BLM Cuts Alaska Overselections by More Than 5 Million Acres: Over 4 Million Acres Open Immediately to Subsistence Priority and Mining Claims
The Bureau of Land Management announced in Anchorage, Alaska, that it has taken historic action to reduce the State of Alaska's overselections toward its statehood entitlement by more than 5 million acres, a key step in fulfilling statehood entitlements and settling Alaska's land pattern.
The acres include more than 4 million acres of selections and nearly 1 million acres of top filings, initially identified through a separate public process managed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the BLM said.
Alaskans who depend on federal public lands, including federally qualified subsistence users, will benefit from the action, the agency said. It immediately opens more than 4 million additional acres of land to the Federal Subsistence priority under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and opens 4 million acres to potential staking of federal mining claims.
"Today's action represents a historic step forward in our work to deliver on promises made more than 50 years ago," said BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast. "We will continue working with the state, Alaska Native Corporations, tribes, and other partners to make progress on all land entitlements and bring certainty to Alaskans."
The Alaska Statehood Act of 1959 and associated acts authorized the transfer of 105 million acres of federal land to the State of Alaska. The BLM has conveyed over 96 percent of that entitlement to date, and approximately 3.8 million acres remain. Before the action, the state had more than 13 million acres of selections and nearly 5 million acres of top filings; the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act allow the state to maintain excess selections up to 125 percent of its entitlement, but the state's selections had exceeded that threshold over time.
The BLM said it will continue its more than 50-year effort to deliver on the largest federal land transfer effort ever undertaken in the United States, and noted that the Department of the Interior has also revoked withdrawals that froze progress on statehood entitlements, such as the Dalton Corridor withdrawal revoked earlier this year. (Source: Bureau of Land Management)
Source: Bureau of Land Management
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：阿拉斯加州 Steese 国家保护区内 Birch Creek 野生与风景河上方的山脊与驯鹿群。美国土地管理局摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Caribou on ridges above Birch Creek Wild and Scenic River in Alaska's Steese National Conservation Area. By the Bureau of Land Management, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
