Who we are.
The Neets’ąįį Gwich'in are known as the residents of the north side. The Neets’ąįį Gwich’in Tribal governments represent the Vashrąįį K’ǫǫ (Arctic Village) and Vįįhtąįį (Venetie) people who live on the southern border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Expert hunters to this day, we are represented by our Tribal governments and depend on the preservation of the Arctic Refuge for our survival.
Our History
We have traveled, hunted, and lived off the land since time immemorial. Our Tribal governments and our people continue this proud tradition to this day.
Our work to protect our land and way of life is unique in Alaska. And our Tribes have often led the effort to protect the sovereign political rights of Alaska Native people.
In 1943, our peoples established the Venetie Indian Reservation through the combined efforts of Tribal leaders in Venetie, Arctic Village, Christian Village, and Robert’s Fish Camp. Our leaders established this reservation to protect our land for subsistence use and access to the porcupine caribou herd and to ensure our people would always have a home.
After Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, establishing Alaska Native-owned corporations to receive title to land throughout the State, our Tribes decided to maintain our traditional forms for government and reject the offers by the United States government. As such, our tribal membership voted to retain our land base, and to this day our Tribes own 1.8 million acres of land in our traditional territory.
“We’d rather have the land, and that’s the way it stands today. And it’s up to the people in the tribal councils to keep up the tradition of keeping the land as it is, and we call ourselves a sovereign people. And that’s the way it should be because we don’t have to ask anybody. We are going to hunt on our land or to get timber to build our cabins. We go out and do it without waste, and we have our own laws that [we] follow, that’s been in existence before the White man law came into the village, came into the country. And we still follow that. That’s a traditional law.”