University gains additional land entitlement under bill
University has worked decades
to resolve land grant The University of Alaska will have rights to select 360,000 acres from federal lands as a part of the federal omnibus spending bill passed by Con- gress at the end of 2022. Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Senator Dan Sullivan had earlier in - troduced S. 1128, the University of Alaska Fiscal Foundation Act, to help fulfill UA’s long-due land grant, which remains a fraction of the size it was intended to be. The provision was then wrapped into the final fed - eral spending bill. Despite being located in the larg- est state in the union, UA has one of the smallest land endowments — just 110,000 acres — of any applicable insti- tution anywhere in the country. To help remedy this, S. 1128 allows UA and the State to jointly identify up to 500,000 acres in Alaska for potential conveyance. The Department of the Interior (DOI) will then survey those selections and work with UA and the State to transfer up to 360,000 acres to UA. Any trans- fers will be deducted from Alaska’s out- standing statehood lands entitlement, which still totals millions of acres. “This is a monumental day for the university,” said Pat Pitney, President of University of Alaska. “We’ve been working diligently for
Photo Courtesy Todd Paris / University of Alaska Fairbanks
years to resolve our land grant deficit, and today is the day that hard work has paid off. On behalf of the entire university community, I thank our congressional delegation for finding a path forward through the omnibus appropriations bill. I also want to rec- ognize the bipartisan backing we’ve had from our Alaska businesses, or- ganizations, and state leaders who advocated for this positive outcome. “This break-through legislation means that the university will be em- powered to actively manage produc- tive lands that will generate recurring revenue for the benefit of our stu - dents, our cutting-edge research, and
the education of our next generation of leaders,” said Pat Pitney. The university will choose the lands based on potential for economic development, to help bring new reve- nues to the university. In another land provision in the omnibus bill Murkowski provided in- creased funding for the Alaska Land Conveyance Program to help fulfill long-standing legal requirements to transfer lands to the State under the Alaska Statehood Act and to Alaska Natives under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
— Tim Bradner
AMA Branch Meetings n AMA Statewide Branch meetings are scheduled bi-monthly. These meetings
Upcoming Schedule n March 7: Juneau Mining Forum 2023, Baranof Hotel, Juneau. Full day of speakers and technical sessions, ending with annual AMA/AGC/ATA Reception. Sponsored by AMA and Alaska Council of Producers. AlaskaMiners.org. n March 17: Meet Alaska 23, Alaska Support Industry Alliance. Anchorage. AlaskaAlliance.com.
n Branches are meeting in-person! For your local branch schedule, please
are hosted on Zoom and take place at 7 a.m. Friday. Schedule: Visit www. alaskaminers.org/ama- member-branches
visit www.alaskaminers.org/ ama-member-branches or contact Jennifer at jennifer@ alaskaminers.org for information
n May 10: Mining Day 2023
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Winter 2023
The Alaska Miner
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