Bill proposed to grant land to indigenous communities

Alaska’s U.S. senators introduced legislation on Monday that would grant land to the five “landless” indigenous communities in Southeast Alaska, including Haines.

Amending the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the bill would establish a native urban corporation in Haines and would entitle it to 23,040 acres of federal land.

The legislation follows decades of advocacy by and on behalf of tribal members in Haines, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan and Tenakee—all left out of the…