Sealaska shareholders,

Our legislation is in Congress! Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich, and Representatives Don Young and Dan Boren introduced companion versions of the Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act to the Senate (S.730) and House (H.R.1408), respectively. Visit http://murkowski.senate.gov/public/ or http://donyoung.house.gov/ to learn more, or visit Sealaska.com for more information about Haa Aaní.

The two bills are the result of more than 225 community meetings and reflect the needs and concerns of Southeast residents. We appreciate the efforts of the Alaska congressional delegation to fulfill the 40-year-old promise of ANCSA and convey to Sealaska the final 85,000 acres of land.

Support is growing for the land legislation. Here are a few recent successes:

• My Turn: Public process helped to guide Sealaska land legislation. Jaeleen Araujo, Sealaska's vice president and general counsel, wrote an op-ed detailing how the extensive public outreach process has not only guided but improved the bill that awaits re-introduction to Congress.
• The Alaska State Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the legislation and Sealaska's goal to protect and create new jobs in Southeast Alaska!
• A December 2010 survey shows that awareness of the legislation is climbing and support for the bill significantly outweighs opposition.

Sealaska shareholders are our biggest ambassadors and we need your help in sharing our story.

Two weeks ago, 200 Sealaska and Sealaska Timber Corporation vendors received an outreach packet asking for their support of the land bill. Already, 25 businesses have signed up!

Our goal is to have as many businesses as possible that will support our land bill specifically, and our economic development efforts generally.

If you own a business and would like to support the legislation, please send an email to William.Andrews@sealaska.com

And if you already support the bill, please let Senator Murkowski and Representative Young hear your voice.