Alaska IRA | Indian Affairs

In 1936, Congress extended certain provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA) to the Territory of Alaska. The amendment, known as the Alaska IRA, included the following language:

[G]roups of Indians in Alaska not heretofore recognized as bands or tribes, but having a common bond of occupation, or association, or residence within a well-defined neighborhood, community, or rural district may organize to adopt constitutions and bylaws and to receive charters of incorporation and Federal loans under section 16, 17, and 10 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984).

In recent years, the Department of the Interior ("Department") has received a number of requests from groups in the State of Alaska seeking to organize under the Alaska IRA. This process is separate and distinct from the Department's administrative process for Federal acknowledgment described in 25 CFR Part 83, Federal Acknowledgment of American Indian Tribes.

On January 2, 2020, the Proposed Rule was published in the Federal Register. Furthermore, the Department has invited Federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations to attend one or more consultations or public meeting sessions. Additional information is provided in the presentation available here.

Comment Period

The comment period of Monday, March 2, 2020, has closed. Comments received can be viewed on regulations.gov at this link.

Consultation and Public Meetings

Date	Event	Time	Location
Tuesday, January 28, 2020	Tribal Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (Local Time)	Centennial Hall Convention Center 101 Egan Drive Juneau, AK 99801
Public Meeting Transcript	1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Local Time)
Thursday, January 30, 2020	Tribal Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (Local Time)	Raven Landing Center 1222 Cowles Street Mailing: 949 McGown Street Fairbanks, AK 99701
Public Meeting (see Transcript above)	1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Local Time)
Thursday, February 6, 2020	Tribal Consultation Transcript	1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)	Teleconference Phone: (888) 456-0351 Passcode: 5309360
Thursday, February 6, 2020	Public Meeting Transcript	3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)	Teleconference Phone: (888) 857-9837 Passcode: 6239571
Wednesday, February 26, 2020	Public Meeting Transcript	3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)	Teleconference Phone: 800-857-9752 Passcode: 8078300

Previous (2018-2019) Consultation and Public Meeting Information

In effort to provide more clarity and transparency to those groups seeking to organize under the Alaska IRA, the Department invited both, Federally recognized Tribes in Alaska and Alaska Native Corporations, to participate in a listening session and series of consultations to be held in Alaska in 2018 to discuss how the Department might better implement the statute's acknowledgment provisions.

***The consultation sessions previously scheduled for Bethel, AK and Kotzebue, AK have been rescheduled. The rescheduled dates and locations are reflected in the table below. The letter announcing the rescheduled meetings and the new comment deadline of March 15, 2019 is available here.***

**Please note the consultation sessions previously scheduled for Bethel, AK on Wednesday, December 5, 2018, and Kotzebue, AK on Thursday, December 6, 2018, were canceled (the letter announcing the cancellation is available here) and have been rescheduled for Bethel, AK on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, and Kotzebue, AK on Thursday, January 17, 2019. The rescheduled dates and locations are reflected in the table below. In addition, the comment deadline has been extended to January 25, 2019.

Date	Event	Time (All times are AKDT)	Location
Thursday, July 26, 2018	Listening Session Summary	10:00 a.m. - Noon	Morris Thompson Center 101 Dunkel Street Fairbanks, AK 99701
Wednesday, August 1, 2018	Public Meeting Transcript	10:00 a.m. - Noon	Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall 320 W. Willoughby Avenue Juneau, AK 99801
Friday, August 3, 2018	Tribal Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - Noon	Ketchikan Public Library 1110 Copper Ridge Lane Ketchikan, AK 99901
Wednesday, October 17, 2018	ANC Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - Noon	Egan Convention Center Summit Hall 4 (Located on the lower level) 555 West 5th Avenue Anchorage, AK 99501
Sunday, October 21, 2018	Tribal Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - Noon	Egan Convention Center Summit Hall 4 (Located on the lower level) 555 West 5th Avenue Anchorage, AK 99501
Wednesday, December 12, 2018	Tribal Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - Noon	Teleconference Phone: (877) 716-4291 Passcode: 6919058
Tuesday, March 5, 2019	Tribal Consultation Transcript	12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.	Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center 420 Chief Eddie Highway Bethel, AK 99559
Thursday, March 7, 2019	Tribal Consultation Transcript	10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Northwest Arctic Heritage Center 171 Third Avenue Kotzebue, AK 99752

Previous Comments Received

Comments posted in the tables are in no particular order.

Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation	Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska	Association of Village Council Presidents	Chugachmiut	Chugach Alaska Corporation
Wrangell Cooperative Association	Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker	NARF, et al.