Alaska’s Native Corporations
Excerpts from :
http://www.akrdc.org/issues/nativecorporations/overview.html
"Resource Development Council for Alaska, Inc." Resource Development Council for Alaska,
Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2015. <http://www.akrdc.org/issues/nativecorporations/overview.html>.
Background
Alaska’s homegrown Native corporations are a major component of
Alaska’s economy and will become an even bigger force in the future. One
look around the state and it’s easy to see the importance of Native corporations
to each region they represent and the state as a whole. From Southeast Alaska
and the Aleutians to Interior Alaska and the North Slope, these corporations
own some of the state’s largest enterprises and are among the largest
employers of Alaskans.
Out of the top 49 companies in Alaska, the twelve regional Native
corporations and several village corporations employ 58,000 people
worldwide, with about 16,000 of those jobs here in Alaska. What that
shows is a lot of the business these companies are now doing is outside Alaska,
and that it brings revenue back to our state. Many of the Native corporations
are engaged in the development of our natural resources, but are also
diversifying their operations into other business ventures both inside and
outside the state.
In 1971, the U.S. Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act (ANCSA). ANCSA divided Alaska into 12 geographic regions. Alaska
Natives then organized a “Regional Corporation” for each region. Those
corporations were authorized to select lands that would become their fee simple
property. Each region also contains numerous smaller “Village Corporations,”
about 225 in all. The village corporations selected the surface lands around their
villages. In addition, a 13th Regional Corporation was subsequently formed for
non-resident Alaska Natives.
Congress enacted ANCSA in order to provide a means by which Alaska Natives
could derive economic benefits from the resources around them. Native
corporations are the largest private landowners in Alaska, with title to
44 million acres of selected land throughout the state. Development of
the resources beneath their lands offers Native corporations an opportunity
to generate jobs and other economic benefits for their Native
shareholders, and fulfill the implicit promise Congress made to Alaska
Natives in exchange for extinguishment of their aboriginal claims.
A growing number of Alaska Native corporations are fulfilling
ANCSA’s economic goals by partnering with Alaska’s resource
industries in development projects across the state. These
partnerships are helping to make ANCSA’s economic promise to Alaska
Natives become a reality. In the villages, life has been marked by seasonal
jobs, high unemployment and welfare. The corporations are working to
change this by developing their resources and seizing upon other economic
opportunities. When Congress passed ANCSA, it recognized that the
economic potential of the lands selected by Native corporations would not be
uniformly distributed.
As a result, ANCSA contains a natural resource revenue-sharing provision:
Section 7(i). This section is intended to achieve a rough equality in assets
among all Alaska Natives. The section insures that all of the Alaska Natives
will benefit in roughly equal proportions from these assets. Under 7(i), 70
percent of all revenues received by each Regional Corporation from timber
and subsurface estate resources must be divided among all 12 Regional
Corporations in proportion to the number of Alaska Natives enrolled in each
region. At least 50 percent of the revenues received must be redistributed
among the Village Corporations.
Section 7(i) mandates that when mineral or timber resources are developed
on Native Corporation land, all 100,000 ANCSA Native shareholders benefit.
More than one billion dollars has been distributed among the Regional
Corporations under Section 7(i). In 2011 alone, $172 million in mining
industry payments to Native Corporations were made, with over $82 million
of it redistributed to other regional and village corporations.
Alaska Native leaders consider the act as the biggest minority success story of the
nation. The regional corporations have not only become a major economic force in
Alaska’s economy, they have concerned themselves with the real economic and
social needs of Alaska Natives.
In the 21st Century, business is booming for Alaska's native businesses. Thanks to
high commodity prices, growth in the government and commercial contracting
sector, and strong returns on investments elsewhere, these corporations
cumulatively reached $11.3 billion in revenues in 2010. According to this most
recent available data, the 12 Regional Corporations alone earned $8.1 billion in
2010.
Alaska Native Corporations listed in the Alaska Business Monthly 2010 Top 49
corporations accounted for 74 percent of the total revenue earned, 64 percent of
the total Alaska jobs, and 84 percent of all the employees working for those 49
companies. Native companies make a critical contribution to the employment of all
Alaskans and to the economic diversification of the state.
Alaska Regional Corporation Profiles
Ahtna, Inc.
Ahtna, Inc., owns approximately 1,528,000 acres in the Copper River Basin
in east-central Alaska. Seven of the eight villages within the Ahtna region
are merged with Ahtna, Inc., and all eight are federally recognized tribes. A
thirteen-member board directs corporate operations. Ahtna, Inc. has more
than 1,500 shareholders, of which the majority reside in the Copper River
region.
