A civil lawsuit filed by residents of Birchwood in the Eagle River area of Anchorage asks the court to declare that the National Indian Gaming Commission has overstepped its authority in approving a casino for Eklutna, a tribal area within the municipality of Anchorage.
The several plaintiffs in the lawsuit say that Sharon Avery, acting chairwoman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, doesn’t understand the history and legal status of what is called the Ondola allotment, which is where the proposed casino would be built.
The issue at hand is that the property is in a neighborhood with very limited, narrow access, and the people who live there would be overwhelmed and harmed by a 50,000-square-foot casino, with 700 video game machines, bingo, pull tabs, a a bar and restaurant. Add to that a septic system and drain field to accommodate hundreds of people, a well to provide water, and run-off from a parking lot that would be able to accommodate hundreds of cars, all add to impacts on the environment, the plaintiffs said.
“That will inflict a direct, concrete, particularized, actual, and immediate injury in fact on the plaintiffs in that The NVE [Native Village of Eklutna] intends the seven hundred video gaming machines in its casino to attract hundreds of patrons who seven days a week will constantly travel in automobiles from the North Birchwood Exit of the Glenn Highway down Birchwood Loop Road to Birchwood Spur Road, then past the intersection of Alluvial Street and Birchwood Spur Road, to the casino. And then back again. That will irreversibly destroy the quiet family atmosphere and rural lifestyle in the Birchwood Spur Road neighborhood that the plaintiffs decades ago moved into the neighborhood to enjoy,” the lawsuit says.
The village of Eklutna history is complicated and much disputed, but through the decades and the application of politics has become more of an accepted reality, even though only about 70 people live in the village, it has total of 400 members who live mainly in Anchorage or the Mat-Su Valley. They see this gambling project as economic development for their members.
The village started in about 1897, when a few families of Dena’ina Athabascan Indian descent moved to the area that is 26 miles from downtown. It was a small community and by 1970, there were only 25 listed in the U.S. Census.
In the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), 43 U.S.C. 1609(b)(1), Congress designated the community of Eklutna as a “Native village” to enable residents of the community who were of one-fourth degree or more Dena’ina Athabascan Indian blood quantum to incorporate Eklutna, Inc., and to enable Eklutna, Inc., to be eligible for the monetary and land ownership benefits that ANCSA made available.
1988 the Alaska Supreme Court described Congress’s Alaska Native policy: “In a series of enactments following the Treaty of Cession and extending into the first third of this century, Congress has demonstrated its intent that Alaska Native communities not be accorded sovereign tribal status. The historical accuracy of this conclusion was expressly recognized in the proviso to the Alaska Indian Reorganization Act [of 1936] . . . No enactment subsequent to the Alaska Indian Reorganization Act granted or recognized tribal sovereign authority in Alaska.”
A series of other political and legal events occurred, notably under President Bill Clinton, who appointed Ada Deer as assistant Interior secretary. Deer published a rule saying Native entities within the State of Alaska that were recognized and eligible to receive services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs included “Eklutna Native Village.” But Assistant Secretary Deer removed from her list Eklutna, Inc., and the other ANCSA village and regional corporations.
The dispute about whether Eklutna qualifies for the jurisdiction of the National Indian Gaming Commission is tied up in these and other legal events that are enumerated in the 34-page lawsuit, which was prompted when in July, the commission said that the Ondola allotment was under its jurisdiction for casino authorization.
The plaintiffs say the members of the Native Village of Eklutna are not a federally recognized tribe whose governing body possesses powers of self-government and is not eligible to conduct gaming pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The Ondola allotment is not “Indian Country,” the lawsuit says, or “Indian land.”
While the Village of Eklutna has already cleared the land for the casino, the Birchwood Community Council knew nothing of the development that will impact the neighborhood.
The plaintiffs have hired renown Indian law attorney Donald Craig Mitchell to represent them. He is the author of major works on the history of Indian Country in Alaska, and is considered a national expert. A former vice president and general counsel of the Alaska Federation of Natives, which was organized by Alaska Natives in 1967 to fight for land claims settlement, he has been continuously involved, both before Congress and in the courts, in the development and implementation of federal Native policy. In 1997, he represented Sen. Ted Stevens before the U.S. Supreme Court as amicus curiae in Alaska v Native Village of Venetie, which upheld Mitchell’s view that Congress did not intend land conveyed to Alaska Native corporations to be “Indian Country.” He has authored two books and numerous articles on Alaska Native law.
