By

 Raegan Miller, KRBD – Ketchikan

Ketchikan’s tribe asks federal board to expand subsistence hunting and fishing opportunities

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October 25, 2022

Access to traditional foods has long been a priority for Ketchikan’s federally recognized tribe. But for decades, Ketchikan residents have been barred from taking part in federal subsistence hunts and fisheries.

Now, Ketchikan Indian Community is pushing to change that. It hinges on one big question: is Ketchikan a rural community?

Trixie Bennett, the president of Ketchikan’s tribe, said the push to designate Ketchikan as a rural community is a major step toward the tribe’s goal of food sovereignty.

“Our food is our way of life,” Bennett said. “Our food is the medicine, our culture is the medicine.”

If Ketchikan were classified as rural, all residents — Native and non-Native — would be…