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Table of Land Ownership in Alaska
FEDERAL PUBLIC LAND PLANNING:
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS)
__________________
STATE PUBLIC LAND PLANNING:
Alaska Dept. of
Natural Resources (DNR)
Division of
Forestry (DOF)
Division of
Mining, Land & Water (DMLW)
Division of
Parks and Outdoor Recreation (DPOR)
Alaska Dept of Fish
and Game (ADFG)
Habitat
Division
Office of the
Governor
Coastal
Management Program (CMP)
Alaska
Public Lands Information Center
Planning Alaska's
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT |
When Alaska became a state, the Bureau of Land Management was caretaker of 272 million acres, or 75 per cent of Alaska's 365 million upland acres. An additional 24 per cent of the state was managed by other federal agencies and less than one per cent was in private ownership. Since then, however, a series of legislative acts have transferred large portions of this federal trust land to other federal agencies, to the state, and to Native corporations.
The transfers from the public domain to other agencies and private entities involved three major acts. The Statehood Act of 1958 gave the new state the right to claim about 104 million acres; the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 gave the Native people of Alaska, through newly formed corporations, the right to select an additional 40 million acres; and, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 created or modified a number of national parks, refuges, and forests, taking an additional 104 million acres from BLM authority. The BLM currently manages about 100 million acres, but when all selections are complete the agency will retain about 65 million acres, or 18 per cent of the state.
Before 1976, the BLM served as a caretaker of public lands in Alaska and was primarily involved in land disposals (sales) and fire fighting. In the early 1970s the agency began preparing land use plans called Management Framework Plans or MFPs.
In 1976 Congress passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) that revised the operating mandate of the BLM, establishing it as a land management agency. FLPMA stated that the BLM would prepare land use plans to manage the "use, occupancy, and development" of federal lands, and that such planning should be done in a "periodic and systematic" manner consistent with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidelines. These FLPMA based plans are Called Resource Management Plans or RMPs.
The Bureau Planning System (BPS) has four tiers of plans: policy, land use, activity, and projects. The policy plan consists of the FLPMA and administrative directives that affect statewide policy and give direction to the more specific land use plans. The land use plans, or RMPs, "provide a general outline of future land use management and establish resource priorities" within a specific planning area. Activity plans provide even more specific policy guidelines for a particular activity such as forest management, watershed management, fishery/wildlife management, and recreation management. At the most specific level, the projects plans include drawings and specifications necessary to construct a facility or implement a specific program.
From 1995 until now BLM only completed one land use plan and that was the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. Beginning this year there is a new emphasis on planning in BLM Alaska and we are amending the RMP's for Forts Greeley and Wainwright that are on the list below. We are beginning a new RMP for South-Southeastern Alaska and we are developing a plan for the Colville River Area in on the eastern edge of NPR-A. In addition, next year the bureau will begin a new RMP for the Northwestern part of NPR-A and one for the lands near Glennallen.
For the RMPs the BLM uses a nine-step process that meets NEPA and BPS guidelines. After a notice of intent to plan is filed (published in the Federal Register), the agency completes the following steps:
Step 1. Identify issues (scoping meetings)
Step 2. Develop planning criteria
Step 3. Collect inventory data and information
Step 4. Analyze the management situation
Step 5. Formulate alternatives
|Step 6. Estimate effects of alternatives and submit draft
plan
(starts 90-day public review period)
Step 7. Review comments and prepare final plan, submit to
director
Step 8. Record of decision by state director
(starts 60-day governor's consistency review and 30-day
public protest period)
Step 9. Implement, monitor, and evaluate plan
The BLM provides opportunities for public participation in steps 1, 2, 5, and 7. Legally mandated participation occurs between steps 6 and 7 (the 90-day formal review of the draft plan) and following the record of decision (a 30-day protest period). These formal opportunities and other less formal meetings are announced by advertisements in local newspapers and through other methods the planner in charge feels appropriate.
The BLM is in the process of reforming its advisory council, which reviews all agency plans. This council will be known as a Resource Advisory Council. At this time, it is not known how many persons will be on the council. The RMPs are amended on an as-needed basis.
The RMP as it moves through the process typically includes both the management plan and an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The plan portion includes such sections as goals, management prescriptions, and consistency with subsistence regulations. The EIS portion includes sections on purpose, issues, criteria, alternatives, the affected environment, environmental consequences, and participation. The final RMP is published without the EIS but with the record of decision.
Bureau of Land Management: www.ak.blm.gov
Alaska Fire Service, Interagency Wildland Fire Management: http://fire.ak.blm.gov/
For information about the BLM planning program contact:
Curtis_Wilson@ak.blm.gov
Division of Lands & Renewable Resources (AK-931)
Bureau of Land Management
222 W. 7th Ave. , #13
Anchorage, AK 99513 (907) 271-5546
In addition to the specific plan contacts provided below, the following offices are good sources of general information.
Southern Area:
Ed Bovy, External Affairs Office
Bureau of Land Management
222 West 7th Ave., #13
Anchorage, AK 99513 (907) 271-3318
email Ed_Bovy@ak.blm.gov
Northern Area:
Bob Schneider
Bureau of Land Management
1150 University Ave.
Fairbanks, AK 99709 (907) 474-2216
email Bob_Schneider@ak.blm.gov
Land Use Plans: Anchorage District
New Land Use Plan: Anchorage District South/Southeast RMP - acreage to be determined - expected date of completion 2005. Contact: Anchorage District Manager, 6881 Abbott Loop Road, Anchorage, AK 99507. (907) 267-1248.
