With the swipe of his pen, President Donald Trump has made the voices of Kaktovik heard and respected, and it feels good to be recognized again as the only Indigenous people and community located in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Native Kaktovikmiut (people of Kaktovik) look forward to all the work that lies ahead to help us bring prosperity to our people after being denied economic opportunities throughout our history.
The last four years have been especially difficult, with special interest groups both inside and outside of Alaska speaking on our behalf about what’s best for our coastal plain homelands. Despite President Biden appointing the first Indigenous Secretary of Interior in Deb Haaland, and the administration’s Day One promises to fight for Alaska Native rights, our voices once again fell on deaf ears. Secretary Haaland did nothing to assist Kaktovik — one of the most remote communities in the United States — instead becoming the mouthpiece for well-funded environmental and animal rights engines fighting a small community with very few resources to stand up for itself.
The Arctic coastal plain has been Kaktovikmiut homelands for more than 10,000 years. We are the landowners and primary stakeholders in the debate about whether or not to allow an oil and gas leasing program in ANWR, and we should rightfully have the largest voice in decisions affecting these lands. Unfortunately, that voice was extinguished throughout the so-called Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement process. Today our voice is back, thanks to President Trump’s Executive Order titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.” The order will, in part, reinstate the legitimately sold oil and gas leases in the 2021 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Lease Sale.
Our people know these lands and the animals that are part of our landscape because as Indigenous people, our culture and identity are tied to the land and its resources. We worked diligently with the various agencies throughout the former leasing program process to ensure these resources were protected, while also allowing Kaktovik to participate in new opportunities for our own economic freedoms — something guaranteed under federal law and repeatedly promised by the outgoing administration. We are a proud people who should have every right and opportunity afforded to other Americans. We should have the solemn right to decide how to exist and prosper from our own lands without interference from environmental nongovernmental organizations.
Under Secretary Haaland, we were consistently ignored and silenced on coastal plain issues that have had monumental impacts on our people and our identity. I speak for our community when I say Quyanaqpak (Thank you), Mr. President, for giving us the chance to have a say in what occurs on our own homelands. Thank you for recognizing that those of us who live in ANWR have the cultural and ecological understanding required to develop resource opportunities while protecting what’s most important to us — our land.
After many decades and even more broken promises by the federal government, I have renewed hope of a brighter tomorrow for our children, grandchildren and generations beyond. It is a great feeling to once again be heard on issues that directly affect our people and land. We are excited to get to work and provide for a better economic future for our community, state and country.
Charles Lampe is Iñupiaq and was born and raised in Kaktovik, Alaska, where he continues to live and practice an active subsistence lifestyle with his family. He has served as president of Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation for three years.
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