Chairman Hurd and Representative Leger Fernández, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Sheri Buretta, I am Chairman of the Board for Chugach Alaska Corporation, established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. I have spent the last three decades fighting for legislation that would restore land promised—but never delivered—to our people.
I want to express our sincere appreciation to Congressman Nick Begich and the entire Alaska congressional delegation for reintroducing H.R. 3903. This is a critical piece of legislation, and I am gratified for the opportunity to testify today in strong support of it.
This bill not only honors the intent of the 2019 Dingell Act but also represents a step toward justice. It would authorize a balanced exchange of lands — providing roughly 65,000 acres of culturally and economically significant lands to Chugach, while transferring over 230,000 acres of our subsurface estate to the federal government. This will consolidate ownership and resolve decades of management conflicts.
The legislation addresses a painful history. When Congress passed ANCSA over 50 years ago, we accepted a fraction of our traditional lands, where we have lived for thousands of years, under the promise that they would be accessible and usable as a foundation for self-determination and economic development. Instead, we were granted mountaintops and glaciers, surrounded by and encumbered by federal lands. The promise was broken.
But through the 1982 Chugach Settlement Agreement, and again through our long pursuit of justice after the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS), Chugach continues to believe in a government that would one day make good on its word. The oil spill devastated our spirit, our ecosystems, our economy, and our way of life. Yet rather than supporting the healing, and recovery of our communities, federal and state agencies used EVOS funds to buy up Native lands for conservation, eroding trust and creating fractured land ownership.
Please let me share a short story about Walter Meganack Sr., a Chugach founder and past Chief of Port Graham Village, who wrote a speech called “Coping with the time when the water died” given at the “Oil Spill Mayors Meeting” in Valdez where he said, “The land and the water are our sources of life. The water is sacred. He went on to say, “I will not lose hope, and I will help my people”. We will learn from the past, we will learn from each other, and we will live.” This profound statement underscores the deep connection our people have with our lands, it gives me hope for justice, and the importance of fighting for this legislation.
Here is an analogy: Imagine someone buys the front door to your house but leaves you with everything behind it — and then tries to tell you how to use the home. That’s the situation we’ve been in. Chugach still holds the legal authority to access and manage our subsurface estate, but the surface lands, which were once fully owned by our Villages, are now locked away. This legislation would fix that. It would give the government ownership of that “house,” and give Chugach a new, unified parcel of land. What we are asking for today is not a handout—it is about fairness and healing rifts caused by decisions made without full consideration of Native landowners.
Each parcel in this exchange has been carefully selected for economic and cultural value. Some parcels are adjacent to our Nuuciq Youth and Elder Spirit Camp, a place of cultural education and healing. Other parcels offer economic development potential in tourism, transportation, forestry, and minerals to create benefits for our people.
Our lands are not for sale. And as our elders taught us that “Our land and water are our sources of life”. It is our identity, legacy and power. And it is time to return that power to the people who have lived in harmony with it for thousands of years.
With the vast acreage of federal lands in Alaska, moving this land exchange forward is good land management for the nation. It is a win win.
Chugach will work with Congress, agencies, and stakeholders to get this done. Our commitment is strong, and we are determined. We ask this Committee to move forward with H.R. 3903 to resolve this conflict while creating opportunities for economic development. Please don’t pass this problem on to future generations.
In closing, I sincerely thank Representative Begich, for your leadership on this Land Exchange bill. We are truly grateful for your support. I have hope.
Thank you for your time, your service, and your consideration.
In a show of solidarity, Chugach’s executive team joined Chairman Buretta
in Washington, D.C., to support her testimony.