Land Use Plans: Glennallen District
Southcentral Management Framework Plan (5,000,000 acres)&endash;Completed in 1980. An RMP, to replace the MFP, was initiated in 1989, but was placed on hold in 1992 pending State selections. Contact: Glennallen District Manager, P.O. Box 147, Glennallen, AK 99588. (907) 822-3217.
New Land Use Plan: Glennallen District Alaska East RMP - acreage to be determined - expected date of completion 2006. Contact: Glennallen District Manager, P.O. Box 147, Glennallen, AK 99588. (907) 822-3217.
Land Use Plans: Northern District
National Petroleum Reserve&endash;Alaska (23,000,000 acres)&endash;NPR-A, as it is called, was established by Congress in 1923. The tract has been managed by the BLM since 1976 under guidelines of the Naval Resource Production Act. A background study was completed in 1979 as required by the act. The study consists of extensive inventories of abiotic, biotic, and cultural resources. The area is managed primarily for oil and gas production with specific leasing plans prepared periodically. The area does not have a formal RMP. It does, however, have several special study areas that were established when the area was transferred to BLM management. These areas are the Teshekpuk Lake Special Study Area, the Colville River Special Study Area, the Utukok Uplands Special Area, and the Kaseguluk Lagoon Special Area. The Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement developed a multiple-use plan for 5.6 million acres in the northeast corner of the area and was completed in 1998.
Central Yukon Resource Management Plan (9,400,000 acres)&endash;The record of decision was signed in October of 1986.
Fortymile Management Framework Plan (5,000,000 acres)&endash;This plan was completed in 1980. Since then, however, almost all BLM-administered land in the area has been set aside as parks or refuges or has been selected by the state or Native corporations. The remaining large tract in the area is the Fortymile Wild and Scenic River, which has its own, more specific, river management plan.
Northwest Management Framework Plan (7,648,000 acres)&endash;The record of decision was signed in 1982. Steese National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan (1,200,000 acres)&endash;Specifically required by ANILCA, this plan was completed in 1986. Includes the Birch Creek Wild River Management Plan. Utility Corridor Resource Management Plan (6,200,000 acres)&endash;Acreage includes 1.5 million acres in the utility corridor and 4.7 million acres between NPR-A, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and north of 68 degrees north latitude. This latter area, added by ANILCA Sec. 1001, requires special assessment of oil and gas resources, review of wilderness characteristics, and protection of wildlife resources. First completed as an MFP in 1980, with amendments in 1983, this plan has been revised to RMP status. The record of decision was signed in January 1991.
White Mountains National Recreation Area Resource Management Plan (1,000,000 acres)&endash;Specifically required by ANILCA, this plan was completed in 1986. It includes the Beaver Creek Wild River Management Plan.
The Fort Greeley Resource Management Plan (200,000 acres) was completed in 1996 as was The Fort Wainwright Resource Management Plan (600,000 acres).
NEW PLANS AND AMENDMENTS
Northwest National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement acreage undetermined. Contact Gene Terland, Alaska State Office, (907) 271-3344, email Gene_Turland@ak.blm.gov
Fort Greeley Resource Management Plan Amendment (200,000 acres). Contact Gary Foreman Northern Field Office (907) 474-2339, email Gary_Foreman@ak.blm.gov
Fort Wainwright Resource Management Plan Amendment (600,000 acres). Contact Gary Foreman Northern Field Office(907) 474-2339, email Gary_Foreman@ak.blm.gov
Colville River Integrated Management Plan -acreage to be determined. Contact Gary Foreman Northern Field Office (907) 474-2339, email Gary_Foreman@ak.blm.gov
The BLM, through its participation in the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (AIWFCG), is a cooperator in fire management plans which cover almost all of Alaska on an interagency basis. For fire planning, the Alaska Interagency Fire Management plans divide the state into 12 planning areas. Boundaries are based on natural and administrative boundaries, fire occurrence patterns, and vegetation patterns. The agencies have set four levels of protection: critical, full, limited, and modified. The planning team establishes the level of protection, solicits public/interest group input, and develops fire management options. The BLM began the first area fire plan, the Tanana-Minchumina Plan, in 1979 and completed it in 1982. Since then, all other 11 plans have been completed.
Together, these regional scale plans make up the Alaska State Fire Plan. The BLM anticipates that the regional scale plans will be incorporated into the wide range of land use plans prepared by other agencies. In 1995, the AIWFCG approved the Alaska Consolidated Interagency Fire Management Plan. This document is a consolidation of the Operational Guidelines and Direction found in all 12 individual fire management plans. This consolidation gives users of the Plan one source instead of 12 for obtaining guidance in the management of wildland fires in Alaska.
For further information on fire management planning, contact: Manager, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005, Fort Wainwright, AK 99703. (907) 356-5500. Alaska Interagency Fire Planning Documents are available at http://fire.ak.blm.gov/unique/docs/planning/planning.asp State Fire Management Planning information is available at http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/forestry/fireplans.htm
