89–010 

Calendar No. 679 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 115–393 

TO AMEND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT TO REPEAL A 

PROVISION LIMITING THE EXPORT OF TIMBER HARVESTED FROM LAND 

CONVEYED TO THE KAKE TRIBAL CORPORATION UNDER THAT ACT 

NOVEMBER 28, 2018.—Ordered to be printed 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 1149] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 1149) to amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to repeal a provision limiting the export of timber harvested from land conveyed to the Kake Tribal Corporation under 

that Act, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 

without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of S. 1149 is to amend the Alaska Native Claims 

Settlement Act (ANCSA) to repeal a provision (43 U.S.C. 1629h) 

limiting the export of timber harvested from land conveyed to the 

Kake Tribal Corporation (KTC) under that Act. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

In 2000, Congress enacted Public Law 106–283, the Kake Tribal 

Corporation Land Transfer Act, in an effort to prevent timber harvesting in the Gunnuk Creek watershed near the native village of 

Kake, Alaska. The Gunnuk Creek watershed is the potable water 

source for the village. 

Under the terms of the land exchange, KTC conveyed 1,430 acres 

of surface and subsurface estate in the Gunnuk Creek watershed 

to the City of Kake, but retained 1,127 acres of its watershed land. 

Both the land conveyed to the City of Kake and the land retained 

by KTC were encumbered by a conservation easement to protect 

the watershed. In return for the conveyed lands, KTC acquired 

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1,389 acres of timberlands in the nearby Jenny Creek area, which 

is outside of the protected watershed. 

Although the legislation did not require the values of the lands 

subject to exchange be equal, the parties attempted to informally 

equalize the value of the land exchange. To facilitate this, 

Sealaska, the southeast regional native corporation established 

under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), and the 

State of Alaska exchanged lands among themselves and the U.S. 

Forest Service. The exchanged land included 1,127 acres of 

Sealaska lands that were deeded to the Southeast Alaska Lands 

Trust to aid in the protection of the town’s watershed, and 694.5 

acres from the State of Alaska to the City of Kake for the purpose 

of municipal expansion. 

The House Committee report accompanying the legislation noted 

that KTC would be compensated with a $15 million payment from 

the Forest Service to equalize the value of the exchange. An appraisal conducted in 2000 for the purpose of determining the approximate value of the timber if the timber was sold in export markets, estimated that the value of the Gunnuk Creek watershed’s 

timber was worth approximately $32 million while the value of the 

timber at Jenny Creek—land at Saginaw and Hamilton Bay on 

Kuiu Island—was estimated to be worth $14.4 million (H. Rept. 

106–489). By contrast, private appraisals estimated the domestic 

market value of that timber in 2000 to be approximately $7.4 million. 

A provision was included in Public Law 106–283 that prohibited 

the sale of the timber from the Jenny Creek lands in export markets. This effectively required that the timber be sold only in Alaska or to West Coast mills for domestic processing. This had the effect of lowering the sales value, yet increasing timber availability 

for the mills. 

Also impacting the value of the exchange to KTC, Congress did 

not begin appropriating the $15 million payment until 2005 because the authorization of appropriations in the legislation prohibited appropriations being made until KTC entered into a series of 

conservation easements. By 2009, Congress had appropriated just 

under $13 million of the total compensation. From 2000 to 2009, 

timber prices decreased. The Forest Service contends that since the 

value of the timber in the Gunnuk Creek watershed has declined, 

the remaining $2.1 million of the $15 million in compensation is no 

longer necessary to equalize the values of the land exchange. 

KTC has argued over the past decade that the remaining $2.1 

million in still owed from the original appropriation. For several 

years, KTC has been seeking to repeal the timber export prohibition to allow the corporation to sell Jenny Creek timber for export, 

potentially raising its value and helping to offset the compensation 

deficit it faced with the original 2000 land exchange. 

S. 1149 strikes the provision in Public Law 106–283 prohibiting 

KTC from exporting timber, thus allowing the corporation to sell 

its timber as it chooses, the same right held by all other Alaska 

Native corporations that gained lands under terms of ANCSA. 

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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 1149 was introduced by Senator Murkowski on May 17, 2017. 

The Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining held a 

hearing on S. 1149 on July 26, 2017. 

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in 

open business on October 2, 2018, and ordered S. 1149 favorably 

reported. 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 

open business session on October 2, 2018, by a majority voice vote 

of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 1149. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section. 1. Repeal of provision limiting the export of timber harvested from certain Kake Tribal Corporation land 

Section 1 repeals section 42 of ANCSA to remove the prohibition 

on the exportation of timber harvested from KTC lands. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of the costs of this measure has been provided by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 1149 would amend the Kake Tribal Corporation Land Transfer 

Act to repeal a timber export prohibition on almost 1,400 acres of 

land that was conveyed to the Kake Tribal Corporation in 2001. 

Because the prohibition that would be repealed under S. 1149 

only applies to timber controlled by the native corporation, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would not affect federal spending. 

Enacting S. 1149 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

CBO estimates that enacting S.1149 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 

10-year periods beginning in 2029. 

S. 1149 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Robert Reese. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 1149. The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing Government-established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

No personal information would be collected in administering the 

program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 1149, as ordered reported. 

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CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

S. 1149, as ordered reported, does not contain any congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff 

benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The testimony provided by the Department of Agriculture at the 

July 26, 2017, hearing on S. 1149 follows: 

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD, U.S. FOREST SERVICE, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Chairman Lee, Ranking Member Wyden, members of the 

Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present 

the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

regarding S. 1149—the Kake Tribal Corporation Export 

Restriction Act. 

S. 1149 would repeal a timber export prohibition that 

was enacted in 2000 as part of the Kake Tribal Corporation Land Transfer Act (Public Law 106–283, October 6, 

2000, 114 Stat. 867) (Kake Act). The Kake Act reallocated 

lands and land selection rights among the State of Alaska, 

Kake Tribal Corporation, and the City of Kake. The Kake 

Act also involved conveyance of 1,389 acres of federal lands 

to Kake Tribal Corporation and Sealaska Corporation. 

Conveyance of land interests was completed in 2001 and 

Forest Service considers the Kake Act to be fully implemented. The Forest Service does not have a role in Kake 

Tribal Corporation’s timber sale activities and therefore 

has no position on the bill. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to provide this 

statement for the record. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the original 

bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be 

omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in 

italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in 

roman): 

ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT 

Public Law 92–203, as amended 

* * * * * * * 

KAKE TRIBAL CORPORATION LAND TRANSFER 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 42. (a) IN GENERAL.—If— 

ø(h) TIMBER MANUFACTURING; EXPORT RESTRICTION.— 

Nothwithstanding any other provision of law, timber harvested 

from lands conveyed to Kake Tribal Corporation under this section 

shall not be available for export as unprocessed logs from Alaska, 

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nor may Kake Tribal Corporation sell, trade, exchange, substitute, 

or otherwise convey such timber to any person for the purpose of 

exporting that timber from the State of Alaska.¿ 

ø(i)¿ (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized such sums as may be necessary to carry out this chapter, including to compensate Kake Tribal Corporation for relinquishing 

its development rights pursuant to subsection (g)(2) øand to provide assistance to Kake Tribal Corporation to meet the requirements of subsection (h)¿. No funds authorized under this section 

may be paid to Kake Tribal Corporation unless Kake Tribal Corporation is a party to the conservation easements described in subsection (g). 

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