Holding Our Ground Part 2

"Programs are presented as broadcast in 1985 and 1986. Some of the issues may have changed. A new series is looking at how these issues have changed over time. For more program information please contact the producer: Jim Sykes, PO Box 696, Palmer, AK 99645. The address given at the end of the program is no longer correct."

TapeAlaska Transcripts, PO Box 696, Palmer, AK 99645
HOLDING OUR GROUND
(c) 1985 Western Media Concepts, Inc.
"THE LAND AND SEA"
(Part 2 of 16)

[Louis Commack] Our land is like our parent. It provides us food, clothing and shelter. Without our land we would be homeless. We'd be like orphans.

[NARRATOR] ALASKA NATIVES HOPED THEIR LANDS WOULD BE SECURE AFTER CONGRESS PASSED THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT IN 1971. BUT THAT LAW PUT THOSE VERY LANDS AT RISK AND FOREVER CHANGED THE WAY NATIVE PEOPLES THINK ABOUT THE LAND. VILLAGE PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER ALASKA TELL THE MEANING OF THE LAND AND SEA AND THE IMPORTANCE OF HOLDING OUR GROUND.

FUNDING FOR "HOLDING OUR GROUND" IS PROVIDED BY THE ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM, THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, RURAL ALASKA COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM, THE NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH, AND ZIONTZ-PIRTLE LAW FIRM.

My name is Lydia George. I'm a housewife, I have eight children, four daughters and four sons, fourteen grandchildren. The land was very valuable to the Tlingit people of Angoon. We as people live off the land. Subsistence is our way of life.

IN THE PAST, ALASKA NATIVES HAD NEVER WORRIED ABOUT OWNING LAND. NO ONE NEEDED TO OWN IT AS LONG AS THEY COULD FREELY MAKE A LIVING FROM THE LAND.

[Lydia George] I was a member of Central Council when we got in land claim fight. We went and studied the land issues and how it's going to affect our lives. The people at that time said get some of the land back for our children and our grandchildren. I went and did a survey in the Tlingit language, we covered the whole island with Tlingit names. And the family where they hunted, and fished, and trapped. We had landmarks; it was written on the hillside, on the rocks themselves, and on the mountainside.

IN THE PAST, ALASKA NATIVES HAD NEVER WORRIED ABOUT OWNING LAND, NO ONE NEEDED TO OWN IT AS LONG AS THEY COULD FREELY MAKE A LIVING FROM THE LAND.

[Lydia George] The reason why we hold, as Tlingit people, before the land claims, hold land, was for trapping, family use. One bay belonged to one family, where the man trapped, hunted, and then they fished. So the people of Angoon covered the whole island.

ANCSA, THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT, FORCED ALASKA NATIVES TO DEAL WITH WESTERN IDEAS OF LAND OWNERSHIP.

[Lydia George] Once the whole island was owned by the people of Angoon. So when we got in the land claims the way the laws were written, we had to compromise to get some of the land back, and what we got back for Angoon was a township, thirty-six square miles. Here we used to own the whole island, but the bill, that was made in Congress only provided a township.

UNDER ANCSA, CONGRESS CREATED MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED NATIVE PROFIT MAKING CORPORATIONS, TO HOLD THE LAND - - ABOUT ONE TENTH OF ALASKA.

[Lydia George] So regional corporation was formed, village corporation is formed under the state laws, which is foreign to our Tlingit people. It isn't our way of life. The rules and regulations that we have to abide by as of now, isn't our way of life.

THOSE CORPORATIONS WERE THEN PAID A TOTAL OF NEARLY ONE BILLION DOLLARS TO DROP CLAIMS TO OTHER TRADITIONAL LANDS, WHICH INCLUDED MOST OF ALASKA. THOSE VAST AREAS OF LAND, WHICH ALASKA NATIVES USED FREELY BEFORE 1971, WERE SUDDENLY DIVIDED INTO FEDERAL, STATE, AND NATIVE CORPORATION OWNERSHIP. NOW THE VARIOUS LAND OWNERS HAVE DIFFERENT IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO USE THE LANDS WITHIN THEIR OWN BOUNDARIES.

