Subsistence Key Topic at 2001 AFN Convention.

• Author: CAMPBELL, MELISSA
• Position: Brief Article

Anchorage sees a huge, albeit temporary, rise in its population each October as thousands of Alaska Natives from across the state come to attend the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention.

And for more than two decades, subsistence has been a topic of the annual weeklong convention. This year, the event holds a theme of "Our World, Our Way of Life," and will focus almost entirely on the debate, according to AFN spokesman John Tepton.

"Our world is based on a subsistence lifestyle," Tepton said. "There are elements of the Alaska community who don't see a difference between rural and urban lifestyle. Part of it is there seems to be a digging in of the heels in terms of looking at equality questions where the larger non-Native community balks at having aboriginal people continue the lifestyle we always have had. We will continue certain activities that come with that lifestyle, which include hunting, fishing and living off the land. We will never give those things up."

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 gives rural residents priority to subsistence hunt and fish on federal lands. The state Supreme Court in 1989 declared the preference unconstitutional. The state constitution was interpreted as saying all Alaskans have equal access to those resources. The conflicting state and federal policies have lead to the federal takeover of fish and game management on its lands, and has sharply divided urban and rural Alaskans.

The first AFN convention was held in 1966, and has grown in size and support since. Upwards of 5,000 people are expected to attend...