come up with a wage for trapping. (Please see Attachment 2) It just

can't be done.

As another example, we consider the development of part time or seasonal jobs to be just as important or more important than the development of full time jobs because part time and seasonal jobs fit into our Subsistence Economy. Yet most federal and state jobs programs require us to create full

time positions they require people to change their way of life completely. We should be the ones to use those funds to create the kind of economy we can live with. People who want to live in a village economy are not trying to get rich

they are not trying to acquire a lot of material possessions they are trying to build a stable productive economy that supports their Subsistence way of life.

Parameters for federal programs should be broadly drawn to leave adequate room for individualized design. The Administration for Native Americans is a model of what we are talking about the program definition allows for a maximum variety of projects and the grant application process, in itself, assists us to identify and define our goals and objectives.

the

Since 1985, the CAT6 has been struggling to develop an economy in the Yukon Flats. We have found that our economy has two main components Subsistence Economy consisting of hunting, fishing, trapping and seasonal or part time employment and the Cash Economy consisting primarily of state and federal government employment. A great number of administrative dollars are

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lost to our economy because the programs are administered outside our

communities Indian Health Service is a primary example. Fort Yukon, where I am Chief, is now a PL93-638 Contractor for BIA Programs and we see this as the path of the future. We have recently submitted an application to the Administration for Native Americans to develop the capacity of the CATG to contract under authority of PL93-638. We see this as a means to strengthen the economy and to regain local control over services and resources in the

Yukon Flats.

The Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge is part of the 10,000 square mile area within which our 10 villages are located. Management is currently implemented by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Last year over two million acres were allowed to burn under the so called "Let Burn Policy". Over 25 trappers in the Yukon Flats lost their trap lines. Had we been involved with the development of the fire policy, in the first place, we might have been able to work with all the other agencies to meet the same objectives without ruining the Subsistence Economy. For example, controlled burns might have been implemented over the last several years to lessen the effects of abruptly changing fire policy from stopping all fires to the present let burn policy. We have been promised that we would be contacted and involved in all future policy making decisions. To date, we were never informed of any of the meetings which took place after this promise was made.

The

(Please

letters we received "answer" all concerns without doing anything. see Attachment 3.)

We are continuously subjected to new regulations which seek to control Subsistence activities. No resource has every been depleted or lost in the Even with modern technology, we

Yukon Flats due to Subsistence activities.

manage our resources because we want our children to be able to depend on them. We think that we have the greatest interest in protecting our land

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and resources and we ask that, as we attain the capacity to contract under PL93-638, that we be given contracts to manage the land we have been using for thousands of years. Not only would this serve the best interests of

everyone in protecting the land it would provide employment for our people in an area in which they have the deepest interest in maintaining.

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