The Council Newsletter

October 08, 2018

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is creating two land plans to decide the next 30 years of allowable uses for our traditional land. BLM will make land plans called Resource Management Plans for the Central Yukon / Dalton Highway Corridor and the Bering Sea Western Interior planning areas between November 2018 and April 2019 on a fast-tracked schedule. These two planning areas cover the middle third of the state, from the shores of the Arctic Ocean down the Dalton Highway and into the heart of the Yukon & Kuskokwim Rivers and west to the Bering Sea. Land being planned is 26.5 million acres altogether in two separate planning processes.

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October 08, 2018

Alaska has long relied on the amount of money our State makes from royalties on oil and gas development. For years and years, the high price of oil ensured that we had money in our general fund to pay for new schools, new roads, state services, grants, etc. Now that oil prices have been much lower, the State doesn’t have the revenue to support its most basic functions such as educations, social services, and retirement benefits. This has forced our lawmakers to look to new ways of paying for our government services. Senate Bill 26 was introduced as a way to use a portion of the Permanent Fund to help defray the amount of lost revenue due to lower oil prices.

Due to the passage of Senate Bill 26 this year, there have been a lot of changes made to the way the Alaska Permanent Fund is managed. Both the House and Senate approved a law that restructures the way money comes in from oil and gas revenues, how it is deposited, and how much is provided to Alaskans in the form of our Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). The money for the checks has always come out of “earned interest”, which is the pot of money that the corpus makes each year. The change in our PFD isn’t where the money is coming from, but how the dividends are calculated.

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August 06, 2018

Ballot Measure 1 is the citizens’ ballot initiative more commonly known as Stand for Salmon, which seeks to update Alaska’s habitat laws for protecting salmon waterways. Voters in Alaska will have the opportunity in November to vote on the issue. The State of Alaska is challenging the constitutionality of the ballot initiative, claiming it prioritizes one resource (fish) over another and the Alaska Supreme Court is supposed to issue their ruling on that challenge by early September. Currently, the initiative will appear on the ballot as Ballot Measure 1 unless the Supreme Court rules otherwise.

Below is a summary of the current laws and what the initiative would do, if passed. It’s long, but it is important to educate yourself on the initiative and fully understand how it could impact your area and livelihood.

The current laws that protect salmon habitat state:

1. That the commissioner shall specify various rivers, lakes, and streams or parts of them that are important for the spawning, rearing, or migration of anadromous fish. (Note: anadromous fish are fish that live part of their lives in freshwater, migrate to the ocean, and then return to freshwater – like salmon, ciscoes, or lamprey, to name a few).
2. If a person or governmental agency desires to construct a hydraulic project, or use, divert, obstruct, pollute, or change the natural flow or bed of a specified river, lake, or stream, or to use wheeled, tracked, or excavating equipment or log-dragging equipment in the bed of a specified river, lake, or stream, the person or governmental agency shall notify the commissioner of this intention before beginning of the construction or use.
3. The person or governmental agency is required to submit to the commissioner full plans and specifications of the proposed construction or work, complete plans and specifications for the proper protection of fish and game in connection with the construction or work, or in connection with the use, and the approximate date the construction, work, or use will begin.
4. After reviewing the full plans and specifications, the commissioner shall approve the proposed construction, work, or use in writing unless the commissioner finds the plans and specifications insufficient for the proper protection of fish and game.

Ballot Measure 1 (aka Stand for Salmon) seeks to update the existing law in four ways:

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August 06, 2018

CARF International announced that Tanana Chiefs Conference Behavioral Health Division has been accredited a second time for a period of three years for its programs.

This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be given to an organization and shows our substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process. We have demonstrated to a team of surveyors during the on-site visit our commitment to offering programs and services that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.

Thank you to all that participated in the survey and to everyone for all their support.