Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, March 24, 1989

		Village Corporation Surface / CAC Subsurface Estate
		Village Corporation Remaining Selection
		CAC Full Fee Estate
		CAC Subsurface Estate
		CAC Remaining Selection

In the wake of the Exxon Oil Spill, members of EPC helped create consensus for using restoration funds for the protection of coastal habitat, proving to local landowners that there is more money and sustainability in conservation than short-term exploitation. The Coastal Coalition, a consortium of activists that joined together in the wake of the spill, drafted a resolution for environmental restoration that focused on conservation easements, thus creating a billion dollar fund that could purchase timber rights away from the logging barons, before the entire Gulf of Alaska coastline was leveled. The Eyaks jumped into this incredible opportunity to create an economic alternative to clearcut logging. Once the restoration fund was in place, the government quickly changed habitat protection (restoration) to habitat acquisition and started demanding fee title to our Native land in exchange for preservation and restoration of any kind.

We were forced to once again shift our state of mind and our beliefs - that no one could own the land. We faced another decision in order to survive: either we sell our ANCSA land or be clearcut. Down deep, we believed that as long as subsistence continued, salmon kept returning and the trees stood. We would continue this argument over who owns our land, only at another time. We believed that if the fate of an oil spill could save our forests and that, at least, we were safe for awhile. Over a thousand miles of coastal habitat and hundreds of salmon streams have been protected, and several hundred million dollars has gone to local private landowners (mostly native corporations), which are finally paying dividends and creating settlements for native shareholders turning the shareholders back into stewards. EPC is currently preparing lawsuits, more direct action and shareholder education campaigns, and working with the US Forest Service and Chugach Alaska Corporation, to create conservation easement alternatives to road and trail building, and extraction based economics.

Copyright © 1999, Eyak Preservation Council. All rights reserved

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