Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

The dispute over property rights versus subsistence use in Lutak Inlet has been resolved by the courts, yet it has led to a severe financial penalty for the losing party. If it remained in the hands of the local people involved, it might not have been so costly.

The area by the mouth of the Chilkoot River has traditionally been used by Natives for the annual subsistence harvesting of eulachon. The upland property owners accepted people access but objected to vehicles driving to the riverfront estuary. Conversely, the local Natives asserted that their experience at this location has long mitigated any harm. They wanted to retain the use of vehicles to help seniors negotiate the steep banks to the river’s edge and to assist in the

hauling out of the fish caught. The property owners said they were open to some limited vehicular access, but no agreement was reached and the matter went to the courts.

Then a regional for-profit corporation became involved and the monetary liabilities increased far beyond the initial dispute. The big guns brought in big fees, and the losers paid the price. I wonder if the conflict remained solely between the family and the local Native

organization, it may have been resolved more amicably, like traditional disputes at Deer Rock, and without the leveling of $54,000 court costs.

James Axel Wilson