I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 950

To expand Alaska Native contracting of Federal land management functions 

and activities and to promote hiring of Alaska Natives by the Federal 

Government within the State of Alaska, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2003

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Resources 

A BILL

To expand Alaska Native contracting of Federal land management functions and activities and to promote hiring 

of Alaska Natives by the Federal Government within 

the State of Alaska, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alaska Federal Lands 

5 Management Demonstration Project Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) The Alaska National Interest Lands Con2 servation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) established 

3 new and expanded units of the National Park Sys4 tem and the National Wildlife Refuge System in 

5 many areas of Alaska. The purposes of these con6 servation system units include protection of habitat 

7 for fish and wildlife, conservation of fish and wildlife 

8 populations, continued opportunity for subsistence 

9 uses by local residents, and protection of archeo10 logical sites associated with Alaska Native cultures. 

11 (2) Many rural Alaskan communities are in 

12 close proximity to conservation system units and the 

13 purposes of these conservation system units are 

14 uniquely relevant to the culture and ways of Alaska 

15 Natives and other residents of rural Alaska commu16 nities. Congress recognized this close relationship in 

17 sections 1306, 1307, and 1308 of the Alaska Na18 tional Interest Lands Conservation Act, which di19 rected the Secretary of the Interior to establish pro20 grams whereby Alaska Native lands were given pref21 erence for the siting of conservation system unit fa22 cilities, Alaska Native corporations and local resi23 dents were given preference for the provision of vis24 itor services, and local residents were given pref25 erence for employment. 
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1 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol2 lows: 

3 (1) To promote innovative management strate4 gies that are designed to lead to greater efficiency 

5 in conservation system unit management. 

6 (2) To expand Alaska Native contracting oppor7 tunities. 

8 (3) To increase local native employment in 

9 Alaska. 

10 (4) To further the unique purposes of conserva11 tion system units as they relate to subsistence prac12 tices, Alaska Native culture, and the conservation of 

13 fish and wildlife habitat and populations. 

14 SEC. 3. ALASKA FEDERAL LANDS MANAGEMENT DEM15 ONSTRATION PROJECT. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

17 program within the Department of the Interior to be 

18 known as the ‘‘Alaska Federal Lands Management Dem19 onstration Project’’ by which 12 Indian tribes or tribal or20 ganizations may contract to perform construction, mainte21 nance, data collection, biological research, and harvest 

22 monitoring on conservation system units in Alaska. 

23 (b) PARTICIPATION.—During each of the 2 fiscal 

24 years immediately following the date of the enactment of 

25 this Act, the Secretary shall select, in a manner to achieve 
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1 geographic representation within Alaska, not less than 6 

2 eligible Indian tribes or tribal organizations per year to 

3 participate in the demonstration project. 

4 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in the 

5 demonstration project, an Indian tribe or tribal organiza6 tion, shall—

7 (1) request participation by resolution or other 

8 official action of the governing body of the Indian 

9 tribe or tribal organization; 

10 (2) demonstrate financial and management sta11 bility and capability, as evidenced by the Indian 

12 tribe or tribal organization having no unresolved sig13 nificant and material audit exceptions for the pre14 vious 3 fiscal years; and 

15 (3) demonstrate significant use of or depend16 ency upon the relevant conservation system unit or 

17 other public land unit for which programs, functions, 

18 services, and activities are requested to be placed 

19 under contract. 

20 (d) PRIORITY.—If the Secretary receives a request to 

21 contract specific conservation system unit programs, serv22 ices, functions, and activities, or portions thereof, from 

23 more than one Indian tribe or tribal organization meeting 

24 the criteria set forth in subsection (c), the Secretary shall

25 apply the priority selection criteria applied by the Alaska 
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1 Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for contracting 

2 pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education 

3 Assistance Act. If, after applying such criteria, more than 

4 one eligible Indian tribe or tribal organization remains and 

5 such Indian tribes or tribal organizations have overlapping 

6 requests to negotiate and contract for the same programs, 

7 services, functions, and activities, or portions thereof, the 

8 Secretary may require such Indian tribes or tribal organi9 zations to agree regarding which Indian tribe or tribal or10 ganization shall have the ability to contract or to submit 

11 a joint request prior to entering into negotiations. 

