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NWR
Posted by BrownBear on Jun 28 2005
Within the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, at least, there are Native owned lands. The fish and wildlife are managed by the USFWS as a part of a joint management agreement as I understand it, but the Natives still own the land. If I've got it right, the USFWS manages the wildlife and such, setting huning seasons, limits and more, but the Natives still own the land and can charge for access/use of that particular acreage. In exchange, they agree to certain terms on how the land can be used, as required by the refuge. This has been changing a bit in recent years and I'm not completely up to date, but I'm close. If you have any doubts or questions, check in with the USFWS headquarters in Anchorage or the managers of an individual refuge. They can provide better explanations along with maps of affected acreage, if any, within the refuges.
So far it looks like it has been a pretty good exchange on behalf of the general public, because it has put off development of the Native lands while still letting them make some money on it. It is private land after all, and if they couldn't make money from visitors they would probably have to develop it some way in order to make money, or even close it completely to the public so only their members could use it. Pretty good deal huh? Especially when you consider how much they might make by developing a casino or a lodge or some such intrusion on the natural world. I'll happily pay their access fees if it keeps the land out of development and still lets the public use it.
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