SMALL TRACT LANDS

THE RESOURCE

Settlement of land in small tracts for home, cabin, or business sites is widely practiced in Alaska. Extension of the Small Tract Act to Alaska in July 1945 brought opportunity to veterans and others to lease and purchase a piece of Government land up to 5 acres in size for these purposes at reasonable cost and with a minimum of red tape. By June of 1955 the Bureau had classified and subdivided 14,905 acres into 5,694 small tracts in a great many localities in the Territory. In addition, 2,966 acres along the western shore of Kenai Peninsula had been classified for lease only as business or cabin sites for use in connection with set-net fishing operations in Cook Inlet. A total of 2,689 acres of land in various parts of Alaska is temporarily withheld from entry pending classification and opening under the Small Tract Act.

Suburban homesites.-Areas outside of the older central settlements of Alaska have been growing rapidly. The small-tract homesite program which significantly fostered this development, was shaped by the growing trend to the suburbs, the defense requirements for dispersal, the urgent need for low-cost land for housing, and the pioneer vision of an uncrowded place on the frontier. By June of 1955 the Bureau had classified and subdivided 11,772 acres of suburban land to provide 4,583 homesites.

Cabin sites.-Sea, lake, and stream shorelands and especially pleasing woodland areas in close proximity to urban areas in any parts of Alaska have increasingly attracted recreation seekers. The small-tract cabin-site program significantly contributed to the development of these recreation lands. Cabin sites for recreational purposes have been made available to hundreds of people. By June of 1955 the Bureau had classified and subdivided 2,930 acres of highly desirable recreation lands to provide 1.007 cabin sites.

Business sites.-In many localities in Alaska, as communities have grown and as transportation facilities have opened up the hinterlands, business interests have sought and/or been afforded near-in locations or strategic outlying lands for various commercial service, tourist facility, and small industry developments. By June 1955 the Bureau had classified and subdivided 203 acres of land to provide 104 business sites.

USE AND OWNERSHIP

There is a high progression of small tracts from lease to patent status in Alaska. Since February 1948 when the first small-tract classification and opening order was signed, 1,352 tracts have been patented.

A high proportion of available small tracts are being leased in Alaska. Of the total tracts made available for lease and purchase, proper deductions being made for those which have been patented; nearly two-thirds of the total of 4,342 have been leased.

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Are the small tracts actually being used for the purposes for which they were originally classified? Indications are a high percentage is being so used. check made of 320 tracts in 9 small units in the Anchorage area revealed 43 percent were used for year-round residence, 5 percent for part-time residence, and 13 percent for recreational or weekend use. Many lessees have been impeded in development and use of their tracts by rising construction costs, poor access roads, lack of utilities, and shifting employment conditions.

Many communities established by "small tracters" now have schools, churches, and other social-service facilities; trading-center businesses; and electricity, telephone, and water utilities, all largely the products of neighborhood "bootstrap" efforts.

PUBLIC LAND-MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES

Provide needed home, recreation, and business sites on the public domain in accordance with the wants of people in and immigrating to Alaska and an orderly and economical settlement and development program.

PROGRAM NEEDED TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES

1. Community development research

An evaluation of low density suburban development and urban ribbon develop ment peripheral to larger Alaskan cities.

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2. Classification and opening of land as and where needed

Fiscal year 1956: Chugiak, South Anchorage area, Eielson, Fairbanks area, Salcha, Lake Louise, Fielding Lake, Tangle Lake, Summit Lake, Sitka, Wrangell, Pennock Island, Pelican, Kodiak, Kenai.

Fiscal year 1957: South Anchorage area, Nancy Lake, Talkeetna, Eielson, Fairbanks area, Birch Lake, Salcha River, Manley Hot Springs, Lake Louise, Sitka, Wrangell, Mosquito Lake, Ketchikan.'

Fiscal year 1958: Eagle River, Afognak, Chiniak, South Kodiak, Chena River, Birch Lake, Fairbanks area, Alaska Highway sites, Cordova, Valdez, Fort Yukon, Galena, Naknek, Unalakleet, Douglas Island, Chilkoot Lake.

Fiscal year 1959: Birchwood, Knik Arm, Turnagain Arm, Buffalo Center, Chena River, Glenn Highway sites, Yakutat, Katalla, Douglas Island, Wrangell, Sitka, Skagway.

Fiscal year 1960: Kenai, Chugiak, South Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula set-net sites, Goodpaster River, Eielson, College, Nenana, McGrath, Juneau, Haines, Craig, Sitka.

OIL AND GAS LEASING

Many pages could be written in conjecture concerning the oil and gas possibilities of Alaska. Considering that this is the field of geologists, this statement is confined merely to known facts.

About 21⁄2 million acres of land are presently under lease and close to 2 million acres are covered by applications upon which final action has not yet been taken. Leases in Alaska are noncompetitive. Rentals are 25 cents per acre compared to 50 cents in the continental United States. One individual or association may lease a total of 100,000 acres but each individual lease is limited to 2,560 acres. There have been at least four active drilling operations in the Territory. Phillips Oil Co. at Yakataga, Havenstrite on the Alaska Peninsula, Alaska Oil & Gas Development Co. at Eureka, and Alaska Gulf across Knik Arm from Anchorage. It is our optimistic hope that oil will be struck and the economy of Alaska will receive a tremendous boost.

