Adak: Open for Business.

• Author: MIDDLETON, SAUNDRA

Will this former military base become the thriving community Aleut Corp. envisions?

At a time when many of Alaska's Native Regional Corporations are acquiring new businesses, Aleut Corp. has made a quantum leap in the business world by acquiring a self-contained Navy base capable of housing thousands.

In a land transfer between the Department of Defense, the Department of the Interior and the Aleut Corporation, the Navy's former submarine detection base near the end of the Aleutians will become Aleut Corp. holdings to be developed for commercial use. The Department of Defense will transfer the base back to the Department of the Interior, then the Department of the Interior will swap 46,000 acres of north Adak Island for other Aleut Corp. holdings in the Aleutians.

It's a win/win deal for all: The Navy rids itself of a base surplus. The Department of the Interior will receive 33,000 acres of Maritime Refuge lands (from the 79,000 acres that make up the base), will solve some Native land claim issues, and escape from a National Priority List polluted site. The Aleut Corp. gets a fully functional city with all the infrastructure located on original Native lands.

"There is a great deal of heart and interest in re-establishing connection with the land on Adak by the Aleut people," says Christopher Gates, executive director of Adak Reuse Corp. "People remember going there long ago, but when the Navy came in, they could no longer go to camp, fish, hunt or pick berries."

Adak Reuse Corp. is the regional, nonprofit organization set up to plan and implement the reuse of Adak. Its board of directors consists of delegates from the fishing and transportation industries, City of Atka, Aleut Corp., Alaska Federation of Natives, United Aleut Nation, Aleutian Regional School District and the Adak community.

The transfer agreement is 95 percent negotiated. Gates says that the Navy is accepting complete responsibility for cleanup of the base but it will probably take another summer of investigation to determine the full extent of the remaining cleanup. If the investigation determines there are sites that cannot be cleaned, then those areas will not be transferred and other lands will need to be negotiated.

In the meantime, The Aleut Corp. board of directors will meet to discuss the land transfer agreement. If approved by the board, it will go to the U.S. Congress. Congress has to ratify the land transfer due to changing the Alaska Maritime Refuge boundary...