Headquartered in Glennallen, Alaska, Ahtna is committed to providing a
broad range of opportunities for its shareholders and preserving their
culture.
Ahtna has 14 operating subsidiaries that are involved in government
contracting, civil and vertical construction, pipeline maintenance,
environmental remediation, surveying, facilities maintenance, administrative
and janitorial services, and food service contractors.
The Corporation's efforts focus on growth and diversification, as well as
management of its land, mineral and human resources.
The Aleut Corporation
The Aleut Corporation was established in 1972 under ANCSA. The
corporation received a settlement of $19.5 million, and was entitled to
70,789 acres of surface lands and 1.572 million acres of subsurface estate.
Voting shares of stock were issued to 3,249 shareholders.
Most of the Corporation’s ANCSA selections are on the Alaska Peninsula and
Aleutian, Shumagin, and Pribilof Islands, situated between Port Moller and
the Alaska Peninsula and the western tip of Atka Island. The corporation
owns the village site of Attu as well as numerous historical and cemetery
sites between Atka and the Alaska Peninsula.
The Aleut Corporation currently manages and sells sand, gravel, minerals
and rock aggregates as part of its subsurface rights within the region.
The Corporation’s primary areas of business are real estate, government
operations and maintenance contracting, aggregate sales, and investments
in oil and gas producing properties and marketable securities.
Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
Based in Barrow, Alaska, with administrative and subsidiary
offices in Anchorage and throughout the world, Arctic Slope
Regional Corporation (ASRC) has title to nearly five million acres
of land abundant in natural resources in northern Alaska. In
addition to oil and gas potential, ASRC lands include one of the
world’s largest bituminous coal deposits.
ASRC represents eight villages on the North Slope of Alaska;
Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Atqasuk, Barrow, Nuiqsut,
Kaktovik and Anaktuvuk Pass. This natural resource based
corporation employs nearly 10,000 people, and has a growing
shareholder population of 11,000. A founding principle of ASRC is
respect for and preservation of the Inupiat heritage.
The ASRC family of companies extends into the professional fields
of engineering, venture capital and financial management, oil and
gas support services, petroleum refining and distribution,
aerospace engineering, consulting, civil construction, and
communications. Since incorporation, ASRC’s strong financial
performance enabled the company to declare dividends totaling
over $500 million through 2010.
Bering Straits Native Corporation
Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) was formed in 1972 and
has approximately 6,300 shareholders. The Bering Strait's region
encompasses the majority of Alaska's Seward Peninsula and the
coastal lands of eastern Norton Sound. BSNC owns and manages
nearly two million acres of subsurface estate of land selected by
17 Village Corporations in the region.
BSNC is headquartered in Nome. Regional operations include real
estate management and development, tourism, construction, mining
services and sales of rock and aggregate. BSNC also has an office in
Anchorage which oversees the company's government contract work
under the SBA's 8(a), HubZone and small business programs.
Anchorage operations also include construction and various support
services for commercial clients and shareholder services.
Bristol Bay Native Corporation
Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) is an Alaska Native corporation
established in 1972. The Bristol Bay region is in Southwest Alaska,
approximately 150 miles southwest of Anchorage, and is home to the world’s
largest salmon fishery. BBNC has approximately 9,000 Eskimo, Indian and
Aleut shareholders living in the Bristol Bay region, across Alaska and
throughout the U.S. and the world. BBNC’s board of directors is comprised of
12 members, of which all are shareholders.
BBNC owns nearly three million acres of sub-surface land in the Bristol Bay
region. The BBNC land department provides assistance to the village
corporations in their efforts to manage their surface estates, and advocates
on behalf of other economic development opportunities in the region. BBNC
is a strong supporter of Responsible Resource Development.
Key assets include an investment portfolio and over 30 operating subsidiary
companies, specializing in petroleum distribution, construction, government
services, and oilfield and industrial services. The company does business in
Alaska and throughout the U.S. and the world. Gross revenue for fiscal year
2011 were $1.7 billion. BBNC and its subsidiaries employ approximately
3,900 people worldwide.
BBNC provides consistent shareholder equity through quarterly dividends,
training and education scholarship funding, community and cultural
contributions, Elder benefit distributions and burial assistance. It has
provided over $100 million in shareholder dividends since 1979.
Calista Corporation
Calista Corporation is owned by approximately 12,000 Yup'ik, Cup'ik and Athabascan
shareholders with ancestral ties to southwest Alaska. Under the terms of ANCSA, the
corporation received rights to 6.5 million acres of subsurface land, about 300,000 acres of
surface estate and $80 million of initial capital.
