When deciding on the land distribution and allocation of money associated with ANCSA the politics got messy, and I am sure not well received by any native Alaskan who was working for improvements to their status quo. What someone would think is an easy task of even determining how to define a native proved to be difficult. The intent was to organize native into business groups and allow them to continue “tradition” while also ensuring economic success in line with the rest of the American organizations. In order to ensure proper application of the laws set forth; a clear definition of tradition, subsistence area etc had to be made. Obviously fair allocations of real estate could always be argued just as much as a true defined area of traditional subsistence. Here again the idea of subsistence was tied into commercial gain. The greediness associated with modern values struck those involved in the decision making process. Policy makers were protecting their assets, lawyers were ensuring no stone was unturned so they could extend their value, and the natives themselves did not just want their subsistence, they wanted to achieve economic status that would ensure an easier and more modern life.

I find these particular conversations very enlightening and true to how villages are today:
“A Native may be granted a single allotment of not to exceed 160 acres of land. All the lands in an allotment need not be contiguous but each separate tract of the allotment should be in reasonably compact form.”22

This has turned into 1/4 mile tracts of land extending for hundreds of miles in order to draw an imaginary line that equates to more land than initially set aside.

Imagine the line equates to 100 acres but what is inside the box is not accounted for. This is indicative of the Denali Highway corridor and much of Kodiak. I am sure there are other places as well but I am most familiar with these areas. Tracts of land are in someplaces only 20 yards wide but in order to access the land past the line, a very hefty trespass fee is required. On Kodiak it is upwards to $500 a day once you are passed the line because the only way out is across the line again.

“Senator Nelson. Do you think that if the Government gave them a good big reservation they would get along all right?
“Peter Kokrine, an Indian. I think the Government would have to take care of the reservation.”38 --WELFARE---
One of the resolutions adopted by the city of Nome contained a statement recommending that “immediate action be taken by Congress to the end that suitable reservations be set aside for the Native Eskimos of Northwestern Alaska, and suitable buildings erected in which they may be housed and maintained under the supervision of established agencies.”39

A true look at history shows Alaska natives to be nomadic in order to subsist as their identity is reliant on. There are people that continue to subsist without the continued support of government rations etc. A line of private native corporation property should not be drawn just as a line of public property accessible by only some people of a particular cultural background can be drawn. Alaska is not a land of toll booths for maintenance reasons. By allowing land grabs for no other reason than to deny access we are destroying the definition of private property and denying the concept of stewardess of nature.