Unalaska, AK – This weekend, over 30 members of the Qawalangin Tribe met to set their priorities for the year and to elect a new councilmember.

The most immediate task involves sending three councilmembers to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Providers conference held in Anchorage this December.

The Qawalangin Tribe is also working to add roads to their federal inventory. The Tribe is eligible for transportation funding based on the inventory's size, which can include both roads managed by the Ounalashka Corporation and the city. Qawalangin Tribe President Denise Rankin says that they already have some infrastructure projects in the works.

"Currently the Tribe is working with the city on redesign of the Summer Bay Creek bridge," says Rankin. "And we're excited about that."

The Tribe is also working with the Smithsonian Institution to repatriate the remains of people who once lived in Unalaska from museums.

Additionally, the Tribe is working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife to keep operating a salmon weir at McLees Lake for the purpose of monitoring escapement. The Tribe would also like to add a weir to Summer Bay Lake.

In addition to setting their annual priorities, the Qawalangin Tribe also elected Lillian Ford as the seventh councilmember, replacing Fred Lekanoff. The council reappointed Denise Rankin as president and Nick Lekanoff as vice president. Marie Schleiby was named secretary-treasurer.