Chugach Alaska Corporation, or CAC, is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations

Alaska Native Regional Corporations

The Alaska Native Regional Corporations were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which settled land and financial claims made by the Alaska Natives and provided for the establishment of 13 regional corporations to administer those...

 created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in...

 of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Chugach Alaska Corporation was incorporated in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 on June 23, 1972. Headquartered in Anchorage

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, Chugach Alaska Corporation is a for-profit corporation with over 2,200 Alaska Native

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

 shareholders primarily of Chugach

Chugach

Chugach is the name of an Alaska Native culture and group of people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq people who speak the Chugach dialect of the Alutiiq language....

 Alutiiq

Alutiiq

The Alutiiq , also called Pacific Yupik or Sugpiaq, are a southern coastal people of the Native peoples of Alaska. Their language is called Sugstun, and it is one of Eskimo languages, belonging to the Yup’ik branch of these languages. They are not to be confused with the Aleuts, who live further...

, Eyak

Eyak

The Eyak are an indigenous group traditionally located on the Copper River Delta and near the town of Cordova, Alaska.-Territory:The Eyak's territory reached from present day Cordova east to the Martin River and north to Miles Glacier....

, and Tlingit descent.

Officers and directors

A current listing of Chugach Alaska Corporation's officers and directors, as well as documents filed with the State of Alaska since CAC's incorporation, are available online through the Corporations Database of the Division of Corporations, Business & Professional Licensing, Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

Shareholders

At incorporation, Chugach Alaska Corporation enrolled about 2,000 Alaska Native

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

 shareholders, each of whom received 100 shares of CAC stock. CAC currently has about 2,200 shareholders. As an ANCSA corporation, Chugach Alaska Corporation has no publicly traded stock and its shares cannot legally be sold.

Lands

The Chugach region encompasses about 10 million acres (40,000 km²) in Prince William Sound

Prince William Sound

Prince William Sound is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...

 and coastal areas of southcentral Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, including the southern coast of the Kenai Peninsula

Kenai Peninsula

The Kenai Peninsula is a large peninsula jutting from the southern coast of Alaska in the United States. The name Kenai is probably derived from Kenayskaya, the Russian name for Cook Inlet, which borders the peninsula to the west.-Geography:...

. Chugach Alaska Corporation's land entitlement under ANCSA

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in...

 includes about 378,000 acres (1,530 km²) of both surface and subsurface estate and a further 550,000 acres (2,200 km²) of subsurface estate, for a total of 928,000 acres (3,760 km²). As of 2006, CAC has received about 94% of its total entitlement.

Business enterprises

Under federal law, Chugach Alaska Corporation and its majority-owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and partnerships are deemed to be "minority and economically disadvantaged business enterprise[s]" (43 USC 1626(e)).

History

The corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1991 as a result of a fallout in the timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

 industry, a salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 glut, a fire at its Orca cannery, and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill

Exxon Valdez oil spill

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled of crude oil. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused...

's impact on the local herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

population. In 2003 Chugach ranked second in Alaska Business Monthly’s list of Top 49ers, a ranking of the top Alaskan-owned and operated businesses.