Athabascan elder Katie John of Mentasta Lake has died.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that John died early Friday at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. She is believed to have been 98 years old.
John was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that strengthened Native subsistence fishing rights in Alaska. The case was decided in John's favor in 1994 after the Alaska Board of Fisheries refused to allow her and another elder, Doris Charles, access to a fish camp in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve that had been abandoned in the 1960s.
John prevailed in the case, which became one of the most important chapters in the history of subsistence rights in Alaska.
Sen. Mark Begich issued a statement Friday honoring John and her life's work.
"Alaska has lost a steadfast advocate for Native subsistence rights," Begich said. "From her fish camp on the Copper River, Katie John gave Alaska Natives across our state a voice to their long-sought protection of traditional hunting and fishing rights. While Alaskans mourn her passing, Katie John's legacy will live on as I and others work to ensure these rights are upheld."
In a separate statement, Sen. Lisa Murkowski praised John's willingness to stand up to authority, at both the state and federal level.
"She was unafraid to challenge any bureaucrat standing between her Native people and their opportunity to fish, whether that was a State of Alaska that didn't recognize that ANILCA's rural preference included fishing or a National Park Ranger trying to tell her that she couldn't fish from her ancestral village within the Wrangell-St Elias National Park," Murkowski said. "Katie John's life was that of an authentic Alaskan. It is my sincere hope that in the loss of culture bearers like Katie we have not lost forever a piece of Alaska's soul."
Channel 2's Chris Klint contributed to this story.