The proposed amendment faces a high hurdle.

It would require at least two-thirds approval from both chambers before Alaska voters would make a final call.

Rosita Worl, a member of the AFN subsistence committee, told the House committee last week that a lot has changed since the dual management system was created.

"We have citizens who grew up living with dual management and have grown accustomed to these systems," she said. "We have tribal members who now favor working through the federal subsistence boards."

She said there's a growing effort to incorporate Indigenous knowledge, science and language into subsistence management decisions.

AFN President Julie Kitka told the committee last week that efforts to amend the Alaska Constitution to solve the conflict over subsistence died multiple times in the 1990s.

Alaska Native leaders worked to find a solution for about a decade before giving up when it seemed the Legislature did not want an amendment, she said.

The issue hasn't been on the table since about 2000, Kitka said.

This latest measure was introduced "out of the blue," she said.

It was not discussed at the Alaska Federation of Natives' annual convention in October, where subsistence dominated discussions, she told the House committee.

The issue is central to Alaska Natives, she said. But the proposed constitutional amendment makes no mention of Native people or their unique history, she said.

"That really comes across as offensive, I'm being really honest with you," she said.

"But it also ignores that Alaska Natives have a special federal trust responsibility with the federal government," referring to the U.S. obligation to protect Native legal rights and resources.

Kitka suggested that lawmakers initiate a broad, fact-finding effort to hear from a variety of people and learn more about the complex topic of subsistence.

If the state pursues a unified management system, it should try to create the best system of its kind in the world, she said.

It could take into account struggling fish and wildlife populations in Alaska, plus climate change, Indigenous knowledge, science, and other factors, she said.

"That's the burning issues that are on people's mind right now," she said.

"It is not helping the state get a unified system. It's, 'What are we going to do when we don't get fish in the spring or the summer?'"

(c)2024 the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.