Charting the Future of Public Lands in Alaska

Abstract

This chapter discusses public land policy in Alaska. The legislation that Congress approved in 1958 to admit Alaska into the union gave the state the right to select and own more than 100 million acres of public lands. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, or ANCSA, gave Alaska Native corporations the right to select and own more than 40 million acres of public lands. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, or ANILCA, set the course for most of the remaining public lands in the state. Most important, it put more than 100 million acres of formerly Bureau of Land Management-managed public lands into the national park and national wildlife refuge systems, and more than 56 million acres in the national wilderness preservation system. The chapter also explores the history behind the efforts to safeguard Alaska's public lands, as well as the issue of native rights.