Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land

by Walter R. Borneman

The first major conflict between Alaska Natives and the regulatory powers of the new state of Alaska and the federal government began innocently enough. One day in 1960, state representative John Nusungingya, an Inupiat Eskimo of Barrow, went duck hunting for food just as Eskimos had done for centuries. He was promptly arrested by federal game wardens for shooting ducks out of a hunting season established by an international migratory bird treaty. Two days later, 138 other Inupiat went out, shot ducks in protest, and then presented themselves to the game wardens for arrest. While charges against all parties were eventually dropped, the incident characterized the difference—and frequent conflict—between the traditional “subsistence” way of life of most Alaska Natives and the regulatory nature of the “white” system.16 This difference had always existed, but it would be central to the resolution of Native land claims during the 1960s and continue to influence governmental land management decisions to the present day.