Cape Fox Land Entitlement Finalization Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA, was enacted to recognize and settle the land claims of Alaska Natives. As part of this act, the Cape Fox Village Corporation received a land entitlement but was unable to select usable land due to a technicality that restricted Cape Fox from selecting lands within six miles of Ketchikan. This left Cape Fox with mostly remote, mountainous lands with no productive or economic value. As a result, ANCSA settlement for Cape Fox remains unresolved.

H.R. 2815 would waive the technical requirement and allow the Secretary of the Interior to convey approximately 180 acres of surface estate within the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska to the Cape Fox Corporation, along with subsurface interests to the Sealaska Corporation. This legislation would resolve the longstanding land claim issue for Cape Fox.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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