A LAND OFFICE MANAGER'S LOOK AT OBJECTIVES, PROGRAM, AND PROBLEMS

OBJECTIVES

In

Our overall objective, of course, is common to all operations under the Bureau in the area. Our aim is to promote the orderly administration and disposal of the public domain in such a way that the development and settlement of the Territory will be stimulated. This does not mean conservation for conservation's sake nor disposal for disposal's sake—rather a healthy conbination of the two which results in maximum benefit to present and future generations. the Fairbanks land district this leads to more specific objectives. Expedient handling of all lands and minerals applications in order that badly needed development, such as petroleum prospecting, can proceed as rapidly as possible is one of these. We also aim to provide consultation and advice to applicants in such a way as to minimize their confusion and misunderstanding of the multitude of laws and regulations which act as a framework for the Bureau's operations. Development of new or amended regulations and legislation which will adjust our programs more closely to Alaskan needs and conditions is also a constant aim.

PROGRAM

The main feature of the lands and minerals program in the Fairbanks land district during coming months is a concentrated effort to reduce the backlog of cases awaiting adjudication. Considerable headway has been made and if the land office staff can remain at least at its present level and barring unforeseen land or mineral rushes, the backlog should be reduced to a minimum within a year. A planned operation which is shared with the area cadastral engineering office is the transfer of the status-keeping function on unsurveyed lands from that office to the Fairbanks land office. At the prseent time, an applicant who wishes to appropriate the surface of or utilize the resources on the vast majority of the lands within the Fairbanks land district, is unable to obtain information within the district as to whether or not the area he desires is open to the type of utilization he proposes. Instead, the status of those lands is kept in Juneau, and he must await a receipt of the status report from that office, often causing him a considerable delay. It has long been the area administrator's plan to transfer the necessary records and personnel to the Fairbanks land office so that almost immediate

status information may be furnished as to unsurveyed as well as surveyed lands in the office which receives the applications. It is hoped that this transfer may come about within the next few months.

Also in regard to improved service to the public, we intend to assemble and distribute more information as to the physical and cultural features of specific areas as it becomes available. We also hope to improve the quality and amount of information disseminated regarding the land and minerals laws and regulations through the retention and maximum utilization of experienced and capable personnel.

In order to gear the Bureau's program more closely to Alaskan conditions, we plan to make a concentrated effort to study the regulations governing the various means of disposal and utilization of the public domain and to make suggestions as to changes which seem advisable. For instance, the acreage limitation, cultivation, and residence requirements for homesteading will be considered in the light of Alaska agricultural conditions with the purpose of determining what adjustments might be in order to make it a better farming law. Other means of disposition will be studied in a similar manner.

Programing in anticipation of area needs is always difficult because so many factors are involved in predicting regions which will see accelerated land or mineral interest. We do know, however, that the Arctic slope lands within public land order 82 will probably be opened to petroleum prospecting and plans have already been made at higher levels to carry out this land opening so that it is effected as smoothly as possible.

PROBLEMS

The Fairbanks land district is, of course, burdened with most of the problems common to all the Bureau's operations in the Territory. These include far-flung, sparsely settled areas of jurisdiction; lack of survey; lack of access to available lands; lack of adequate information as to the physical characteristics of public domain lands, and laws and regulations which are not always well adapted to Alaska conditions.

A problem which exists throughout the Territory but is more acute in the Fairbanks land district than anywhere else is the extreme high cost of living which makes the employment and retention of capable and experienced personnel extremely difficult. As a result, Bureau offices in this district have an extremely high personnel turnover which decreases the efficiency of Bureau operations.

LEGISLATION (BLM)

During the past few years a number of laws have been passed by Congress to facilitate the disposal of public lands by the Bureau of Land Management. Among them are: The Alaska public sale law; amendment of the Small Tract Act to permit classification and leasing of unsurveyed land; amendment of the Small Tract Act to permit associations, partnerships and corporations to obtain land; amendment of the Recreation Act to allow purchase of lands for public purposes by nonprofit corporations, municipalities, States, Territories, and political subdivisions; Materials Act to permit sale of gravel and other resources below mean high tide as well as on public domain. These are only a few but are typical of the efforts Congress has made to establish sensible and progressive legislation to aid BLM in administering the public lands of Alaska.

It has been suggested by counsel for the committee that mention be made of additional needed legislation.

I want to make it clear that the first proposed bill has not recently been a part of the Department of the Interior's legislative program, so I am expressing opinions of BLM personnel in Alaska only. We suggest a broadening of the land classification authority in Alaska, At the present time we can determine whether or not a tract of land is suitable for home or business sites under the Small Tract Act; suitable for business or industrial purposes under the Alaska Public Sale Act; can be used for public purposes or recreation under the Recreational Act; but we can't protect a man from homesteading on a worthless piece of land where he may rob himself of his life's saving and his health. It's tough enough to make a living on a good tract of land. We believe that the time has now arrived where Alaska is ready for such an act which should not operate as a blanket withdrawal statute, but rather be written in such a way as to promote the welfare of the Territory-not hinder it. It is my belief that the fact that this proposed legislation has not recently appeared on the Department's legislative program does not necessarily reflect a reluctance to approve but rather, perhaps, the se