The Tenakee Springs City Council voted this month (11-10-23) to formally oppose a bill that would allocate some federal forest land to landless tribes in Southeast. The so-called “Landless Bill,” which Alaska’s US senators have circulated in various forms since 2015, would create new corporations and transfer federal land to Alaska Natives in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Haines, and Tenakee Springs.

In a special council meeting, Tenakee residents expressed concerns around conservation and public access to land that would be privatized and potentially developed if the bill passes. Community member Molly Kemp said she was frustrated that the bill does not include proposed protections for other federal lands near Tenakee, which residents had pushed for. 

“What’s on the table is the reality that no one has given an inch on what Tenakee has asked for,” Kemp said. “You’re talking about this bill passing in its current condition, the exact same thing we have been opposing for decades.”

Others were concerned about the lack of clarity around the potential corporation’s shareholders. Council member Craig Mapes wondered who the shareholders of a corporation in Tenakee would be. Tenakee has the smallest Alaska Native population out of the five communities.

“You know, it looks like a two-family corporation,” Mapes said.

Tenakee is not the first community to raise questions about the bill; Petersburg has also been divided over the issue, with questions about land access and conservation. Council member Rudy Ziel said that regardless of amendments, he doesn’t support privatizing public lands.

“I mean, I wouldn’t do it for BP, I wouldn’t do it for Weyerhaeuser, I wouldn’t do it for Greenpeace,” Ziel said. “Regardless of what the end results are, I think that public lands should remain public.”

The final resolution states that the City of Tenakee Springs is “adamantly opposed” to the bill, and that they will QUOTE “work diligently to see that it is not passed until adequate conservation measures are included.” The resolution was unanimously approved.