The first in a series of Interior Department meetings with tribes on the issue of consultation kicked off today in Anchorage. Although today’s meeting started nearly an hour late, the morning attendance was still low. This was in part due to tribal participants being busy with other meetings for the concurrent BIA providers’ conference and the Alaska Intertribal Council gathering. Unalakleet housing director Sheldon Katchatag said the consultation meeting is a ray of hope after feeling ignored by the Bush administration for eight years, but he said it should have been at a separate time rather than competing with the other tribal meetings.
Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
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