| In
1983 Elders from the Bristol Bay Region affirmed eleven basic values of
the Yup’ik people of this region. The very first value is “Have
respect for our land and its resources.”
 Have
respect for the land you received and for the cultural values it represents.
If at all possible, don’t sell your Native allotment. If you must
sell, first contact the Nushagak-Mulchatna Wood-Tikchik Land Trust.
This organization was formed in part by Alaska Natives from this region
to provide alternatives to you. If your allotment is within the Togiak
National Wildlife Refuge, the Wood-Tikchik State Park or along the Nushagak,
Mulchatna or Nuyakuk Rivers, the Land Trust may be able to help you
in the following ways:
The Land Trust may be able to purchase your allotment. If the Land Trust
buys your allotment, the land will be preserved in its natural state forever.
The Land Trust may be able to purchase only certain rights
to your allotment giving you the cash you need, but allowing you and your
family the right to continue using the land for subsistence forever.
 The
Land Trust may be able to purchase your allotment and allow you to continue
using the land for subsistence for the rest of your life, or the life
of your spouse. The Land Trust may be able to help you sell your allotment,
or a portion of your allotment to someone else, and preserve its natural
state or guarantee your continued use of the remainder of the allotment
forever. The Land Trust may be able to help you find a buyer for your
allotment who will be willing for tax reasons to protect the land from
the kind of development that will threaten the moose, caribou and fish
upon which the people of the region depend.
Your Native Allotment is your land. No one can
tell you what to do with it. The Nushagak-Mulchatna Wood-Tikchik
Land Trust doesn’t want your Native Allotment if you don’t
want to sell. The Land Trust merely asks that before you sell, you
owe it to yourself and to your ancestors, to consider any option
that will give you the money you need but still preserve the land.
The Land Trust may be able to help.
Read the helpful brochure: Protecting Land for
Traditional Use: Alaska’s Land Trusts and Conservation Options for Native
Landowners |
