JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) –
An Alaska Native advocacy group is seeking land and the establishment of Native corporations for communities that were omitted from a federal settlement. The Juneau Empire reported that Alaska Natives Without Land wants a change to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act on behalf of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee Springs and Wrangell. Officials say some tribal communities were excluded when the act passed in December 1971, leading to the creation of Alaska Native regional, urban and village corporations. The act also transferred 68,750 square miles of land to those corporations. Changing the federal act would require a vote in Congress.