§ 1611 — Native Land Selections

(1) During a period of three years from December 18, 1971, the Village Corporation for each Native village identified pursuant to section 1610 of this title shall select, in accordance with rules established by the Secretary, all of the township or townships in which any part of the village is located, plus an area that will make the total selection equal to the acreage to which the village is entitled under section 1613 of this title. The selection shall be made from lands withdrawn by section 1610(a) of this title: Provided, That no Village Corporation may select more than 69,120 acres from lands withdrawn by section 1610(a)(2) of this title, and not more than 69,120 acres from the National Wildlife Refuge System, and not more than 69,120 acres in a National Forest: Provided further, That when a Village Corporation selects the surface estate to lands within the National Wildlife Refuge System or Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 4, the Regional Corporation, for that region may select the subsurface estate in an equal acreage from other lands withdrawn in section 1610(a) of this title within the region, if possible. (2) Selections made under this subsection (a) shall be contiguous and in reasonably compact tracts, except as separated by bodies of water or by lands which are unavailable for selection, and shall be in whole sections and, wherever feasible, in units of not less than 1,280 acres: Provided, That the Secretary in his discretion and upon the request of the concerned Village Corporation, may waive the whole section requirement where— (i) a portion of available public lands of a section is separated from other available public lands in the same section by lands unavailable for selection or by a meanderable body of water; (ii) such waiver will not result in small isolated parcels of available public land remaining after conveyance of selected lands to Native Corporations; and (iii) such waiver would result in a better land ownership pattern or improved land or resource management opportunity; or (B) the remaining available public lands in the section have been selected and will be conveyed to another Native Corporation under this chapter. (b) The difference between twenty-two million acres and the total acreage selected by Village Corporations pursuant to subsection (a) shall be allocated by the Secretary among the eleven Regional Corporations (which excludes the Regional Corporation for southeastern Alaska) on the basis of the number of Natives enrolled in each region. Each Regional Corporation shall, not later than October 1, 2005, reallocate such acreage among the Native villages within the region on an equitable basis after considering historic use, subsistence needs, and population. The action of the Secretary or the Corporation shall not be subject to judicial review. Each Village Corporation shall select the acreage allocated to it from the lands withdrawn by section 1610(a) of this title. (c) The difference between thirty-eight million acres and the 22 million acres selected by Village Corporations pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) shall be allocated among the eleven Regional Corporations (which excludes the Regional Corporation for southeastern Alaska) as follows: (1) The number of acres each Regional Corporation is entitled to receive shall be computed (A) by determining on the basis of available data the percentages of all land in Alaska (excluding the southeastern region) that is within each of the eleven regions, (B) by applying that percentage to thirty-eight million acres reduced by the acreage in the southeastern region that is to be selected pursuant to section 1615 of this title, and (C) by deducting from the figure so computed the number of acres within that region selected pursuant to subsections (a) and (b). (2) bears to the total land area in all of the regions whose allotments are to be reduced pursuant to this paragraph. (3) Before the end of the fourth year after December 18, 1971, each Regional Corporation shall select the acreage allocated to it from the lands within the region withdrawn pursuant to section 1610(a)(1) of this title, and from the lands within the region withdrawn pursuant to section 1610(a)(3) of this title to the extent lands withdrawn pursuant to section 1610(a)(1) of this title are not sufficient to satisfy its allocation: Provided, That within the lands withdrawn by section 1610(a)(1) of this title the Regional Corporation may select only even numbered townships in even numbered ranges, and only odd numbered townships in odd numbered ranges. (4) Where the public lands consist only of the mineral estate, or portion thereof, which is reserved by the United States upon patent of the balance of the estate under one of the public land laws, other than this chapter, the Regional Corporations may select as follows: (A) Where such public lands were not withdrawn pursuant to section 1610(a)(3) of this title, but are surrounded by or contiguous to lands withdrawn pursuant to section 1610(a)(3) of this title, and filed upon for selection by a Regional Corporation, the Corporation may, upon request, have such public land included in its selection and considered by the Secretary to be withdrawn and properly selected. (B) Where such public lands were withdrawn pursuant to section 1610(a)(1) of this title and are required to be selected by paragraph (3) of this subsection, the Regional Corporation may, at its option, exclude such public lands from its selection. (C) (a) or (b), the Corporation may, upon request, have such public land conveyed to it. (i) A Regional Corporation which elects to obtain public lands under subparagraph (C) shall be limited to a total of not more than 12,000 acres. Selection by a Regional Corporation of in lieu surface acres under subparagraph (E) pursuant to an election under subparagraph (C) shall not be made from any lands within a conservation system unit (as that term is defined by section 3102(4) of title 16). (ii) An election to obtain the public lands described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) shall include all available parcels within the township in which the public lands are located. (iii) For purposes of this subparagraph and subparagraph (C), the term “Regional Corporation” shall refer only to Doyon, Limited. (E) Where the Regional Corporation elects to obtain such public lands under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of this paragraph, it may select, within ninety days of receipt of notice from the Secretary, the surface estate in an equal acreage from other public lands withdrawn by the Secretary for that purpose. Such selections shall be in units no smaller than a whole section, except where the remaining entitlement is less than six hundred and forty acres, or where an entire section is not available. Where possible, selections shall be of lands from which the subsurface estate was selected by that Regional Corporation pursuant to subsection (a)(1) or section 1613(h)(9) of this title, and, where possible, all selections made under this section shall be contiguous to lands already selected by the Regional Corporation or a Village Corporation. The Secretary is authorized, as necessary, to withdraw up to two times the acreage entitlement of the in lieu surface estate from vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved public lands from which the Regional Corporation may select such in lieu surface estate except that the Secretary may withdraw public lands which had been previously withdrawn pursuant to subsection 1616(d)(1) of this title. (F) No mineral estate or in lieu surface estate shall be available for selection within the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska or within Wildlife Refuges as the boundaries of those refuges exist on December 18, 1971. (5) Subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (4) shall apply, notwithstanding the failure of the Regional Corporation to have appealed the rejection of a selection during the conveyance of the relevant surface estate. (d) To insure that the Village Corporation for the Native village at Dutch Harbor, if found eligible for land grants under this chapter, has a full opportunity to select lands within and near the village, no federally owned lands, whether improved or not, shall be disposed of pursuant to the Federal surplus property disposal laws for a period of two years from December 18, 1971. The Village Corporation may select such lands and improvements and receive patent to them pursuant to section 1613(a) of this title. (e) Any dispute over the land selection rights and the boundaries of Village Corporations shall be resolved by a board of arbitrators consisting of one person selected by each of the Village Corporations involved, and an additional one or two persons, whichever is needed to make an odd number of arbitrators, such additional person or persons to be selected by the arbitrators selected by the Village Corporations. (1) The entitlements received by any Village Corporation under subsection (a) and the reallocations made to the Village Corporation under subsection (b) may be combined, at the discretion of the Secretary, without— (A) increasing or decreasing the combined entitlement; or (B) increasing the limitation on selections of Wildlife Refuge System land, National Forest System land, or State-selected land under subsection (a). (2) The combined entitlement under paragraph (1) may be fulfilled from selections under subsection (a) or (b) without regard to the entitlement specified in the selection application. (3) All selections under a combined entitlement under paragraph (1) shall be adjudicated and conveyed in compliance with this chapter. (4) Except in a case in which a survey has been contracted for December 10, 2004, the combination of entitlements under paragraph (1) shall not require separate patents or surveys, to distinguish between conveyances made to a Village Corporation under subsections (a) and (b).