As provided under ANCSA and by a 1975 U.S. District Court ruling in Washington DC, The 13th Regional Corporation was formed under Alaska Law as a private for-profit entity on December 19, 1975. Its creation hinged on how many of the approximate 78,000 Alaska Native people eligible to be enrolled under the federal law marked section 22 of the official enrollment form with a “yes” vote.
The section read “Do you elect to establish and be enrolled in a 13th Region?” A ruling from Judge Oliver Gasch overturned the Bureau of Indian Affairs initial determination that an insufficient number of enrollees voted for the creation of the 13th.
Prior to the ruling, the 4,537 persons who were later to become 13th Regional Corporation shareholders were all designated as shareholders in one of the other 12, regional corporations.
The corporation began with 4,537 shareholders, and had about 5,500 in 2009.
The 13th Regional Corporation was created to represent those Natives who do not reside in the State of Alaska. The corporation did not receive land as a resource for their shareholders and doesn’t share in the resource profits of the other corporations.
The 13th Regional Corporation, formerly headquartered in Washington state, ceased operations in 2009 and remains insolvent. Current data is not available.