TOMMY OONGTAGOOK OF KOTZEBUE...
We did not have a concept of boundaries, of unseen line trace over the earth and dividing the land. If someone establish a fish camp, it was considered that person or that family's fish camp. It was permanent in everyone's mind and considered settled. Now with the deeds, lawyers, who can be sure of anything?

EQUALLY UNSURE ARE THE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES IN THESE REMOTE LANDS, MOST OF WHICH ARE ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY BOAT OR SMALL PLANE. THE MAIN CORPORATE ASSET IS LAND. UNLESS THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT IS CHANGED, THE REMAINING NATIVE LANDS CAN BE LOST THROUGH CORPORATE TAKEOVER, BANKRUPTCY, AND TAXATION, ALL OF WHICH ARE VERY REAL AND IMMINENT POSSIBILITIES.

SID CASEY.
Nobody in their right mind, in America, would take all of their assets, and put them into a business, and go a hundred per cent, which we were forced to do as Native groups, because when the business goes down, also the land and all of our holdings go down.

ALASKA'S LAND BASED NATIVE CULTURE AND CASH BASED WESTERN ECONOMIC VALUES ARE TWO RADICALLY DIFFERENT VALUE SYSTEMS. THE PROBLEM IS FITTING THOSE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SYSTEMS INTO ONE MOLD. THE LANDS UP RIVER FROM THE VILLAGE OF TULUKSAK, NOAH ANDREWS BOYHOOD HOME NOW BELONG TO THE STATE OF ALASKA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

NOAH ANDREWS.
Where I once crawled as a baby boy, and picked up a berry to eat, now is considered federally or state owned. Where I once set my trap with my father is no longer any good for that purpose, because it is claimed by another organization. My tribe and I still hunt in these areas. Some of these hunting grounds where I hunted and picked berries, have written posted thing: Off Limits, Restricted. It isn't satisfying to see these posters hanging on the trees right alongside my hunting trail. My subsistence hunting area granted down to me from my great grandfather, which was granted to him from the Great Native Spirit, there I can't hunt any longer, because the state claim it. I am, and I may still be a law-abiding citizen, at times, it makes me to feel like I am arrested in a way, even though I am not. Because I can't do certain things on the very land that I run around and hunt as a small boy, and it wasn't long ago either.

THE STATE HAS GRANTED A PERMIT TO A MINING COMPANY TO WORK ITS CLAIM IN THE AREA. THAT'S WHY THE NO TRESPASSING SIGNS HAVE GONE UP. THIS NEW BOUNDARY IS ONE OF THOUSANDS, WHERE NATIVE LAND VALUES CONFRONT WESTERN SOCIETIES LAND VALUES.

ELAINE PITKA OF RUBY.
The Native Claims Act produced the Native land into checkerboard patterns and different types of land ownership surrounding the area, and the people have to comply with the regulations that govern each section of land. Our people were nomadic people, they lived with the land and on the land, they were the land.

My name's Xavier Joseph, I'm from Alakanuk. When I was small, I remember nobody really owned the land. When you want to build your house you build it where you think it will stay without going over the river bank. Today you have to get permission from different organizations if you want to build a house.

NATIVES HAVE ALWAYS DEALT WITH THE FORCES OF NATURE IN USING THE LAND. NOW THEY MUST ALSO CONTEND WITH THE FORCES OF ANCSA AND THE WESTERN LEGAL SYSTEM.

NOAH ANDREW.
I know I own this land because I can prove it. I can bring the state official, federal official, and the Secretary of Interior to where I cut off the branch to make a slingshot, right where they claim the land, where I once hunted as a boy. Or where I cut off a branch to make a bow and arrow so I can hunt subsistence, maybe catch a muskrat and bring it home. The state and federal governments, no matter how hard they try, cannot prove they own the land. They might have thousand papers floating around, but that won't prove they lived on it. The Natives of Alaska can prove they own the land. They depend on the land for many reasons. I among many knows land must be preserved. I will be among many to fight this act, to reclaim my tribal land.

THE SIGNS ARE PRACTICALLY INVISIBLE WHERE NOAH ANDREWS CUT A BRANCH FOR A SLINGSHOT, OR PUT DOWN HIS MUSKRAT TRAP. THERE ARE FEW INDICATIONS OUT ON THE TUNDRA, IN THE WOODS, ON THE LAKES AND RIVERS THAT NATIVE PEOPLES HAVE BEEN LIVING OFF THIS LAND FOR CENTURIES.

