Ketchikan’s tribal members want to change the status of the community under federal rules for subsistence to allow residents greater accessibility to the subsistence resource. The tribe is seeking to switch from urban designation to rural which would be applicable to the entire population of 14,000 in Ketchikan Gateway Borough. Ketchikan Gateway Borough as well as the tribal hopes recent modifications to the designation process will allow it to gain acceptance.
The majority of people living in Alaska are classified under the government’s rural designation, acknowledging an existence that is indissolublely dependent on the environment. However, there are exceptions for urban areas that are not rural, such as Anchorage, Juneau and Ketchikan. This is a status managed by the Federal Subsistence Board.
The urban communities do not enjoy a subsistence preference like the rest of state. This means that they aren’t able to have access to subsistence resources available on federal land.
Tony Gallegos is with the Ketchikan Indian Community.
“It’s an injustice to the system due to being city dwellers,” he said. “We’re not thought as having access to those resources.”
For instance, Ketchikan residents, including tribal members, cannot take eulachon fishing within the Unuk River while residents from smaller communities around them canand this despite the fact that their ancestors were harvesting the tiny smelt species for many thousands of years.
Gallegos is researching a proposal to change the status of the community from rural to urban through The Federal Subsistence Board.
“The tribe is seeking to eliminate barriers to accessing traditional food items that they depend on. In addition, since they are within a community that is urban, no one in the community is in possession of the status as subsistence users that are federally recognized which means they are not able to hunt, fish or gather in accordance with subsistence regulations,” he said.
The distinction between rural and non-rural status dates in the 1980s at the time that Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act or ANILCA was enacted into law. It declared over 100 million acres federally owned land within Alaska to be designated as recreational areas, parks, and refuges. Then, communities were classified as urban or rural.
“It’s significant to change these rules,” said Brent Vickers who is an anthropologist at the government’s Office of Subsistence Management. The office will present recommendations on the proposal in the in the fall. The process to change the status of a community is minimum of four years, far more than it did in the past.
Public input is now a significant component of the decision-making process. Prior to 2015, the process was largely based on numbers, such as the average household income, and the number of hotels and stores within a particular community.
“It was not really a place to make a lot of input. It was just basing itself on these kinds of quantitative measures,” Vickers said.
The procedure was changed in 2015 following the release of complaints as well as a report to a more thorough method. In the present, Vickers states that the board is considering additional factors and rely on the advice from Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils. Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils.
“Now the analysis will focus on everything and paint the picture of the kind of community these look and how it’s to live in these communities” the official said.
In the case of Ketchikan there are around 14,000 residents living within the city. However, it’s located on an island, away from the main road system. The town has a significant Indigenous population. The tribe is home to over 3000 members who live locally, and some residents are part of other tribes, too.
But the rural status would not be restricted to the tribal members. It would also make everyone who is Ketchikan Borough inhabitants as users of subsistence regardless of their backgrounds, provided that they’ve been residents for a minimum of one year. Wildlife officials would also be obliged to prioritize their needs above those who are commercial or sport.
Gallegos claims that this is the third time that the Ketchikan tribe is seeking a change. However, he is hoping for a different outcome this time. He claims that both Ketchikan’s city and borough councils have passed resolutions that support the new policy.
“Right now the tribe is working within the system in accordance in accordance with all the regulations and rules in place. We are trying to determine if we are able to move forward and break down the barriers,” he said.
Since the process for determining designations changed in 2015 the subsistence boards of federal government have only looked at one idea in Alaska. This was a proposal to communities like Moose Pass near Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. It was considered an urban area. Seward area, but was granted rural status in 2021.
