CHAPTER 2 AN INTRODUCTION TO ALASKA

• Jurisdiction: United States

Alaska Mineral Development
(Sep 1978)
CHAPTER 2
AN INTRODUCTION TO ALASKA
Richard J. Stenmark
Land Use Planning Commission
Anchorage, Alaska

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SYNOPSIS

FORWARD

LAND ALLOCATION

Overview

The Federal Estate in Alaska

State Lands

Private Lands and the Native Land Claims Settlement

National Interest Lands-The (d)(2) Process

ALASKA LAND VALUES

Wilderness, Wildlife, and Scenic Values

Wilderness Values

Wildlife

Waterfowl and Seabirds

Unique and Endangered Bird Species

Terrestrial Mammals

Marine Mammals

Fish

Scenic Values and Landscapes

Mountains

Lakes

Glaciers and Glacial Features

Rivers

Sand Dunes

Coastal Features

Volcanos

Vegetation

Paleontological Values

Historical and Archaeological Values

Ecosystems

Energy Values

Oil and Gas

Coal

Geothermal

Hydroelectric

Uranium

Mineral Values

Minerals of National Interest (chart)

Renewable Resource Values

Timber

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Cultivable Soils

Rangelands

Fisheries

Other Values

Natural Access Routes

Lands for Community Expansion and Habitation

References

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MAPS AND CHARTS

Title

Alaska Is Big (same scale)	2
Climate	4
Population and Elevation	5
Land Status	7
State Lands	9
Native Entitlement	11
Birds	23
Large Mammals	25
Caribou Herd Size (chart)	26
Musk-Oxen and Caribou	27
Marine Mammals and Fish	29
Physiography	31
Glaciers	33
Major Rivers	35
Dunes, Coast, and Volcanos	38
Vegetation	41
Paleontology and History	43
Oil and Gas	46
Estimated Undiscovered Recoverable Resources for Some Alaska Basins (chart)	47
Coal and Geothermal	50
Hydroelectric	52
Metallogenic Provinces #1	54
Metallogenic Provinces #2	55
Mineral Potential	58
Minerals of National Interest (chart)	59
Cultivable Soils	64
Grazing and Rangelands	68
Transportation	72

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FORWARD

Material in this "Introduction to Alaska" has been excerpted from the publication 'The D-2 Book,' Lands of National Interest in Alaska, prepared by the Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska in 1977. This "D-2 Book" was prepared to present to the public and Congress, background material, a context, and recommendations regarding possible new national interest lands in Alaska—parklands, wildlife refuges, forests, and wild and scenic rivers. Therefore, besides getting a general geographical introduction to Alaska, the following pages will also introduce you to some of the elements of one of the major allocations of lands and resources in the United States for Federal, State, and private purposes.

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LAND ALLOCATION

OVERVIEW

Alaska encompasses land and inland water areas of over 375 million acres and tide and offshore submerged lands encompassing some 37 million acres, most of which remains in its natural state. The State still has more square miles than people, and the majority of its estimated 400,000 residents are not widely diffused, as shown on the Population and Elevation map. Most live in two urban areas and the remainder live in widely scattered small villages and towns. The State's road network, while serving most of the population, extends through only a small portion of the State. Alaska's existing transportation network is shown on the Transportation map. Access to the rest of Alaska is by air or by water. Although there are producing oil and gas fields, commercial fishing, timber harvesting, and small-scale mining and farming, Alaska's natural resources are largely undeveloped.

Lands and waters whose allocation and management are yet to be determined are measured in millions of acres. They are located within the boundaries of a single state. The wildlife, wilderness, and scenic values they contain are expressed in superlatives—the highest mountains, the largest glaciers, the highest density waterfowl nesting areas. Often there is little detailed knowledge of the other resources which they may contain. Some wildlife for which these lands and waters provide habitat are of a migratory nature.

Alaska's landscape varies from a lush coastal forest to treeless Arctic tundra and complexes of mountains and icefields covering thousands of square miles. The climate ranges from brief cool summers with long daylight hours, and long dark, frigid winters in the Arctic, to southern coastal areas where temperatures fall below zero only during the deepest winter months. In Alaska's interior, temperatures ranges are extreme with prolonged periods in winter of subzero temperatures and a summer season when temperatures frequently rise to 80 or 90 degrees.