12 (e) PLANNING PHASE.—Each Indian tribe and tribal 

13 organization selected by the Secretary to participate in the 

14 demonstration project shall complete a planning phase 

15 prior to negotiating and entering into a conservation sys16 tem unit management contract. The planning phase shall 

17 be conducted to the satisfaction of the Secretary, Indian 

18 tribe, or tribal organization, and shall include—

19 (1) legal and budgetary research; and 

20 (2) internal tribal planning and organizational 

21 preparation. 

22 (f) CONTRACTS.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon request of a partici24 pating Indian tribe or tribal organization that has 

25 completed the planning phase pursuant to subsection 
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1 (e), the Secretary shall negotiate and enter into a 

2 contract with the Indian tribe or tribal organization 

3 for the Indian tribe or tribal organization to plan, 

4 conduct, and administer programs, services, func5 tions, and activities, or portions thereof, as described 

6 in subsection (a), requested by the Indian tribe or 

7 tribal organization and related to the administration 

8 of a conservation system unit that is substantially 

9 located within the geographic region of the Indian 

10 tribe or tribal organization. 

11 (2) TIME LIMITATION FOR NEGOTIATION OF

12 CONTRACTS.—Not later than 90 days after a partici13 pating Indian tribe or tribal organization has noti14 fied the Secretary that it has completed the planning 

15 phase required by subsection (e), the Secretary shall 

16 initiate and conclude negotiations, unless an alter17 native negotiation and implementation schedule is 

18 otherwise agreed to by the parties. The declination 

19 and appeals provisions of the Indian Self-Determina20 tion and Education Assistance Act, including section 

21 110 of such Act, shall apply to contracts and agree22 ments requested and negotiated under this Act. 

23 (g) CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION.—

24 (1) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN TERMS.—At the re25 quest of the contracting Indian tribe or tribal orga-
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1 nization, the benefits, privileges, terms, and condi2 tions of agreements entered into pursuant to titles 

3 I and IV of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu4 cation Assistance Act may be included in a contract 

5 entered into under this Act. If any provisions of the 

6 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

7 Act are incorporated, they shall have the same force 

8 and effect as if set out in full in this Act and shall 

9 apply notwithstanding any other provision of law. 

10 The parties may include such other terms and condi11 tions as are mutually agreed to and not otherwise 

12 contrary to law. 

13 (2) AUDIT.—Contracts entered into under this 

14 Act shall provide for a single-agency audit report to 

15 be filed as required by chapter 75 of title 31, United 

16 States Code. 

17 (3) TRANSFER OF EMPLOYEES.—Any career 

18 Federal employee employed at the time of the trans19 fer of an operation or program to an Indian tribe or 

20 tribal organization shall not be separated from Fed21 eral service by reason of such transfer. Intergovern22 mental personnel actions may be used to transfer su23 pervision of such employees to the contracting In24 dian tribe or tribal organization. Such transferred 

25 employees shall be given priority placement for any 
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1 available position within their respective agency, not2 withstanding any priority reemployment lists, direc3 tives, rules, regulations, or other orders from the 

4 Department of the Interior, the Office of Manage5 ment and Budget, or other Federal agencies. 

6 (h) AVAILABLE FUNDING; PAYMENT.—Under the 

7 terms of a contract negotiated pursuant to subsection (f), 

8 the Secretary shall provide each Indian tribe or tribal or9 ganization funds in an amount not less than the Secretary 

10 would have otherwise provided for the operation of the re11 quested programs, services, functions, and activities. Con12 tracts entered into under this Act shall provide for ad13 vance payments to the tribal organizations in the form of 

14 annual or semiannual installments. 

15 (i) TIMING; CONTRACT AUTHORIZATION PERIOD.—

16 An Indian tribe or tribal organization selected to partici17 pate in the demonstration project shall complete the plan18 ning phase required by subsection (e) not later than 1 cal19 endar year after the date that it was selected for participa20 tion and may begin implementation of its requested con21 tract no later than the first day of the next fiscal year. 

