[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E787-E788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      EXPAND ALASKA NATIVE CONTRACTING OF FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 14, 2002

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
legislation to expand Alaska

[[Page E788]]

Native contracting of Federal land management functions and activities 
and to promote hiring of Alaska Natives by the Federal Government 
within the State of Alaska.
  The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was 
enacted on December 2, 1980 as Public Law 96-487. Since then, Congress 
has passed several public laws which have amended ANILCA. The 1980 
ANILCA amendments expanded the federal refuge and park systems in 
Alaska for the purposes of protecting habitat for fish and wildlife, to 
conserve fish and wildlife populations, and to provide the continued 
opportunity for subsistence uses by local Alaska Native residents and 
to protect archaeological sites associated with Alaska Native cultures.
  Many rural Alaska native communities are located within close 
proximity of the refuges and serve an important part of the culture and 
ways of Alaska natives and other residents in rural Alaska. Congress, 
through sections 1307 and 1308 of the 1980 ANILCA amendments, directed 
the Secretary of the Interior to establish programs whereby Alaska 
natives were to be given preference in hiring, and to establish 
programs whereby Native lands were given preference for siting of 
conservation service unit facilities. The provisions also recognized 
that the Natives whose front and back yards were now part of the 
federal parks and preserves systems were the best individuals to be 
involved in the administering of the lands because of their special 
knowledge or expertise concerning the natural or cultural resources of 
such areas.
  Public Law 106-488 authorized demonstration projects in four areas in 
northwest Alaska: (1) Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (2) Cape 
Krusentern National Monument (3) Kobuk Valley National Park and (4) 
Noatak National Preserve in fiscal years 2000 and 2001. No 
demonstration project has been entered in either fiscal years 2000 or 
2001 with the above named four areas at the Department of the Interior.
  It has been twenty two (22) years since the 1980 ANILCA amendments 
were enacted, and the contracting and native hires provisions remain 
unfulfilled by the Department of the Interior. This bill would remedy 
this by directing the Department of the Interior to enter into 
demonstration projects with no less than six eligible Alaska Native 
tribes or tribal organizations in fiscal years 2003 and 2004.
  This bill is a result of the legislative council of the Alaska 
Federation of Natives to address the contracting and hiring preference 
for Alaska native entities pursuant to the 1980 ANILCA amendments.

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