Since Calista was formed in 1972, the corporation has matured by developing a diverse
business and investment portfolio with subsidiaries specializing in a number of industries,
including oil well work-over drilling, construction, government and military contracting,
public relations services, property management, catering and camp services,
telecommunications, heavy equipment sales, construction and royalties from gold and
construction material mining. Annual corporate revenues from this diversified portfolio are
in excess of $200 million.
Although most of Calista’s 6.5 million acre land entitlement was selected by the region’s
Village Corporations for the subsistence resource value of the surface estate, several
hundred thousand acres were selected primarily for subsurface mineral resource potential,
which is demonstrated by a history of mineral production, including gold, mercury and
platinum. These mineral lands include a number of placer gold properties, and adjacent hard
rock gold and platinum prospects.
Chugach Alaska Corporation
Chugach Alaska Corporation (CAC) is an Alaska Native Regional Corporation
with its corporate headquarters located in Anchorage, Alaska. Chugach has
more than 6,500 employees worldwide with regional offices in Washington,
D.C., Nevada, Alabama and Hawaii. More than 2,200 shareholders of Aleut,
Eskimo and Indian heritage elect the members of CAC’s Board of Directors
(all of whom are Alaska Natives).
Chugach is globally recognized as a premier provider of base operations and
facilities maintenance services. Its proven track record of delivering costsaving, award-winning services to its commercial clients and the federal
government has earned the corporation recognition as a leader in its
industry.
In addition to its core businesses of Base Operations and Facilities
Maintenance, other Chugach subsidiaries provide business services in the
areas of General Construction & Construction Management; Civil
Engineering; Oil & Gas Services; Educational Services; Environmental/Oil
Spill Response Services; Information Technology; Telecommunications;
Employment Services; Manufacturing Services. CAC subsidiaries also have
expertise in: Providing complete project services and construction of
commercial and government facilities; Providing full scope of Information
Technology services including network security and monitoring; Operating
the best trained and equipped oil spill response organization in the world;
Recognized for excellence in providing training and maintenance for the U.S.
Department of Labor Job Corps Programs; Proven history of success in
operating in extremely remote locations including the Western Pacific
Islands, Canada, Africa, Spain and Turkey.
Chugach has been recognized as an industry leader for offering exceptional
value and customer service. Chugach provides cost-saving, award-winning
services to the government while maximizing benefits to the American
taxpayer.
Chugach focuses on providing meaningful benefits - employment
opportunities, educational assistance, and cultural conservation – to
shareholders to fulfill the intent of ANCSA and preserve the culture of the
Chugach people for future generations.
Cook Inlet Region, Inc.
Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) is an Alaska Native corporation. It is one of 12
Alaska-based regional corporations established by the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act of 1971 to benefit Alaska Natives who had ties to the Cook
Inlet region. The company is owned by more than 7,300 Alaska Native
shareholders of Athabascan and Southeast Indian, Inupiat, Yup’ik, Alutiiq
and Aleut descent. It is based in Anchorage and has interests across Alaska,
the United States and abroad.
CIRI’s well-diversified business portfolio includes energy and resource
development, oilfield and heavy construction services, commercial and retail
real estate development and management, environmental remediation
services, tourism and hospitality, renewable energy, telecommunications,
aerospace defense, private equity, venture capital and marketable securities
investments.
CIRI is Southcentral Alaska’s largest private landowner and has 1.3 million
acres of subsurface available for responsible gas, oil and mineral leasing. It
is developing alternative energy resources on CIRI land including a
commercial-scale wind farm on Fire Island three miles offshore from
Anchorage and an underground coal gasification project west of Cook Inlet.
CIRI also created a family of nonprofit service organizations that provide
needed health care, housing, employment, education and other social and
cultural enrichment services for Alaska Natives and others.
Doyon Limited
With the land entitlement of 12.5 million acres, Doyon is the largest private
landowner in Alaska and is one of the largest private landowners in North
America. Its lands extend from the Brooks Range in the north to the Alaska
Range in the south. The Alaska-Canada border is Doyon’s eastern border
and the western portion almost reaches the Norton Sound. Today Doyon has
over 18,000 shareholders and its headquarters are located in Fairbanks.
Doyon Drilling is the corporation’s largest subsidiary, producing more than
half of the corporation’s revenues. The subsidiary is actively engaged in
arctic drilling activity on the North Slope. Doyon is a partner in a gas
exploration project in the Nenana Basin and the corporation also holds
prospective gas resources in the Yukon Flats.
