Alaska Land Conveyance Program--A Slow, Complex, and Costly Process

GAO reviewed the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) conveyance of land in Alaska to Alaskan natives and native corporations to evaluate BLM progress in conveying the land.

GAO found that, at the end of 1983, BLM had conveyed or approved: (1) 73 percent of the land to which the State of Alaska was entitled; and (2) 70 percent of the land to which Alaskan native corporations were entitled. The state, and many of the native corporations surveyed, stated that their economic, social, and cultural development objectives had been adversely affected by the slow speed of land conveyance. GAO found that the three major obstacles to conveyance are: (1) pending native land claims; (2) pending navigability determinations for waterways on land to be conveyed; and (3) the slow and costly process of surveying land. BLM resolution of native land claims has been slow because: (1) the number of applications processed kept changing as the result of court and administrative determinations; and (2) the method by which applications are processed is complex. Navigability determinations are difficult because BLM and the state disagree on the criteria for determining whether waterways are navigable. The Department of the Interior has adopted a policy that lessens the significance of navigability determinations; GAO believes that this policy will speed up the conveyance process. BLM has the administrative capability to handle more land surveys, but lacks funds. In the past, the state made some contributions to help pay for land surveys, but native corporations have made no such contributions. Few of the native corporations surveyed indicated a willingness to contribute to the cost of land surveys.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Michael Gryszkowiec Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-5514