We especially thank you for your leadership to include language in the Fiscal Year 24 Appropriations Bill to reposition the Office of Subsistence Management to the Interior Secretary's Office.

Congress needs to amend ANILCA to protect once and for all Alaska Native rural subsistence hunting and fishing rights and ensure our people's ability to co-manage these resources.

I would like to thank Senator Murkowski, members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and your staff for organizing this field hearing to hear directly from our Tribes.

We can never thank enough those who have stood to defend us and our Country's freedoms.

it seems to me that the Yukon is in a humanitarian crisis.

There are no permanent protections for that co-stewardship.

I want you to look into that. That is coming from near and dear, from my heart.

It is so important that your connection to this resource be shared in a way that people from Washington, D.C. and other parts of the Country may not be able to quickly grasp.

We have no choice but to be aware of every part and piece of the ecosystem, because everything is connected.

I really hope that we could move forward with a just path and that the tribes are listened to and heard.

We applaud the work you have done to support AYK salmon populations through Congressionally directed spending.

So, one of the things that I often hear is that on Federal lands and waters, our subsistence resources and habitat are not being actively managed to ensure viable resource populations.

We also appreciate Senator Murkowski's support for greater Tribal representation on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

We need your support for funding these, I don't know if they are private companies.

Salmon are not just swimming dollar signs, Salmon are our life. They are in our DNA.

I believe that the AYK salmon crash is a test for the Arctic Strategy for the Federal Government.

We bear the brunt of the conservation. We, the end users, the little people, the people that matter, have been silenced, we have been ignored, we have been marginalized by the very government that is here to protect our interests as…

Our subsistence way of life must have unconditional Federal support, and the State of Alaska must show willingness to seek a different path forward other than litigation.