The Maturing of the 13 Regional Corporations.

• Author: STRICKER, JULIE
• Position: Statistical Data Included

From infancy to young adulthood, these corporations are making their mark on the world and paying dividends to shareholders.

How would you like to find a check for $50,000, mostly tax-free, in your mailbox?

About 7,000 shareholders of Cook Inlet Region Inc. did in December 2000 after the CIRI board cashed in a lucrative telecommunications investment and paid a special $500-per-share dividend. Most shareholders own 100 shares.

Thirty years ago, such a payoff would have been unthinkable, but then oil had just been discovered at Prudhoe Bay and Alaska's Native regional corporations were just a congressional theory.

The pipeline route to carry the oil from the Arctic coast to tidewater at Valdez ran through traditional Native lands, and Alaska Natives threatened to refuse access unless a decades-long effort to settle their land claims was reached. In answer, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, a landmark piece of legislation that divided 44 million acres of land--about the size of six New England states--and nearly $1 billion among Alaska's approximately 75,000 Natives.

Thirteen regional corporations and nearly 200 village corporations were created to manage the land and money, with the elusive goal of benefiting shareholders and future generations of Natives. How? Congress didn't specify, but not only were the regional corporations expected to make a profit and create or find jobs for shareholders, they were also supposed to improve their daily lives, protect their cultures and protect their lands. It was a tall order, but 30 years later the footprints of Alaska's Native regional corporations are found all over the state's economic and cultural landscapes. In 1999, they accounted for more than $1.97 billion in revenues, paid out millions in dividends, spent millions more on social and cultural programs, and employed thousands of shareholders. Year 2000 activities were similar.

Carl Marrs, CIRI president and CEO, says the ANCSA corporations are meeting their goals, with varying degrees of success. "I think Alaska Natives are substantially better off than they were 30 years ago because of the corporations," he says. Bristol Bay Native Corp. President and CEO Tom Hawkins agrees. "When you release about 210 mice into a maze, you've got to expect that a lot of them are gonna emerge from the other side," he says. "A lot of Alaska's Native corporations have come out on the other side."

For some, the trip was more arduous than it was for others. Steve Colt, an economist with the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage, has been tracking the regional...