Alaska prepares to surrender some Statehood Act land claims as it nears 105 million-acre goal

Earlier this year, the federal government lifted restrictions that had paused the transfer of 1.4 million acres of federal land along the Dalton Highway and trans-Alaska oil pipeline, seen here in 2023. (Bureau of Land Management photo)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

Alaska’s decades-long quest to obtain millions of acres of land from the federal government under the Alaska Statehood Act is getting closer to an end.

But because the state is getting closer to its goal, its requests now exceed a limit in federal law. 

This week, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources announced that it is preparing to surrender the claims to as much as 5.7 million acres scattered across the state, an area collectively bigger than New Jersey.

The original 1958 Statehood Act gave Alaska permission to take over 105 million acres of federal land, but the state could — and did — target millions of acres more than that before the selection period closed in 1993. 

That’s partially because some of the state’s initial selections were being used for another purpose and weren’t immediately available for transfer.

The state’s selections have paid off in a big way: The vast state-owned Prudhoe Bay oil fields were originally controlled by the federal government before being selected by the state in 1964.

Transfers move extremely slow; the land must be surveyed, marked and processed through the federal bureaucracy. 

Year by year, decade by decade, the federal government has incrementally passed parcels to the state. 

Earlier this year, the federal government removed restrictions that had blocked the transfer of 1.4 million acres along the Dalton Highway and trans-Alaska oil pipeline. That leaves about 3.2 million acres left to be transferred. 

Under federal law, the state can select no more than 125% of the acreage left to be transferred, which means that as the balance shrinks, Alaska needs to surrender some claims.

By phone on Tuesday, DNR officials said they’re preparing to give up some low-priority selections, places that are unlikely to be transferred or are less valuable than other selections.

In this week’s public notice, DNR listed 18 targets for relinquishment — the land under Eielson Air Force Base, a bombing range near Fort Greely, land surrounded by other owners in western Alaska, land envisioned for a road near Unalakleet, and more.

Relinquishing each claim involves a separate public process, and more are likely to come. Even if all 18 claims are relinquished, the state will remain above the 125% claim limit.

Alaska also has millions of acres of “top filed” selections — claims that haven’t been formally processed because the land is being used for some other purpose, like mining. 

If a federal mine claim ends, for example, the top filing means the state gets priority afterward.

Top filed selections don’t count against the 125% limit, but the state may begin eliminating some of those as well.

DNR officials said that as the state gets closer and closer to the Statehood Act’s limit, the state will become more selective about the claims it keeps, and it may keep some particularly valuable top-filed picks even if they’re not immediately available.

As it gets closer and closer to the 105 million-acre limit, Alaska could hold the last selections in reserve for those top-filed parcels, the officials said. 

Any final decision would be up to future governors and future DNR commissioners.

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.