Legal Public Access in Alaska

[Dand]

As the summer season approaches, questions come up on how to legally access public lands in Alaska.  Keep in mind that though Alaska is HUGE, more and more of the land is in private hands as Native Lands conveyances are completed and as the State and other agencies distribute lands.

I found this on the Alaska Dept Fish and Game Sport Fish web site.  This is just one way to begin a search for legal access.  

  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/access_home.cfm


If you have a specific area of interest you could try contacting local Native Corporations and Village Corporations for more information.

Hope this helps.

*************
Restoration Section: Legal Access Program
The Restoration section of Sport Fish Division is committed to protecting the public's right of access to Alaska's resources. The division routinely researches historic public use patterns, trails and easements; evaluates past and pending legislation; monitors government and private land use activities, regulations and hearings; and coordinates with other public land management agencies to identify and maintain public access. The majority of the division's effort is concentrated in the following areas:

  Coordination with other Agencies and Progams

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Land Conveyances,
   http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/ancsa.cfm

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA),
  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/anilca.cfm

BLM Survey Windows, Municipal and Borough Entitlements, Tideland Conveyances; Preference Rights, Avulsed Lands, and Easement Vacations.

  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/easements.cfm
 

Sport Hunting and Fishing Access Information

Afognak Island Access and Use Information
  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/afognak/afoghome.cfm
 
Karluk River Access and Use Information
  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/karluk/karluk_home.cfm
 
Chuit River Access and Use Information
  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/Chuit/chuit_home.cfm
 
Ayakulik River Access and Use Information
  http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/access/ayakulik/aya_home.cfm

[Daveinthebush]

Dand: Excellent post.  :agree:  I changed it to an announcement to keep it on the top of the forum.  There are probably others that should be kept up here too.

Great Job!

[379 Peterbilt]

Dand,

Thank you. Thats the stuff I was lookin' for

D I B,

Good call on the "anouncement" Now I won't have to dig for it.

[Yukon Jack]

http://www.ak.blm.gov/sec_17b/

Note that easements across private lands are reserved in specific locations and only allow specific uses.  Hunting and Fishing are typically not allowed from easements.

[Dand]

Yukon is right.  17b easements across Native Lands are usually designed to guarantee access to other public lands and are usually only for changing modes of transportation.  Camping and other uses are usually not approved uses and many of the land owers are very strict on this interpretation.  

I think some go a bit overboard but that's the way it is.

[379 Peterbilt]

I asked this earlier in another thread, but could not find the answer, so here goes again...

Where can I look to find out which islands on the Yukon river (from haul road down) are "public" and which are private (if any)

These island must serve as a great refuge durring bad weather, and they also must be good everyday campsites.

At least the "public" ones, anyway...

(help)

[Yukon Jack]

Eyesore,
Got the BLM or to http://plats.landrecords.info/index.html   Locate the area on their search by map feature.  When you locate that, click on the BLM MTP and download it.  The Master Title Plat (MTP) will have which lands are private and which lands are state or federal.

[379 Peterbilt]

Yukon Jack,

Thanks for the second attempt to steer my in the right direction.

Well, I just spent the better part of 6 hours browsing through BLM sites, as well as land record sites, bla bla bla. Sorry to sound like a crack baby, but I could not quite get what it was I was looking for, but mabie its also possible that what I seek does'nt even exist.

You know that big fold out map on the inside cover of the Alaska gazateer? It shows what land is native, state, & fed all in different colors. Thats what I was hoping to find, but with the ability to zoom in for better boundry determination.

Here is one example of how close I got, yet not quite what I need

 http://plats.landrecords.info/index.html?value=KOYUKOK&collection=blm&datasource=federal-ancsa14c.xml&searchtype=auto

Obviously that is for the Koyukuk region. Now, whats it going to take to show a map of a bigger area in and around Koyukuk that shows one color for the navite aloted lands, another color for state, etc..

Is that website not close to what I need? Then steer me in from this one...

http://www.ak.blm.gov/index.html

Will that one get it done?

The reason I risk whatever credibility I have in asking this repeatedly, is because I just have just competed a weeks worth of e-mail swaping with Doyon in trying to gather specific boundries near a plot of land that is VERY close to where I will be hunting this fall. I do not want to tresspass, but I am starting to think that if I accidentaly did, THEN someone would be willing to show the exact boundry. Anyway, the rep I dealt with was helpfull to an extent, but sorta pushing me to look at the other website (BLM). Which was fine, but..where was I here.....oh yeah, sqaure one....

Do ya got one more try in ya? Thanks !!

 :-)

[Yukon Jack]

Eyesore,
Send me a PM with the area you are wanting to find the land status of.  I'll need the an area on a map describing the area.  Townships and Ranges would be perfect, but could be just from one creek to another, or one village to another.  I promise to keep it confidential and won't be using the information for myself.

[Winter Hawk]

Eyesore,

Here is a link which might give you a little more detail:

http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/lris/landrecords

The BLM Master Title Plats are the way to get exact information, once you figure out how to read them.

-WH-

[379 Peterbilt]

Thanks a bunch, Winter hawk. That link is really good for what I wanted to look up. Great website.

I also gotta thank Yukon Jack as well, He was a lot of help too !!

 :grin:

[Yukon Jack]

Yukon is right.  17b easements across Native Lands are usually designed to guarantee access to other public lands and are usually only for changing modes of transportation.  Camping and other uses are usually not approved uses and many of the land owers are very strict on this interpretation.  

Camping (up to 24 hours) is an allowable use of most site easements (not trail easements or airstrip easements).

There really isn't any room for interpretation as the BLM describes these easements.  The easements are legally described in recorded documents, allowable uses and all.  It's there in black and white.

[Yukon Jack]

The State and BLM have put the 17(b) Easement Plats on the net.  You'll need to know the area you want to go and which 1:63360 scale map is applicable.  Land ownership is not depicted, but once you have found that (using the previous posts in this thread), you can find the easements here:
http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/trails/17b/easement_maps.htm

[Winter Hawk]

Excellent, Yukon Jack!  That should clear up some questions here on the Island....  Thanks for posting it.

-Winter Hawk-