The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a draft of its first Alaska Native relations policy, which the agency says is an effort to inform employees who have not previously worked with Alaska Native communities and cultivate trust with Indigenous groups.
Fish and Wildlife already has a broader Native American relations policy. But the draft Alaska Native relations policy, which was released Nov. 3, outlines key Alaska-specific considerations including subsistence needs and unique federal policies like the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The policy is intended to guide the agency’s employees as they enforce Alaska-related rules and regulations.
Crystal Leonetti, who led work on the new policy as the agency’s Alaska Native affairs specialist, said she hopes the first-of-its-kind document is widely used across the Fish and Wildlife Service.
“I want it to be on people’s desks every day and to use it like a reference manual,” Leonetti said of the policy. “I think this one is precedent-setting. I don’t think there’s anything else like it.”
Leonetti, who is Yup’ik and the first Indigenous woman to work as a Native American liaison in the agency, collaborated with 12 representatives from Alaska Native tribes, corporations and organizations as well as other members of Fish and Wildlife to draft the policy.
Work on the Alaska Native relations policy started in 2016. After facing delays under the Trump administration, talks resumed in 2021 and the writing team weighed feedback from around the state during consultation meetings and listening sessions. The draft was released earlier this month, and the public can weigh in during a 30-day comment period that ends Dec. 5.
Leonetti said the agency’s work has long spurred tensions with Alaska Native people, pointing to frustrations about Fish and Wildlife’s fishing, hunting and land management regulations that have historically neglected Indigenous communities’ subsistence needs.