The following are public statements provided at hearings held in Fairbanks and Anchorage the 17^th and 18^th of October 1969 prior to the passage of ANCSA. They provide the reader with some of the issues and concerns discussed prior to the passage of ANCSA.

Alaska Federation of Natives

Anchorage, Alaska, January 2, 1970

Mr. Lewis A Sigler,

Consultant on Indian Affairs, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,

House of Representatives, J.S., Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. SIGLER: My sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your request for a statement of the Alaska Federation of Natives regarding Congressman Edmondson request on invasion of national parks in the pending settlement of the Alaska Native Land Claims.

As I indicated in my testimony on pages 435-6 of the recent hearings in Anchorage, there are a few national parks that would be encroached by application of the provisions of H.R. 14212. We understand the feelings throughout the country for the preservation of parks and the desire for additional parks for the use by the people of the great urban centers.

It is the feeling of AFN that we could support the legislation added to H.R. 14212 which would provide that no net reduction of the land area of a national park result by application of the provisions of the legislation. We feel, however, if there are villages within national parks that they be allowed land under the provisions of the legislation but that additional available land adjoining the same park be added to the park to compensate for the net loss of acreage which was granted to the village. For instance, if there is a community located in the Mt. McKinley National Park, we feel that the community should be allowed some lands for its use and expansion; but we feel that additional land should be added to the Mt. McKinley Park in another area that is not inhabited or used by the native people and would not be granted to them under the legislation.

We look forward to helping you in anyway possible in the effort to obtain a legislative settlement of this longstanding issue.

Sincerely,

ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES,

WILLIAM L. HENSLEY,

Executive Director.

Source: Alaska Native Land Claims Part II, "Hearings before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-first Congress First Session on H.R. 13142, H.R. 10193, and H.R. 14212, Bills to Provide for the Settlement of Certain Land Claims of Alaska Natives, and for Other Purposes. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.