77
Renewable
resource
management
Social Services
Healthcare provision
Income Support
Cultural Services
Language Revitalization
Public Health
Scholarships (education)
Children & youth services
Post-Secondary
Education
Social Services
Emergency Services
Tribal Programs
Village assistance
Governance programs
Tribal operations
Arctic Yearbook 2015
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
The timing of institutional development constrained how the regional organization of ad hoc policy
authority evolved in northern Alaska. In the North Slope, the borough government was incorporated
within two years of the completion of the land claim. Because of this, neither the regional corporation
nor the regional native association had the time to expand beyond the scope of their original mandates
establish a distinct role in the regional policy (though the scope of the ARSC did undergo functional
conversion as it began to creep into educational scholarships, cultural services, and income support,
expanding beyond a purely economic role in the region).
Due to the timing of its early creation (relative to the other institutions), the borough carved out a
significant policy role in the region by essentially replacing any potential role of the state of Alaska.
The North Slope Borough took on policy oversight and delivery for social services (including the
regional health department), emergency services (including public safety, the fire department, search
and rescue), and housing policy, among others. It is also the organizing body through which most of
the regional wildlife co-management structures are managed, thus building a strong relationship with
federal and state governments in this policy area. In essence, the North Slope Borough is the regional
institution through which most policy development (from social services to regional economic
development) occurs, limiting the regional corporation and the regional native association to much
smaller mandates.
By contrast, the Northwest Arctic Borough was incorporated 15 years following the finalization of
ANCSA. During that period, both the NANA Regional Corporation and Maniilaq (the regional native
nonprofit association) significantly expanded on their original mandates to fill in many of the policy
gaps within the region. It was not until the early 1980s that the discovery of significant zinc resources
in the region precipitated discussions regarding a borough government. With the leadership of
Maniilaq and NANA at the forefront of organizing the borough application to the Bureau of Land
Management, the resultant institution simply filled in many of the gaps that remained in the
governance of Alaska’s Northwest.
Davidson