22 The Indian tribe or tribal organization and the Secretary 

23 may agree to an alternate implementation schedule. Con24 tracts entered into pursuant to this Act are authorized to 

25 remain in effect for 5 consecutive fiscal years, starting 
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1 from the fiscal year the participating Indian tribe or tribal 

2 organization first entered into its contract under this Act. 

3 (j) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the close 

4 of each of fiscal years 2004 and 2007, the Secretary shall 

5 present to the Congress detailed reports, including a nar6 rative, findings, and conclusions on the costs and benefits 

7 of this demonstration project. The reports shall identify 

8 remaining institutional and legal barriers to the con9 tracting of conservation system unit management to Alas10 ka Native entities and shall contain recommendations for 

11 improving, continuing, and expanding the demonstration 

12 project. The reports shall be authored jointly with, and 

13 shall include the separate views of, all participating Indian 

14 tribes and tribal organizations. 

15 (k) LIMITATIONS.—

16 (1) REVENUE PRODUCING VISITOR SERVICES.—

17 Contracts authorized under this Act shall not in18 clude revenue-producing visitor services, unless an 

19 agreement is reached with the most directly affected 

20 Alaska Native corporations to allow such services to 

21 be included in the contract. Such contracts shall not 

22 otherwise repeal, alter, or otherwise modify section 

23 1307 or 1308 of the Alaska National Interests 

24 Lands Conservation Act. 
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1 (2) CONTRACTS.—Contracts authorized under 

2 this Act shall not grant or include any authority to 

3 administer or otherwise manage or oversee permits, 

4 licenses, or contracts related to sport hunting and 

5 fishing guiding activities. 

6 (3) DENALI NATIONAL PARK.—The Denali Na7 tional Park shall not be subject to any of the provi8 sions of this Act. 

9 (4) STATE’S MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY FOR

10 FISH AND WILDLIFE.—Nothing in this Act is in11 tended to enlarge or diminish the responsibility and 

12 authority of the State of Alaska for management of 

13 fish and wildlife. 

14 (l) PLANNING GRANTS.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 

16 appropriated funds, upon application the Secretary 

17 shall award a planning grant in the amount of 

18 $100,000 to any Indian tribe or tribal organization 

19 selected for participation in the demonstration 

20 project to enable it to plan for the contracting of 

21 programs, functions, services, and activities as au22 thorized under this Act and meet the planning phase 

23 requirement of subsection (e). An Indian tribe or 

24 tribal organization may choose to meet the planning 

25 phase requirement without applying for a grant 
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1 under this subsection. No Indian tribe or tribal or2 ganization may receive more than 1 grant under this 

3 subsection. 

4 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

5 There is authorized to be appropriated $600,000 for 

6 each of the 2 fiscal years immediately following the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act to fund planning 

8 grants under this section. 

9 SEC. 4. KOYUKUK AND KANUTI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REF10 UGES DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall enter into 

12 contracts, compacts, or funding agreements under the In13 dian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 

14 (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.) with the Koyukuk River Basin 

15 Moose Co-Management Team, Inc., upon receipt of au16 thorizing resolutions from its member tribal or village 

17 councils, to establish a demonstration project providing 

18 programs, functions, services, and activities of the 

19 Koyukuk and Kanuti National Wildlife Refuges. 

20 (b) ASSIGNMENT OF EMPLOYEES.—To the maximum 

21 extent possible, contracts and compacts under subsection 

22 (a) shall provide that the United States Fish and Wildlife 

23 Service shall assign employees assigned to the Koyukuk 

24 and Kanuti National Wildlife Refuges to the contractor 

25 pursuant to the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (5 
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1 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.) with all such employees maintained 

2 as Federal employees retaining all benefits and status of 

3 Federal service. 

4 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

5 For the purposes of this Act: 

6 (1) CONSERVATION SYSTEM UNIT.—The term 

7 ‘‘conservation system unit’’ shall have the meaning 

8 given that term in section 102(4) of the Alaska Na9 tional Interest Lands Conservation Act. 

10 (2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

11 shall have the meaning given that term in section 

12 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 

13 Assistance Act. 

14 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of the Interior. 

16 (4) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘tribal 

17 organization’’ shall have the meaning given that 

18 term in section 4(l) of the Indian Self-Determination 

19 and Education Assistance Act.

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