Nearly 60 percent of the State will remain in Federal ownership, most of it already designated or to be designated for particular purposes, such as national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and national defense or petroleum reserves. Nearly 30 percent of Alaska will be owned by the State of Alaska and, except for small private landholdings obtained

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Climate Map

Omitted From Electronic Version

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Population Map

Omitted From Electronic Version

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under the public land laws or by transfer from the State of Alaska, the remaining lands will be owned in relatively large blocks by Alaska Native corporations. This land ownership pattern alone, even without other factors, dictates that the best use be made of existing management institutions and that new institutions be created to involve the major landowners and managers in cooperative comprehensive planning and management.

THE FEDERAL ESTATE IN ALASKA

All Federal lands in Alaska either have been withdrawn as reserves for particular purposes, or are withdrawn for Native selection or for classification. Public domain lands in Alaska are currently closed to entry under most public land laws. The accompanying Land Status map shows the major land ownership as of April, 1977.

Until 1959 when Alaska became the 49th state, about 99 percent of Alaska was federally owned. Some of the Federal landholdings were administered by the U.S. Forest Service who managed the Tongass and Chugach National Forests; the Park Service who managed Mt. McKinley National Park and Glacier Bay, Katmai, and Sitka National Monuments; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who managed a number of small wildlife refuges and the Kenai National Moose Range; and the military who maintained major defense installations and Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. Eighty percent of the Federal lands were under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. These lands were, and are, the major part of the Nation's public domain. Since statehood, the unreserved public domain in Alaska has been reduced by the creation, in 1960, of the 9-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Range. As the result of withdrawals from unreserved public domain lands, there are today in Alaska 11 percent (acreage) of all national forests, 25 percent of all national parks, and over 70 percent of all lands reserved for national wildlife ranges and refuges. To date there are also eight areas of about 76,000 acres designated under the Wilderness Act, with more wilderness study areas totalling 6.1 million acres awaiting congressional action.

The Federal estate in Alaska is not limited to existing reserves. Nearly 80 million acres of land has been withdrawn pursuant to Section 17(d)(2) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for possible new national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and wild and scenic rivers. Over 103 million acres of Federal lands are currently withdrawn for classification under

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Section 17(d)(1) of the Claims Act, including some 45 million acres in withdrawals for Native land selections, which will revert to (d)(1) status when Native selections have been finalized. Most of the Section 17(d)(1) withdrawals for classification are made under authority of the Pickett Act, which requires that the lands remain open to entry for metalliferous minerals. Withdrawal under the inherent authority of the President, on the other hand, permits the closing to mineral entry. These (d)(1) lands may, in the future, be classified for State selection or for other uses. Some of them may be designated by Congress in the same manner as those withdrawn under Section 17(d)(2). The limitation on the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw "up to 80 million acres" for study does not apply to the Congress in making its designations. With the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976, it is apparent Congress intends the lands now withdrawn under Section 17(d)(1) be managed with a higher degree of environmental protection than the unreserved public domain of the past, which was subject to disposal under the public land laws. The repeal of some of these disposal laws in the Act, however, was postponed, in Alaska, for another 10 years.

STATE LANDS

In the admission of Alaska as the 49th state, Congress was confronted with how this vast territory with its small population and remoteness from the centers of trade and commerce could become a viable member of the Union. It was believed by most that the viability of such a new state must come from its natural resources. To give the new state a resource base, Congress provided in the 1958 Statehood Act that 102.5 million acres of general grant lands from the "vacant, unappropriated and unreserved" lands of Alaska could be selected by the new state within 25 years. Alaska was also entitled to University and Mental Health lands granted before statehood, to 400,000 acres from the public domain, and 400,000 acres from the national forests for community development and recreation. Alaska also gained title to submerged offshore lands to the limits of the territorial sea and submerged lands of inland navigable lakes and streams.

To date, over 72 million acres have been selected, as shown on the State Land map. The remaining entitlement must...