Title 38, Public Land

(a) The real property occupied as a permanent place of abode by a resident 65 years of age or over and leased by that resident from the state in accordance with AS 38.05.070 — 38.05.105 is exempt from the payment of annual lease rent. Only one exemption may be granted for the sam…

Except for a lease under AS 38.05.081 or 38.05.083, if land within a leasehold created under AS 38.05.070 — 38.05.105 is offered for sale or long-term lease at the termination of the existing leasehold, the director may, upon a finding that it is in the best interest of the state…

(a) If there is a breach or default of a term of a lease or of the provisions of this chapter relating to a lease, the division shall provide written notice of the breach or default by personal service or by registered or certified mail to the lessee and to any holder of record h…

(a) Each lease shall stipulate that at five-year intervals as specified in the lease the annual rent payment or other form of lease compensation specified by the commissioner is subject to adjustment. Changes or adjustments shall be based primarily on changes in the lease's fair …

(a) The commissioner shall provide for cruises of timber on state land and shall assess the supply of and current markets for timber on privately owned land in close proximity to state land to determine (1) the timber that should be offered for sale; and (2) the terms of sale of …

(a) The department may not authorize the harvest of timber, except for harvests of 10 acres or less or timber salvaged from land cleared for a nonforest use, until a site-specific forest land use plan has been adopted. A forest land use plan is required whether or not a regional …

(a) Every two years, the department shall prepare a five-year schedule of timber sales planned on all land managed by the department. The timber sale schedule must provide a time line that identifies timber sales, their volumes, and their locations and must contain sufficient inf…

(a) The commissioner shall determine the timber to be sold and the limitations, conditions, and terms of sale. The limitations, conditions, and terms shall include the utilization, development, and maintenance of the sustained yield principle, subject to preference among other be…

(a) After making a written finding that the disposal will serve the best interests of the state under AS 38.05.035(e), the commissioner may offer, on an expedited basis, timber for sale under this section that the commissioner has determined (1) has lost economic value because of…

(a) Notwithstanding AS 38.05.115 and 38.05.120, and upon a finding that the sale is in the best interest of the state, the commissioner may negotiate a sale of timber to a local manufacturer of wood products or a user of wood fiber at appraised value. The period of a contract for…

Timber shall be sold either by sealed bids or public auction, depending on which method is determined by the commissioner to be in the best interests of the state, to the highest qualified bidder as determined by the commissioner. An aggrieved bidder may appeal to the commissione…

(a) Each contract for the sale, lease, or grant of state land, and each deed to state land, properties, or interest in state land, made under AS 38.05.045 — 38.05.120, 38.05.321, 38.05.810 — 38.05.825, AS 38.08, or AS 38.50 except as provided in AS 38.50.050 is subject to the fol…

(a) The people of the state have a constitutional right to free access to and use of the navigable or public water of the state. (b) The state has full power and control of all of the navigable or public water of the state, both meandered and unmeandered, and the state holds and …

(a) Before the sale, lease, grant, or other disposal of any interest in state land adjacent to a body of water or waterway, the commissioner shall, (1) determine if the body of water or waterway is navigable water, public water, or neither; (2) upon finding that the body of water…

(a) A person may not obstruct or interfere with the free passage or use by a person of any navigable water unless the obstruction or interference is (1) authorized by law or regulation or by a permit issued by a state agency; (2) exempt under 33 U.S.C. 1344(f) (Clean Water Act); …

Rights may not be exercised by the state, its lessees, successors, or assigns under the reservation as set out in AS 38.05.125 until the state, its lessees, successors, or assigns make provision to pay the owner of the land full payment for all damages sustained by the owner, by …

(a) Unless specifically provided otherwise in AS 38.05.132 — 38.05.134, the provisions of AS 38.05.005 — 38.05.037, 38.05.140(f), 38.05.180, 38.05.182 — 38.05.184, and 38.05.920 — 38.05.990 apply to the issuance of exploration licenses and leases for oil and gas, or for gas only,…

(a) To encourage exploration for oil and gas on state land, the commissioner may issue exploration licenses. The commissioner may limit the exploration licenses under AS 38.05.132 — 38.05.134 to exploration for and recovery of gas only. The commissioner may not issue an explorati…

(a) The procedures in this section apply to the issuance of an exploration license under AS 38.05.132. (b) The licensing process is initiated by the commissioner preparing, or a prospective licensee submitting to the commissioner, a proposal that identifies a specific area to be …

If the licensee requests and the commissioner determines that the work commitment obligation set out in an exploration license issued under AS 38.05.132 has been met, the commissioner shall convert to one or more leases all or part, as the licensee may indicate, of the area descr…

(a) Except as otherwise provided, valuable mineral deposits in land belonging to the state shall be open to exploration, development, and the extraction of minerals. All land, together with tide, submerged, or shoreland, to which the state holds title to or to which the state may…

The commissioner is authorized to enter into cooperative mineral leasing agreements with the United States regarding land which is the subject of a title dispute between federal and state authorities. Any such lease need not conform to the provisions of state law applicable to st…