Our history says that we have seen two Ice Ages. (EVELYN PETE OF COPPER CENTER) We didn't mess up the land when we lived here. You don't have to abuse the land just to show proof of ownership.

NATIVES NEVER NEEDED TITLE TO THE LAND BEFORE. IF THE LAND PROVIDES EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE, IT IS NATURAL TO CALL IT YOURS.

To know that we own land gave us comfort, gave us refuge, it was home. From it we gained food. (TLINGIT INDIAN ELDER, WALTER SOBOLEFF OF ANGOON) From it we gained medicine. On it we performed the ancient ceremonies. It gave strength to the clan. It gave strength to the family life and courage, and pride.

EVEN THOUGH NATIVES NEVER HAD ANY LAND DEEDS OR TITLES THERE WAS NEVER ANY DANGER OF LOSING THE LAND.

[Walter Soboleff] One of our Tlingit laws is that the land for the tribe and clan is inherited. Land inheritance was endless. It was a law of perpetual occupancy!

IN THE NATIVE VIEW OF THE WORLD, LAND IS NOT REAL ESTATE. IT CANNOT BE BOUGHT OR SOLD.

SHIELA AGA THIERIAULT OF LARSON BAY.
You can't own it. The land passes on. This business of owning a piece of land and moving it around as a monetary object, is something that is not part of the Native culture.

WHEN CATHERINE ATTLA OF HUSLIA TALKS ABOUT THE LAND, SHE HOPES THAT HER WORDS WILL BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN NATIVE AND WESTERN WORLDS.
Our land is our savings account. Urban people have their savings account in a bank, money they make working. We're pretty much the same. We work here too. People works for a living. But our savings is our land, our game.

THE SAVINGS ACCOUNT WAS SHARED BY EVERYONE. THERE WERE NO INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS.

KENNETH NANALOOK OF TOGIAK.
For generations we passed on, as proud Eskimos, Eskimo Natives, as well as Indians and Aleuts, any food caught from the land and water was shared and is shared within the family circle. These simple words of water and lands are the utmost being of us right now, giving, informing, passing on our traditional traits.

ESKIMOS, INDIANS, AND ALEUTS IN ALASKA SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE WHEN IT COMES TO THE LAND AND WHEN THEY SPEAK OF LAND THEY INCLUDE THE WATER. ALASKA HAS TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICA'S COASTLINE. MOST NATIVES LIVE NEAR RIVERS OR THE COAST, BUT ANCSA ONLY RECOGNIZED THE LAND.

SVEN HAAKENSON OF OLD HARBOR...
Every village on Kodiak Island sit there and from centuries back, in the diggings, archeological diggings, or whatever you call it, find fish bones, fish tools, hooks. And then they take the water away from us and give us land. How could we live without the water?

ALASKA NATIVES LIVING IN THE BUSH STILL NEED THE LAND AND THE SEA TO SURVIVE. EVEN AS THE CASH ECONOMY GROWS, THE NATIVE IDENTITY WITH THE LAND REMAINS CONSTANT.

If we want to survive (JONATHON SOLOMON OF FORT YUKON) and to keep our land, which is the most important thing in the Indian life, is the identity with land. We must have that land.

ANTOINETTE HELMER FROM CRAIG.
Our culture comes from that land. That's how we define ourselves as people, that's where we derive our identity.

LEONARD NAPAKOK OF GAMBELL.
Our language is a tie to our roots down there, our roots being our lifestyle, our lifestyle's into the ground that we live on, the land.

THOSE TIMELESS VALUES NOW CONFRONT A DIFFERENT POLITICAL REALITY, THE WORLD OF CORPORATE LAND OWNERSHIP. HISTORICALLY, CORPORATIONS AND LAND OWNERSHIP ARE NEW IDEAS IN ALASKA. ALASKA NATIVES WERE UNAWARE OF THE FIRST BIG LAND SALE IN 1867, WHEN THE UNITED STATES PAID RUSSIA 7.2 MILLION DOLLARS FOR ALASKA. THERE IS STILL DISPUTE OVER WHAT THE UNITED STATES BOUGHT. EVEN RUSSIANS OF THAT DAY WONDERED WHY ANYONE WOULD PAY SO MUCH FOR A FEW TRADING FORTS. ALASKA NATIVES TALK ABOUT THIS SALE AS IF IT HAS JUST HAPPENED AND SOMETHING CAN BE DONE TO CHANGE IT.

