A traditional Alaska Native foods distribution of herring roe and salmon to communities in Southeast Alaska and elsewhere is on hold due to the Trump administration cancelling a $513,000 federal grant for the program, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced Thursday.
The tribe has distributed more than 120,000 pounds of salmon, 52,000 pounds of herring roe and 31,000 pounds of black cod to 21 recognized communities during the past three years, according to a press release. However, tribal officials were notified March 7 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture the grant for the tribe’s Traditional Food Security Department was cancelled because “this agreement no longer effectuates agency priorities.”
“Without that funding, the Tribe did not have the resources to pay commercial permit holders to harvest roe on kelp, nor the money that’s needed to ship the products throughout Alaska and the Lower 48,” the release states.
The loss of the grant is among multiple program cuts and sovereignty challenges occurring since President Donald Trump began his second term in January. Tlingit and Haida President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, in his State of the Tribe address to an annual Tribal Assembly last month, cited the loss of $5.3 million in lost food program funding affecting 35 tribal communities.
“That wasn’t just a budget cut,” he said. “It was a setback in a much longer fight, one we’ve been pushing to get for generations and we’re not stopping because this is what stewardship looks like.”
Also cited by Peterson as a concern is a planned $1.6 billion cut to the Department of the Interior’s budget — about a third of its funding — due to its likely significant impact on tribal programs. In addition, Trump signed an executive order in March rescinding an order by former President Joe Biden expanding tribal sovereignty and self-governance.
Biden’s order was referenced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in recognizing expanded tribal involvement in emergency responses and the Environmental Protection Agency in awarding a $15 million grant for five Southeast Alaska composting facilities, as well as other projects for other Alaska Native tribes ranging from fisheries management to broadband connectivity.
Tlingit and Haida’s press release Thursday notes efforts to resume the traditional foods program are ongoing.
“Tlingit and Haida will continue to search for funding to support our mission to promote food sovereignty by connecting tribal citizens with traditional foods,” Traditional Food Security Manager Aaron Angerman said in a prepared statement. “Tribal citizens people need the tools to be self-sufficient and decrease reliance on the food systems of the Lower 48. Distributions of Indigenous foods are a great opportunity to fuel the next generations of stewards of our traditional lands and seas.”
He said the department will also continue to partner with local tribes and schools for distribution opportunities.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