The lawsuit can be read in its entirety here:
Well now, the Eklutna has 70 people? I doubt it, but that doesn’t matter. Whoever they are, they are being exploited and coached by someone who is planning to cash-in.
The unpopular question everyone should be asking is based on this sentence:
“The village started in about 1897, when a few families of Dena’ina Athabascan Indian descent moved to the area that is 26 miles from downtown.”
Who lived there before the Dena’ina Athabascan Indians moved there? Like most native Alaska nomadic history what you see most publicly may not be the truth. Even in native and tribal disputes, history is written by the victor. Were the Denan’ina the first, or the last, who occupied Anchorage and the surrounding lands?
many errors in this story…
read “shem pete’s alaska ” for some back story of the (abandoned and repopulated) village after the gold miners arrived..
the parcel of land started as 8 acres, but in 1916 the railroad cut through one side(inlet side), in 1929 the anchorage hotel owner put int the power lines to his eklutna dam that cut off the other end of parcel… then later the road moved very far from original and cut off the front (south)…
they were my next door neighbors, as she described to me the land issues in fall of 2012…
Casinos… This will be an interesting experiment for Alaskans to endure. Federal dollars that have been invested in improving the quality of life here now risk being funneled into the pockets of Vegas casino owners. There are even rumors that Medicaid cards are being used for free trips to town just to play bingo. Now, we’re talking about adding a casino to the mix—maybe Ekutna should consider building a homeless shelter wing alongside this misguided idea – they’ll need it!
This is the same greedy 70 people who want our electric rates to go up just so they can “restore” the Eklutna River. I hope these Birchwood residents win the lawsuit.
Come on people. Progress! A casino will be fun.
Looks like the lawyers are going to win again.
I wonder what the highway will be like with alcohol and icy roads.
Always wondered what Alaska would be like if a certain patch of “Indian Country” land was designated as a ‘Sin Strip?’
Gambling, liquor, marijuana, prostitution, entertainment. A mini Las Vegas located on the Western end of the Cook Inlet near the coal fields.
Taxes at about 50% as a great revenue source for the state.
Ferry boat shuttle from Anchorage every other hour. Use two of the wornout blue canoes.
Thanks for telling the whole story.
The BIA/NVE just released an Environmental Assessment (E.A.) for this Casino development following NEPA guidelines with a 15 day public comment period. It started December 22nd and ends January 6th. Never in my experience have I ever witnessed a environmentally sensitive project have only two weeks for public comment over a double holiday Christmas/New year’s time frame. Do you think it’s possible they are in a hurry to get this done with, with little or no public comment? They don’t want you to know that this project pushes the limits in dozens of ways. For one they have to build retaining walls to build it and fit it in because as proposed it will be just inside the flood plain of peters creek a salmon spawning stream and only a 25 foot setback from the retaining walls. They want environmental stewardship on the Eklutna river recovery project and strong salmon runs. As for peters creek with a already viable and reliable salmon population that’s managed to survive, well I guess it doesn’t count because there’s real money to be made destroying the river bank on peters creek with this Casino. That’s just one issue. The others are gambling addiction and preying on poor desperate folks that just don’t understand the odds leaving the tax payers to pick up the tab when they have nothing left, a 1.2 mile narrow dark unlighted roadway with drunks, well water use to 8800 gal a day, septic next to the river for 700 gamblers, Water run off from a 58,000 sf facility and a 450 car parking lot next to the creek, 24/7 operation’s, more noise, Lights, traffic, increased crime of multiple kinds, new water and sewer assessments for all the folks in the Birchwood loop road community once they realize the water and sewer on site doesn’t cut it and have to tap into MOA water and sewer 1.4 miles away. No more organized bike race’s on Birchwood loop, I could go on. Maybe you don’t live next to this proposed development but have a heart folks and stand up with me and comment with the community of Birchwood and make your voice known. Please make a public comment before January 6th at ecklutnaea.com
We have enough social/economic issues in our larger community, please don’t let this be one more.
NIMBYs strike again