CHARLIE KAIRIAUAK OF CHERFORNAK...
I am against the sale of Alaska from Russia to the United States because they did not own it. They had not the right to sell the land.

MORE THAN A CENTURY HAS PASSED SINCE RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES HAVE SIGNED THE TREATY OF CESSION, BUT NATIVES PROTEST WHAT THEY VIEW AS THE FIRST STEP TO LOSING THE LAND.

RUDOLPH WILLIAMS OF EMMONAK...
After the Russians had come and claimed this land, without a fight or anything, without asking the people if they could sell it or not. They just went ahead and sold this land that belonged to our forefathers. They sold it for money. They sold this land which is ours, and belonged to our forefathers since time immemorial. The Russians sold our land to the U.S. government for money, even if it was not their land.

DAVID GILLILA POINTS OUT THAT THE RUSSIAN COLONISTS NEVER EVEN SET FOOT IN MUCH OF ALASKA.
The Russians supposedly owned Alaska, but yet they never even roamed no further than the coastal, along the coast of Alaska. And in essence what they did was just traded fur or just took some fur mammals from the coastal areas. And here comes the United States federal government saying that we want to buy Alaska from you. Now how can somebody buy something which they've never even owned in the first place?

OTHER PEOPLE BEGAN COMING TO ALASKA. THERE WAS THE GOLD RUSH, HOMESTEADING, AND ONE LAND GRAB AFTER ANOTHER.

[David Gillila] The immigrants came into Alaska from the lower forty-eight, or from the other countries, like England, the Norwegians, Russia. Those people came and started settling in the lands which they never even used before. And when they settled there they had the right to claim a land, in essence saying that this was theirs. But yet our ancestors, who have been living all their lives in Alaska, didn't have any right to the lands that they used.

JUST AS THE RAILROAD PAVED THE WAY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN WEST, AND OPENED THAT FRONTIER, IT DID MUCH THE SAME FOR INTERIOR ALASKA.

SPUD WILLIAMS.
It surely started in the early 1900's when the Alaska railroad started coming through the country, and the chiefs from the Tanana Chiefs regions met with some of the government officials and discussed the land claim issues then. And basically the discussion was, "What the hell you doing in our country?" And they tried to herd them into little tiny pieces of land and they said, "Hell no, leave us alone." They had a very clear understanding of land concepts, that the land belonged to the people. The concept of ownership that was being impressed upon them was something so foreign that there was no real understanding of it.

THE WESTERN CONCEPT OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USE MAY BE FOREIGN TO ALASKA NATIVES. LIKEWISE THE NATIVE VIEW OF LAND MAY BE EQUALLY FOREIGN TO MOST AMERICANS.

PERRY EATON OF KODIAK.
We are people of the land, we view land ownership totally different than the non-Natives who have come here. We look at it different, we treat it different, and it's more than just hunting and gathering in a traditional society. For the non-Native who comes into the country, land is represents an opportunity. And to take advantage of that opportunity he must use and change the land. He must subdivide it, he must sell it, he must put in a farm, he must put in a cannery. He must use the opportunity that the land represents. And the land is only, to him, opportunity.

THE ALASKA NATIVE RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAND IS SO UNIQUE, SAYS PERRY EATON, THAT IT SETS NATIVES APART FROM OTHER AMERICANS.
America is made up of immigrants. They're all people that left their land. They do not have the heart for land that the Alaska Native has. When we look at land we don't see opportunity, we see ourselves. We see our ancestors, we see our future homes, our present homes and our past homes.

HE CONCLUDES THAT THE WESTERN VIEW OF LAND POSES A THREAT TO TRADITIONAL NATIVE LANDS AND A THREAT TO THE NATIVE COMMUNITY ITSELF.

Until we as people in our villages have that ancestral land set aside, reserved, and we have that comfort level within our hearts, I don't think that there will be any harmony in the Native community, ever. You will see an acculturation process that will leave a shattered people, just as all acculturation without an aboriginal land base leads to a shattered people.

