AFN and Denali Commission Launch ARTIC Collaboration to Gather Input on Resource Projects
Black brant geese, called Niġlinġaq in Inupiaq, hang on a porch railing in Utqiaġvik after a subsistence hunt.
Photo Credit: Dimitra Lavrakas
The ARTIC Project has a big name to live up to: the Alaska Resource and Tribal Infrastructure Coordination Project. The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), in partnership with the Denali Commission as funder and project sponsor, intends to collaborate with strategic partners and other stakeholders to develop clear, actional recommendations that prioritize benefits for rural Alaska communities, tribes, Alaska Native corporations, and local governments through community and economic development and infrastructure.
Unleashing Alaska Native Concerns
The project got the ball rolling with an online session on November 7. Sarah Lukin, former president of Cook Inlet Region, Inc. and now a management consultant, explained why Alaska Native tribes need another forum for communication right now.
“This [Trump] administration is encouraging energy resource development in Alaska,” she said. “The Denali Commission and AFN have partnered to provide our leaders with the necessary tools to provide our [rural Alaska and Native] leaders to have a voice in the planning process.”
Executive Order 14153, Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential, includes several provisions that directly impact rural Alaska communities, tribes, and Alaska Native corporations beyond oil and gas development, mining, and resource extraction. It directs federal agencies to review and potentially revoke Public Land Orders that have withdrawn lands from selection by Alaska Native corporations under the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act and other laws.
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March 2026
Additionally, the order calls for a reassessment of federal policies regarding the taking of land into trust for Alaska Native tribes, which has faced legal and administrative barriers. Also, the order calls for a review of federal rules affecting subsistence rights, including hunting and fishing access. Other provisions include navigable waterways and submerged lands, the King Cove Road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, and hunting and trapping rules for national parks.
The Denali Commission is a federal agency established by Congress in 1998 to coordinate rural Alaska community development. It has guided more than $2 billion in spending. This summer, the Trump administration’s proposed federal budget included zero funding for six regional development commissions, including the Denali Commission. Former AFN president Julie Kitka, now federal co-chair of the Denali Commission, says she hopes the Congressional appropriations process funds the commission anyway.
The ARTIC project highlights community development for enhancing quality of life, well-being, and local capacity; economic development by creating jobs, diversifying local economies, and supporting self-sufficiency; and durable infrastructure to develop the systems, facilities, utilities, and physical assets that make and support long-term community and economic development.
“But it does not occur in a vacuum,” Lukin said.
Listening Sessions
An ice cellar for storing subsistence foods in permafrost, is in danger of falling into the sea due to erosion from Typhoon Merbok in September 2022.
Photo Credit: Dimitra Lavrakas
The November 7 session heard an array of topics that could guide the project’s priorities. Curtis McQueen, executive director of the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association, expressed concerns about fish harvests and coastal erosion brought on by storms and lack of sea ice.
Weeks earlier, remnants from Typhoon Halong battered Western Alaska villages, causing mass evacuations after villages flooded and homes washed out to sea. At the ARTIC meeting, participants spoke of the further effects of storms on subsistence animals and seafood, as well as the high cost of rural construction.
More listening sessions, both in-person and virtual, perhaps statewide, are planned over the next months. AFN will publish a summary report synthesizing the findings from the listening sessions.
“All of these deliverables have to be completed by September 2026,” said Lukin. “Participating in a listening session is the greatest opportunity to share ideas and feedback to us as a project team.”
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