§1610 Withdrawal of public lands

Summary

Sets aside public lands around certain Native villages so those lands cannot be taken for public land claims, mining, mineral leasing, or chosen by the State under the Alaska Statehood Act, except for any valid rights already in place. The land set aside includes the township that contains all or part of a listed Native village, the townships that touch that township, and the townships that touch those second townships. Any lands in those townships that the State has picked but not yet patented are also set aside and cannot be used to create third‑party interests. If the townships above do not give a Village or Regional Corporation enough acres to take what it is entitled to, the Secretary must set aside three times the shortfall from nearby unreserved public lands similar to the village land and as close as possible to the village center, but not lands needed to expand a National Wildlife Refuge under sections 1616 and 1621(e). The Secretary must make that extra withdrawal based on the best information within 60 days after December 18, 1971, or as soon as possible. The list of Native villages is in subsection (b)(1). Within two and one‑half years after December 18, 1971, the Secretary must review the listed villages and cancel benefits or withdrawals for any village that had fewer than 25 Native residents on the 1970 census or that is modern and mostly non‑Native. Villages not on the list can become eligible if, within the same two‑and‑a‑half year period, the Secretary finds they had 25 or more Native residents in 1970 and are not modern, urban, and majority non‑Native.