 Acting as the conference's first president, Ketzler contacted national Indian organizations and met with the Alaska Native Brotherhood, an organization formed in Sitka by Tlingits and Haidas of southeastern Alaska in the early part of the 20th century.He also met with the Barrow-based Inupiat Paitot, the forerunner of the Arctic Slope Native Association, and with the Association of Village Council Presidents in the Lower Kuskokwim area.In 1963, Ketzler flew to Washington, D.C., to present a petition from 24 villages asking Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall to freeze state land selections until the Native land claims were settled.