Redoubt is home to the area’s largest subsistence sockeye fishery, and many Sitkans want assurances that if the Southeast regional Native corporation does gain ownership of the land, it will continue to maintain public access.

While the ruling clears the way for Sealaska’s claim to move forward, it doesn’t necessarily mean the corporation will be taking ownership of the land any time soon.

Jaeleen Araujo is Vice President and General Counsel for Sealaska.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to think that this is a done deal,” she says. “We are very pleased with the decision, because it potentially clears the way for the process to move forward. But we’re certainly not celebrating yet until we actually have a deed in our files.”

Sealaska originally filed for the land back in 1975, as part of its entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. ANCSA allows regional Native corporations to apply for ownership of historic or cemetery sites. The eleven acres at Redoubt Lake are the site of a fishing village historically used by Sitka’s Tlingit Kiks.adi Clan.