AS LONG AS MAKING A PROFIT IS A PRIORITY FOR LAND USE, NATIVES WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE THEIR LAND, ACCORDING TO PETER SCHAEFFER OF KOTZEBUE.
[Read by Reggie Joule] This is a statement from Pete Schaeffer, couldn't be here this evening. Historically, land has been taken from Native tribes for about two hundred and fifty years, and with the white men's belief in their myth of manifest destiny, it is possible that they will continue to do so for as long as it takes them to own everything. As long as they can profit from whatever is on or below the earth, they will not stop. Unfortunately, God chose to put wealth of natural resources in our land, and like a magnet the wealth attracts those who have no honor or respect for the people who live on the land.

ANCSA IGNORED THE TRADITIONAL NATIVE VIEW OF THE LAND, AND PLACED NATIVE LANDS INTO THE NEWLY CREATED PROFIT- MAKING CORPORATIONS.

DAVID GILLILA.
And now here comes ANCSA, which in essence is a treaty, it's a modern treaty, made by the federal government with the Alaska Natives, which was never even approved by the majority of the Alaska Natives. ANCSA, itself, is a tool to extinguish the rights of the Alaska Natives with their land, or with the way that they live.

ANCSA SOUGHT TO PLACE ALASKA NATIVES IN THE AMERICAN MAINSTREAM. BUT SID CASEY QUESTIONS THAT JUDGEMENT.
We have not entered the mainstream overall of this society, and culturally we quite likely, in a lot of aspects will never want to and don't now. I do feel that whatever comes out, we should be able to retain the basic land base for the future generations.

CONCERN FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS OF ALASKA NATIVES HAS KEPT THIS ISSUE ALIVE, AND VERY LIVELY.

LYDIA GEORGE OF ANGOON.
Land, land is the issue. Land. Get some of the land back for our people, I was told. For people to build homes on, our children, for our grandchildren to have homes built on that land, to subsist off. It be better than all the money you can get. That was the advice given to me by the Elders.

AS LYDIA GEORGE SAYS THE ISSUE IS STILL LAND. UNDER CURRENT LAWS, NATIVE LANDS ARE AT RISK AS LONG AS THE CORPORATIONS HOLD TITLE TO THE LANDS, REGARDLESS OF THE CORPORATION'S SUCCESS. NATIVES LIVING IN REMOTE VILLAGES AND URBAN CENTERS ALIKE, ARE NOW LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SAVE THE LAND FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD.

POLLY KOUTCHAK OF UNALAKLEET.
We flow with the land in its harsh but soft changes. We need to start living upon the foundations our Elders planted for us with courage, respect, and dignity, for we are a proud people in our own way. How firm we stand and plant our feet upon our land, determines the strength of our children's heartbeats.

FOR HOLDING OUR GROUND, THIS IS ADELINE RABOFF.

THIS PROGRAM WAS PRODUCED BY JIM SYKES, WRITTEN BY JEFF BERLINER, EDITED AND RESEARCHED BY SUE BURRUS. MARY KANCEWICK IS OUR SCRIPT CONSULTANT. SPECIAL THANKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF GAMBELL FOR DANCING AND SINGING. AND ALSO SPECIAL THANKS TO THE INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE. "HOLDING OUR GROUND" IS A PRODUCTION OF WESTERN MEDIA CONCEPTS WHICH IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT.

FUNDING FOR "HOLDING OUR GROUND" IS PROVIDED BY THE ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM, THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, RURAL ALASKA COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM, THE NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH, AND ZIONTZ-PIRTLE LAW FIRM.

FURTHER ALONG IN THIS SERIES WE WILL EXAMINE THE ROLE OF THE CORPORATION AND THE TOUGH DECISIONS TO DEVELOP LANDS FOR PROFIT OR PRESERVE THEM FOR SUBSISTENCE. NEXT WEEK A LOOK AT SUBSISTENCE, WHO DOES IT AND WHY IN THE WORDS OF ALASKA'S NATIVE PEOPLES.

[Western Media Concepts no longer exists. Please Contact TapeAlaska, PO Box 696, Palmer, AK 99645 for information about Holding Our Ground.]

