Native claims for trespass prior to ANCSA were extinguished because ANCSA § 4 extinguished not only Aboriginal title to all Alaska Natives, but also all claims based on aboriginal title in the sense that the past or present existence of aboriginal title is an element of the claim.
Appellants protest the ruling of the district court that their trespass claims were extinguished by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. We affirm.Appellants[1] represent all the Eskimos on the North Slope of Alaska. Appellees are the State of Alaska[2] and companies involved in the effort to exploit North Slope petroleum. Until one or two decades ago the North Slope was essentially unpeopled except for a few Inupiates[3]; more recently, there has been a mighty “oil rush.” For the purposes of this appeal, we assume that the Inupiats retained unrecognized aboriginal title to the North Slope until 1971. Such title is good against third parties (we assume arguendo) but can be extinguished without compensation by the United States. Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States, 348 U.S. 272, 75 S.Ct. 313, 99 L.Ed. 314 (1955).Pursuant to the Alaska Statehood Act, § 6, the state selected a large amount of oil-rich “vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved” North Slope land for its own in the 1960’s. The United States tentatively approved these selections, and the state gave conditional leases to oil interests in exchange for $912,000,000. Most of the alleged trespasses were under this color of state title. We assume arguendo that, because of the Inupiats’ aboriginal title, the selections and leases were invalid and the entries were trespasses. Cf. Alaska v. Udall, 420 F.2d 938 (9th Cir. 1969) (aboriginal rights might prevent state selection), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1076, 90 S.Ct. 1522, 25 L.Ed.2d 811 (1970). On petition of the Natives, Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub.L. No. 92-203, 85 Stat. 688 (codified at 43 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.) (“the Act”) on December 18, 1971. Congress found and declared that “there is an immediate need for a fair and just settlement of all claims by Natives and Native groups of Alaska, based on aboriginal land claims,” and that “the settlement should be accomplished rapidly, with certainty, in conformity with the real economic and social needs of Natives, without litigation.” 43 U.S.C. § 1601(a), (b).
Adds precedent that influences how ANCSA corporations, regulators, and shareholders interpret governance rights and remedies.