Ahtna and DOI to co-manage subsistence in a first for Alaska

PALMER — Ahtna, Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation headquartered in Glenallen, in partnership with Chitina Native village corporation and the eight federal Ahtna tribes, has been advocating for a cooperative subsistence management agreement that incorporates tribal input on federal lands. On Nov. 29, the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission signed such an agreement with U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary Michael Conner, marking a first in Alaska history.

Tribes have long advocated for greater participation in fish and game management, particularly for rural communities that rely on traditional subsistence foods for survival. In October, DOI secretary Sally Jewell announced a new Secretarial Order which would “require Interior Department agencies to include tribes in the management of federal lands and resources.”

The Ahtna-DOI cooperative management agreement for subsistence resources on federal lands is being rolled out as a demonstration project, something other Alaska tribes are likely to follow closely.

The federal government, which has a nation-to-nation relationship with federal tribes, gives a subsistence priority in fish and game management to tribal members on federal lands. Fish and game management on the State of Alaska’s lands do not make any distinction between tribal members and Alaska residents who are not members of tribes. The dual systems mean that tribal relationships with federal agencies can have a significant impact on how rural villagers access subsistence resources.

Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, applauded the agreement in a press release.

“This is good news for the people of the Ahtna region and good news for Alaska,” she said.

As the demonstration project unfolds, it might offe clues on how other, non-federal tribal-governmental resource management agreements could be developed.

The AFN passed a resolution in Oct. this year, asking the State of Alaska to engage with tribes in a similar agreement on the management of fisheries in the Kuskokwim River in Western Alaska. Tribes’ advocacy for cooperative management with the state in that region have increased, after sudden cuts to subsistence salmon harvests in 2012 left families in some remote villages hungry, with too few fish to put up in storage for the following winter.