PROGRAM SUMMARIES:

1. The People, the Land, and the Law
Comprehensive 30-minute survey of the burning issues facing Alaska's Native community in the second half of this decade. This tour over the vast landscape of Alaska Native affairs serves as an overview of the topics to be treated in depth during the other 14 segments.

2. The Land and Sea
The ages-old Native feeling about the land comes across the airwaves like a fresh breeze. Two starkly different realities are presented—the Native concept of oneness with the land and the Western notion of land ownership and development. How do these contrasting philosophies fit the Native in rural Alaska?

3. Subsistence—A Way of Life
Far from the political and legal controversies surrounding subsistence, Natives carry on their traditional subsistence lifestyles. Hear their very personal descriptions of subsistence, what it is, and what it means to them. An important aspect of this documentary will be to delve into the mix of subsistence and cash economies.

4. Sovereignty—What it Means to People
Self-determination is the heart of a rising grassroots political movement. The listener will learn that this quest by Native people to control their own futures reaches far into the past. And the listener will discover that American political theory is not as much at odds with the sovereignty movement as one might think.

5. Traditional Councils and Corporate Boardrooms
Who calls the shots in the Native community: A look at power, history, and decision making. The audience will consider change from the perspectives of traditional village rule to government and corporate bureaucracies.

6. The Land and the Corporations
Traditional Native lands became corporate assets because the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act created profit-making Native corporations to hold the land. This segment will look at one of the toughest questions facing the Native community today: "Do these Native corporations have an obligation to develop their lands to earn a profit for their shareholders, or do they have an obligation to preserve those lands for subsistence and for generations to come?"

7. Risking and Saving the Land
Land owned by Native corporations can be lost through sales, corporate takeover, bankruptcy, or taxation. This has generated so much concern among Natives trying to save their land that there are now a number of options to prevent loss of these lands. This program is an exploration of the major risks and what alternatives are available.

8 Subsistence and the Law
Carrying on the subsistence lifestyle without interference from the law is a thing of the past. Traditional ways of hunting fishing, and gathering are now subject to political and legal changes and challenges in what may well be Alaska's most bitter controversy. Hear discussion of the new role of Alaska Natives as treaty-makers and game managers.

9. Sovereignty - How it Works in Real Life
Local government control is a reality in some areas of Native Alaska. In other areas Natives are working to implement their own unique forms of self- government. Some have found self-determination in traditional government. Take a close look at the communities where sovereignty is becoming a reality.

10. The Newborns—Left Out of ANCSA
When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. passed on December 18, 1971, all those yet to be born were left out. Now thousands of teenagers and toddlers alike are on the outside of ANCSA looking in. The Native community is divided into ANCSA shareholders and newborns, and the problems could get worse. Natives young and old speak out in eloquent terms.

11. From Hunter, Fisher, Gatherer to Corporate Director
The corporation idea—how and why it was chosen as a vehicle for land claims. Was this a good way to give Alaska Natives a piece of the American dream, or was it a way of assimilating them? This program examines how Natives have made the transition from traditional life to corporate director or shareholder

12. Changing the Claims Act—The Key Players
Nearly every Native organization in the state is jumping on the "Let's do something about ANCSA" idea. What began as grassroots dissatisfaction with the act has now shifted into a well-organized movement. There is the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, the United Tribes of Alaska, the Alaska Federation of Natives, and Association of Village Council Presidents, and others.

13. Recommendations of the Alaska Native Review Commission
An historic journey by Canadian Judge Thomas R. Berger has culminated in some provocative recommendations about the options open to Alaska's Natives. Listeners will hear a cross-section of views about what Berger reported and how this may affect changes in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

14. Other Settlements with Indigenous Peoples Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act inspired other indigenous peoples in the world to seek land claims in the settlements with their countries. This program will look at those efforts in Canada, Greenland, Australia, Norway, and elsewhere. Now some of the land claims proposals of others are being studied by Alaskans seeking to improve ANCSA.

15. The Dream versus the Reality
The final segment considers what people wanted all along in land claims and what they got. Should all the hard work of the past be scrapped? How has the dream changed? Voices of many people speak of the future, what they want and how they will go about getting it for themselves and their Children.

16. Special Program--Berger's Recommendations