U.S. Senate Finally Agrees On Something... Allowing Native Ivory Sales To People Throughout The U.S.

FROM THE ALASKA BEACON 

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Alaska Native artists from states’ ivory bans

BY: JAMES BROOKS-OCTOBER 10, 2025 

 Dennis Pungowiyi, an ivory carver from Savoonga, holds one of his pieces on display on Oct. 20, 2017, at a booth at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a bill that would allow Alaska Natives to continue sales of traditional ivory art in states that have passed laws banning the ivory trade.

The ARTIST Act, by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is intended to address state-level bans that were instituted to limit demand for elephant ivory but have also affected products made with mammoth and walrus ivory, marine mammal bone or baleen produced by Alaska Natives.

Harvesting and carving walrus ivory is legal under federal law, but Sullivan said that laws passed by different states have dissuaded tourists from buying ivory art when they visit Alaska. 

The Senate passed the bill without dissent on Tuesday, and it advances to the House for further action.

Carved ivory display at UA Museum (Copper River Country Journal archives)

In a speech on the Senate floor, Sullivan thanked his fellow senators for approving the bill, which was introduced in 2024 but did not pass into law before the new Congress began in January. Sullivan reintroduced the bill, and it advanced through the Senate anew. 

“States have gone too far and cast this huge net and have said you can’t buy any ivory products anywhere, including Alaska Native products from Alaska walrus … this really has hurt my state, Sullivan said.

“This is a simple bill. If a visitor wants to come buy some ivory earrings in Alaska … and bring them home to a state with a ban on ivory … we want to be able to say at the federal level that we should be able to do this,” he said. 

The bill has the support of the Alaska Federation of Natives, World Wildlife Fund, and Eskimo Walrus Commission, plus various Alaska Native groups and corporations.