Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 12, 1 December 1989 — Alaskan court rules state cannot seize tribe's property [ARTICLE]

Alaskan court rules state cannot seize tribe's property

For the first time in its history the Alaska Supreme Court has held that non-reservation native villages in Alaska are "tribes" possessing certain governmental attributes. Specifically the Court says the Nome Eskimo Community, a native group organized under the Federal Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), constituted a "tribe" within the meaning of IRA section 16, and its headquarters building is protected against tax foreclosure proceedings by the city of Nome. Only last year the same court reached the opposite conclusion in the Stevens Village case saying with the exception of Metlakatla, (the only reservation tribe) there were no "tribes" in Alaska. This decision was a rude shock to 100,000 Alaska Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians who held exclusive sovereign authority over what is now Alaska for 10,000 years before European contact. Although the Nome decision does not reverse the earlier opinion, it nonetheless eame as a weleome surprise to the native community. The decision is significant because it protects all land held by the 70 tribes organized under the IRA whether the lands are developed or undeveloped. It protects against any kind of involuntary loss of

such lands without the tribe's consent. Previously the lands held by Native corporations were protected from certain forms of loss only when undeveloped. Land held by IRA tribes now has greater protection. The lands of IRA tribes cannot be lost through tax foreclosure, mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy or court ordered judgement of any kind without the tribe's consent. lt also means that such lands may not be lost through state condemnation or adverse possession. The decision opens the door to the other 130 traditional village councils who have the option to organize under the IRA to secure the land protections of section 16. The Nome case did not deal with the existence of other tribal powers. It left in effect its earlier decision holding such powers to be non-existent. The fundamental question whether Alaska Native villages have tribal status with the same rights and powers as tribes in the lower 48 states remains unresolved. Only the United States Supreme Court ean resolve the conflicting positions of the federal and state courts qn this question. In the interim, at least the land and other assets of Alaska Native villages will have significant new protections.