Doyon’s family of companies provide a wide range of services, including
catering, facility maintenance, security, tourism and support for oil, gas and
mining construction across Alaska. Doyon also manages real estate assets
and has operations in the tourism industry.
Koniag Incorporated
Koniag has land holdings across the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island and Afognak Island.
Koniag's original share of the ANCSA settlement was $24 million, 800 acres of land and the
"subsurface estate" of approximately 900,000 acres. Koniag was incorporated on June 23,
1972, to manage the land and financial assets on behalf of the corporation’s approximately
3,400 Alutiiq shareholders who originated from the Kodiak Archipelago. The corporation is
headquartered in Kodiak and also maintains an office in Anchorage. In 2013, the number of
shareholders has grown to approximately 3,850.
The work performed by the Koniag family of companies is grouped into six broad categories:
Operations and Maintenance, Environmental Services, Logistics, Information Technology,
Consulting, and Manufacturing.Koniag’s real estate portfolio is comprised of office buildings,
warehouses, apartment buildings, hotels and vacant land, with geographic diversity in
Alaska, Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona and Idaho. Koniag’s share of ownership in
these properties ranges from less than 10 percent to 100 percent.
NANA Regional Corporation
NANA Regional Corporation, Inc. (NANA) is one of 13 Regional Alaska Native
Corporations (ANCs) created pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. As a billion dollar corporation with more
than 13,000 employees at operations spanning the globe, NANA’s mission is
improve the quality of life for its more than 12,000 Inupiat shareholders by
maximizing economic growth, protecting and enhancing its lands, and
promoting healthy communities. With investments ranging from the resource
development industry, to facilities management and logistics, engineering
and construction, information technology and government contracting,
NANA’s diverse portfolio of operations provide fiscal stability and offer clients
a depth and breadth of services unmatched in the Alaska marketplace.
NANA manages the surface and subsurface rights to more than 2.2 million
acres of land in northwest Alaska covering 38,000 square miles, or an area
roughly the size of Indiana. The corporation protects and responsibly
develops these lands to directly benefit its shareholders. As one of the
largest unexplored basins in North America, the subsurface of the land of the
NANA region is mineral-rich and the company is working with partners to
unlock its potential. All exploration and development is conducted in
alignment with NANA’s guiding principles on subsistence to protect the
Inupiat way-of-life.
NANA also has stake in the Red Dog Mine, located in the Delong Mountain
Range 90 miles north of Kotzebue. The mine is situated on NANA lands and
operated by Teck Alaska. For more than two decades, Red Dog Mine, one of
the world’s largest zinc and lead mines, has stood as a model of responsible
resource development founded on the principles of consensus, cooperation,
and mutual respect between a mining company and indigenous people.
Sealaska Corporation
Sealaska has strengthened business with culture since 1972. Sealaska is a
Native corporation owned by more than 21,000 tribal member shareholders
and guided by its traditions of environmental stewardship and positively
impacting its communities.
Sealaska is headquartered in Juneau, Alaska and Sealaska tribal member
shareholders are primarily Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian descent.
Sealaska is a diverse company with investments in forest products and
marking, silviculture and land management, financial investments,
fabrication, plastics injection molding and manufacturing, information
technology, construction aggregates, environmental remediation and
consulting, logistics, construction and security services in Alaska and around
the world.
The 13th Regional Corporation
As provided under ANCSA and by a 1975 U.S. District Court ruling in
Washington DC, The 13th Regional Corporation was formed under Alaska
Law as a private for-profit entity on December 19, 1975. Its creation hinged
on how many of the approximate 78,000 Alaska Native people eligible to be
enrolled under the federal law marked section 22 of the official enrollment
form with a “yes” vote. The section read “Do you elect to establish and be
enrolled in a 13th Region?” A ruling from Judge Oliver Gasch overturned the
Bureau of Indian Affairs initial determination that an insufficient number of
enrollees voted for the creation of the 13th.
Prior to the ruling, the 4,537 persons who were later to become 13th
Regional Corporation shareholders were all designated as shareholders in
one of the other 12, regional corporations. The corporation began with 4,537
shareholders, and had about 5,500 in 2009.
The 13th Regional Corporation was created to represent those Natives who
do not reside in the State of Alaska. The corporation did not receive land as
a resource for their shareholders and doesn’t share in the resource profits of
the other corporations.
The 13th Regional Corporation, formerly headquartered in Washington,
ceased operations in 2009 and remains insolvent. Current data is not
available.