Introducing the proposed Johnson Tract Gold Mine to the public commonly elicits the same question: how can there be a mine in a National Park? Explaining that the local Native corporation has an inholding of approximately 20,000 acres within the park and is pursuing the mine often creates feelings of conflict. But it cannot be understated — corporations are not tribes, nor do they inherently represent tribal interests or values. To understand the Johnson Tract Mine, we must understand that the foundational purpose of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was to open land to extraction.
ANCSA reshaped the public narrative around what it means to be Alaska Native, creating real trade-offs that Alaska Native people continue to navigate today and fundamentally shaped how Alaska’s lands are managed.
The proposed Johnson Tract Mine, located on land owned by the Native corporation, Cook Inlet Region, Inc.(CIRI) on the west side of Tikahtnu I Cook Inlet surrounded by Lake Clark National Park, is one example of how this policy can pit value systems and people against one another.
In the late 1960’s the discovery of oil deposits at Prudhoe Bay created urgent political pressure to settle Alaska Native land claims quickly. Alaska Native groups held outstanding claims to much of the land crossed by the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline causing legal roadblocks for oil companies.
The solution to removing these barriers to oil production was the passage of ANCSA. In 1971 the landmark law transferred land rights from Tribal governments into a system of corporate capitalism, creating 12 regional corporations made up of Alaska Native shareholders. Though viewed at the time as an act of sovereignty by many Alaska Native leaders, it ultimately extinguished land claims held by Tribal governments. The boundaries of these corporations were drawn around broad cultural groupings that did not reflect the complex social structures and deep relationships Alaska Native peoples maintained with each other and the land.
ANCSA marked a clear departure from traditional Indigenous values. It codified the western view of land as property and further divided that property into surface and subsurface estates. While framed as a pathway toward economic self-sufficiency, carving Alaska into land-owning Native corporations with a legal mandate to generate profit tied Alaska Native communities to an extractive system that can pollute the ecosystems supporting traditional foods and lifeways that have sustained Alaska Native peoples since time immemorial.
Although the corporate model of land management has become normalized — sometimes even conflated with cultural identity — many Tribal governments continue to uphold their original values and oppose projects that would jeopardize landscapes that sustain wild foods and community health. In Cook Inlet, the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe have both passed resolutions opposing the Johnson Tract Mine and are actively engaged in resisting it.
It is clear: ANCSA gave CIRI the legal right to develop this resource. But alongside these Tribal governments, we ask CIRI to consider a broader question. Is sacrificing healthy razor clam beds, salmon runs, the sustainable bear-viewing economy, and critical winter foraging habitat for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale worth a relatively small gold mine projected to operate for only seven years? We urge CIRI to reconsider the long-term value of healthy habitat — or to explore more creative, sustainable ways to generate income from this extraordinary landscape.
Teachings from Native Movement’s decolonization trainings offer deeper insight into how ANCSA ties Indigenous communities to a western corporate model that prioritizes extractive profit from lands and waters over maintaining the healthy ecosystems that feed bellies, cultures, and local economies. Inletkeeper highly recommends this self-paced training available through Native Movement here: https://native-movement.teachable.com/.