§ 1615 — Withdrawal And Selection Of Public Lands; Funds In Lieu Of Acreage

(a) All public lands in each township that encloses all or any part of a Native village listed below, and in each township that is contiguous to or corners on such township, except lands withdrawn or reserved for national defense purposes, are hereby withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, and from selection under the Alaska Statehood Act, as amended:Angoon, Southeast.Craig, Southeast.Hoonah, Southeast.Hydaburg, Southeast.Kake, Southeast.Kasaan, Southeast.Klawock, Southeast.Saxman, Southeast.Yakutat, Southeast. (b) During a period of three years from December 18, 1971, each Village Corporation for the villages listed in subsection (a) shall select, in accordance with rules established by the Secretary, an area equal to 23,040 acres, which must include the township or townships in which all or part of the Native village is located, plus, to the extent necessary, withdrawn lands from the townships that are contiguous to or corner on such townships. All selections shall be contiguous and in reasonably compact tracts, except as separated by bodies of water, and shall conform as nearly as practicable to the United States Lands Survey System. (c) The funds appropriated by the Act of July 9, 1968 (82 Stat. 307), to pay the judgment of the Court of Claims in the case of The Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, et al. against The United States, numbered 47,900, and distributed to the Tlingit and Haida Indians pursuant to the Act of July 13, 1970 (84 Stat. 431), are in lieu of the additional acreage to be conveyed to qualified villages listed in section 1610 of this title. (1) all its right, title, and interest in the lands of the reservation defined in and vested by the Act of September 2, 1957 (71 Stat. 596), which lands are hereby conveyed and confirmed to said Chilkat Indian Village in fee simple absolute, free of trust and all restrictions upon alienation, encumbrance, or otherwise: Provided further, That the United States and the Village Corporation for the village of Klukwan shall also quitclaim to said Chilkat Indian Village any right or interest they may have in and to income derived from the reservation lands defined in and vested by the Act of September 2, 1957, after December 18, 1971, and prior to January 2, 1976. (2) The lands withdrawn by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be located in the southeastern Alaska region and shall be of similar character and comparable value, to the extent possible, to those of the Chilkat Valley surrounding the village of Klukwan. Such withdrawal shall be made within six months of October 4, 1976, and the Village Corporation for the village of Klukwan shall select, within one year from the time that the withdrawal is made, and be conveyed, twenty-three thousand and forty acres. None of the lands withdrawn by the Secretary for selection by the Village Corporation for the village of Klukwan shall have been selected by, or be subject to an outstanding nomination for selection by, any other Native Corporation organized pursuant to this chapter, or located on Admiralty Island.