Alaska Native veterans who served in the Vietnam War are facing yet another setback in their efforts to secure land allotments. While their fellow Alaska Natives had been able to claim land under a long-standing federal agreement, those who served in Vietnam were excluded.
The announcement was made on a Good Friday, when Alaska’s delegation was traveling home for the Easter weekend.
“Secretary Haaland has once again betrayed our Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans, further delaying another public land order and limiting the lands available to these American heroes for their congressionally-mandated land allotments. Sadly, many of these veterans may not live long enough to receive their allotments, thanks to the Secretary’s action today and a long line of other needless delays,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan. “This latest betrayal, which constitutes the 49th executive action from the Biden administration targeting our state, should settle any doubts about whether the Biden administration will ever prioritize the voices and interests of indigenous Alaskans over their Lower 48 eco-colonialist allies.”
Despite years of work by the Alaska delegation to address this injustice, and despite significant progress under President Donald Trump, progress ground to a halt under the Biden administration. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland has announced that a significant amount of land in the Kobuk-Seward Planning Area will be excluded from the selection process while an environmental impact study is conducted.
This situation has its roots in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which extinguished the 160-acre land allotment rights granted to Alaska Natives in 1906. While there were last-minute allotments made, Alaska Natives serving overseas during the Vietnam War were unable to claim their land.
The Alaska Native Veterans Act of 1988 aimed to address this issue, but fewer than 500 Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans applied due to restrictions in the law. Around 2,800 veterans still await their allotments.
In 2019, a bill sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Congressman Don Young gave Alaska Native veterans who served during the Vietnam era the opportunity to apply for their promised land allotments. That bill, S. 47, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, was signed into law by President Trump.
However, in April 2021, the Biden administration imposed a two-year moratorium on several new Public Land Orders in Alaska, including the allotment program.
Secretary Haaland has now ordered a full environmental impact statement, delaying the program even further and taking out 27 million acres of land from consideration. This means that most of the land originally available for selection has been excluded.
There can only be one explanation for the most woke administration in our history to delay this while our Vietnam Vets die off… The land is promised to something else they aren’t telling us about. This is a most disrespectful injustice that cannot be tolerated.
Q: Who does America care less for than its veterans?
A: Indian veterans.
Read your history books.
Why don’t all Vietnam veterans get 160 acres of free land? Why only natives?
Man with two first names Floyd George… tell us how the United States is disrespecting Native American soldiers please.
You’re unusually pissy today.
Maybe Mary-P can intervene and help with her extensive influence and stature?
When you live in Western Alaska, you’re friends are older Natives that are already holding 160 acre allotments, still controlled by the BIA……. You know for fact that allotment property is never going to be given title to the shareholders.
This Veterans allotment is just another government lie. The Feds will never relinquish title to any Native that’s not well connected. No property is leaving Federal Control under any circumstances. It’s really that simple.
After watching her performance in congress last week does anyone think Haaland does anything other than public social appearances. She is absolutely ignorant of even the big picture overview of her department. “Thank you for that…”
“You will own nothing and like it.” The new calling of our globalist controlled government. JP Morgan Chase’s CEO is already calling for eminent domain on a large scale. The idea being to convert private property to government owned green energy project land. You know, so we don’t cook ourselves to death.
Haaland has put Peltola on the skids! Her political obituary will be short: she’ll go down as an incompetent and ineffective one-term U.S. Representative!
Can’t help but wonder if it was her tribe, would she do this. Based on her behavior, no. So much for native solidarity.
This is just further punishment for Willow.
Happy Swampy Dan? You approved her.
More compromise on promises,commitments and obligations to the aboriginal inhabitants of the land same as in the lower 48 except in this case they were fighting and dying under our flag in an unpopular war!!
So John are we not giving the indigenous people enough taxpayer dollars? How long should we continue funding them how long before they can support themselves? When those men wrote those treaties 200 years ago they couldn’t fathom that those same people would need the same handouts 200 years later
Do you really want to discuss how many times we ignored, violated, or otherwise obliterated treaties signed with natives?
Really?
Or take a hard look at how most reservations were basically US created Native ghettos?
A majority of the native tribes never stood a chance to try to develop anything. They don’t default to gambling by choice. It’s by necessity.
History. It’s all there for those who bother to look.
Soon they’ll tell us about their event, the sell outs and their new reforms. UGH.
Nothing new from the anti American government ran by a person who can’t tie his shoes as proof he falls on stairs. The feds are not interested in this land for their service but watch them jump through hoops for censorship and ownership. The feds can’t be trusted for anything but the loss of freedoms we once had.
So just how invested is Murky, DanDan and Mary Many Names in New Mexico’s booming energy economy? Counting their enchanted shekels?
In a just and sane world, this person would be doing little more than pounding corn.
Why only the natives get 160 acres?
On 1906 the US government made a promise of 160 acres to AK natives.
The matter was settled as part of the AK Natives Claims Settlement of ‘71.
Since there were natives abroad In Vietnam they had no chance to get their allotments.
It was all right there in the article above.
The Federal Government made a promise to our natives. The government then did what it usually does, ignore the agreement. We’re especially good at doing it to natives.
This is a worse case slap at the remaining qualifying Alaska Native Vietnam vets. This should have been settled long ago. Something else has to be going on here. Either that, or only New Mexico has natives and Alaska’s native heroes don’t count. Haaland should be replaced immediately. The whole Biden Administration is a disaster on all fronts.
Loren,
Read paragraph 5 & 6 again.
You’re asking too much out of him.
The irony of one native going out of her way to screw other natives on behalf of the US government is stunning.
Whose got the forked tongue now, Deb?
She is and always has been an awful person to our state! Until she is replaced, we will be bearing the burden of her hateful decisions!
So much hate on Ester, so many uninformed people in our state. The Dingle Act was to allow the Vietnam native veterans the same opportunity that the rest of the natives received through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. This was so you can have you high dollar jobs on the pipeline and oil fields!
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