(a) A person may not take or hold coal leases or permits during the life of coal leases on state land exceeding an aggregate of 92,160 acres, except that a person may apply for coal leases or permits for acreage in addition to 92,160 acres, not exceeding a total of 5,120 addition…

(a) In addition to permits and authorizations otherwise required by law, a final authorization must be obtained from the legislature for a large-scale metallic sulfide mining operation located within the watershed of the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve designated in AS 38.05.140(f)…

(a) Deposits of coal, phosphates, oil shale, sodium, potassium, oil, gas, geothermal resources and state land containing these deposits are subject to disposition under regulations, recommended by the director and adopted by the commissioner, and the provisions of AS 38.05.145 — …

(a) The commissioner may, and upon the petition of a qualified applicant, shall divide coal land or the deposits of coal owned by the state into leasing tracts of 40 acres each, or multiples of 40 acres, and in the form which will permit the economical mining of the coal in the t…

(a) The commissioner may grant a prospecting permit to a qualified applicant. The permit gives the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of sodium in land belonging to the state for a period of not exceeding two years. T…

(a) Under regulations adopted by the commissioner, the commissioner shall grant a prospecting permit for sulphur to a qualified applicant. The permit gives the applicant the exclusive right to prospect for sulphur, in land belonging to the state, for a period not exceeding two ye…

(a) The commissioner may lease to qualified applicants land belonging to the state which contains deposits of phosphates and associated and related minerals, when it is in the public interest to do so. The commissioner may lease land through advertisement, competitive bidding, or…

(a) Under regulations adopted by the commissioner, the commissioner may grant a prospecting permit to a qualified applicant. The permit gives the applicant the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of potassium, in land …

(a) The commissioner may lease to a qualified person deposits of oil shale belonging to the state and the surface of as much of the land containing these deposits, or land adjacent to it, as may be required for the extraction and reduction of the lease minerals. The lease may not…

(a) The provisions of this section apply to nonconventional gas. (b) [Repealed, § 58 ch 49 SLA 2004.] (c) [Repealed, § 58 ch 49 SLA 2004.] (d) A lease (1) shall be automatically extended if and for so long thereafter as gas is produced in paying quantities from the lease and the …

(a) The legislature finds that (1) the people of Alaska have an interest in the development of the state's oil and gas resources to (A) maximize the economic and physical recovery of the resources; (B) maximize competition among parties seeking to explore and develop the resource…

(a) The commissioner may, under regulations adopted by the commissioner, grant prospecting licenses and leases to a qualified person to explore for, develop, or use geothermal resources. When title to the surface parcel is held by a person other than the state, that person shall …

(a) Any royalty provided for in AS 38.05.135 — 38.05.181 may be taken in kind rather than in money if the commissioner determines that the taking in kind would be in the best interest of the state. However, royalties on oil and gas shall be taken in kind unless the commissioner d…

(a) The sale, exchange, or other disposal of a mineral obtained by the state as a royalty under AS 38.05.182, the sale, exchange, or other disposal in whole or in part of a right to receive future mineral production under a state lease under this chapter, or the sale, exchange, o…

(a) The legislature finds that Kachemak Bay is an area of extraordinary abundance and diversity of marine life that has provided, and will continue to provide in the future, a basis for one of the state's most important commercial fisheries; that recent information discloses that…

(a) The acquisition and continuance of rights in and to deposits on state land of minerals, which on January 3, 1959, were subject to location under the mining laws of the United States, shall be governed by AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275. Nothing in AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 affects th…

(a) Except as provided in (b) of this section, exploration and mining rights under AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 may be acquired or held only by (1) citizens of the United States at least 18 years of age; (2) legal guardians, conservators, or trustees of citizens of the United States …

(a) Rights to deposits of minerals subject to AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 in or on state land that is open to claim staking may be acquired by discovery, location, and recording as prescribed in AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275. The locator has the exclusive right of possession and extracti…

Notices may be amended at any time and monuments changed to correspond with the amended location but a change may not be made that interferes with the rights of others. Whenever monuments are changed or an error is made in the notice or in the certificate of location, an amended …

(a) Prior discovery, location, and recording shall initiate prior rights to mineral deposits subject to AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 in or on state land, other than submerged land, which is open to mining leasing. Locations shall be made and certificates of location recorded in accor…

(a) Labor shall be performed or improvements made annually on or for the benefit or development of each mining claim, leasehold location, and mining lease on state land, except that, where adjacent claims, leasehold locations, or mining leases are held in common, including adjace…

(a) The holder of each mining claim, leasehold location, prospecting site, and mining lease, including a mining lease under AS 38.05.250, shall pay, in advance, rental for the right to continue to hold the mining claim, leasehold location, prospecting site, and mining lease, incl…

(a) In exchange for and to preserve the right to extract and possess the minerals produced, the holder of a mining claim, leasehold location, or mining lease, including a mining lease under AS 38.05.250, shall pay a royalty on all minerals produced from land subject to the claim,…