The Bristol Bay Native Corporation: A Brief Outline of its History and Lessons Along the Way

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - April 29, 2014 - PRLog -- One of 13 Alaska Native Corporations that were developed under the passage of the ANCSA or the Alaska Native Corporations Settlement Act of 1971 is BBNC or Bristol Bay Native Corporation. While the ANCSA was fully enacted into a law in December of 1971, it was only in June 1972 that Bristol Bay Native Corporation was incorporated. It is a for-profit corporation whose shareholders are either of Dena'ina Athabaskan or Aleut descent. As of this date, the Bristol Bay Native Corporation has at least 8,700 shareholders.

During its incorporation in June 1921, the Bristol Bay Native Corporation decided to enroll almost 5,000 shareholders of Alaskan descent wherein each of these shareholders each received 100 shares of BBNC stocks. What is interesting to note about becoming a shareholder of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation or any Alaska native corporations for that matter is that openings to apply as a shareholder has been officially closed that same year. Simply put, to become a shareholder today is impossible unless you are related to shareholders who can give you a percentage of their shares as a gift. It is also for this sole reason why stocks of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation cannot be traded publicly or shared legally outside of the region.

Judging by this elusive ability to become a shareholder, it only shows just how successful the ANCSA has been in terms of establishing the exclusivity of the many benefits of Alaskan lands and environments. Since the major thrust for the Alaskan natives before was to secure ownership of their land due to the many resources it has such as oil and gold, the present day now fully realizes that what the natives have fought for before is now being enjoyed by the generations that followed them. And this tradition of stewardship and exclusivity is still being widely observed today since not much about the system and rules of the ANCSA have changed.

The region the Bristol Bay Native Corporation covers is quite wide and significant. It covers approximately about 34 million acres of land, which is quite similar to the state of Ohio in size. Today, and as of the latest records since October of 2013, the Bristol Bay Native Corporation has a total of 14 subsidiaries that specializes on different industries such as oil field, administration, petroleum logistics, government services, construction.

Not recently, the Bristol Bay region has been alarmed by an external interest by an overseas mining corporation to extract materials such as gold and molybdenum from Alaskan soil by venturing into an open pit mining project. It was widely protested by Alaskan natives of Bristol Bay since it will significantly impact its fishing industry, which forms a significant portion of its economy.

The territory of Bristol Bay is definitely paradise in terms of the available resources and the many opportunities that await its inhabitants. Its people are well taken care of by the resources found in the land alone and more importantly, the culture is preserved.

To know more about the people of Bristol Bay, its corporation, its land, its education and its many companies, visit the Bristol Bay Native Corporation website at http://www.bbnc.net.