Sealaska Corp. and The Nature Conservancy announced Thursday the intention to jointly contribute $17 million in seed funding to establish and support programs aimed at building Indigenous-led land management and community economic development.<\/p>\n
A newly created Seacoast Trust will be established and will initially support the efforts of the existing Sustainable Southeast Partnership, a coalition of organizations including tribal governments and federal agencies that is focused on environmentally sustainable economic development.<\/p>\n
“This is the realization of a lifelong professional goal of mine,” said Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. “This is about 15-20 years of dreams come to reality. I could go on all day.”<\/p>\n
The fund was announced Thursday in a video conference with representatives from various communities, tribal governments and private organizations. Speakers repeatedly emphasized the goal of the fund was to empower local communities to determine their own methods of development.<\/p>\n
Funds from the trust will be used for “projects that are locally identified as high priority, not identified as a high priority for us,” said Marina Anderson, executive director of the Organized Village of Kassan.<\/p>\n
Once the fund grows, a percentage of its annual earnings will be used to fund community programs — similar to how the state uses earnings from the Alaska Permanent Fund to fund state services. Sealaska CEO Anthony Gunnuk’ Mallott said it hadn’t yet been decided how much would be drawn annually, but 5% was being used as a rough estimation. The fund is seeking additional donations with a goal of $20 million by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n