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Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-110

§1631 Ownership of Submerged Lands

Title 43 › CHAPTER 33A — IMPLEMENTATION OF ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT AND ALASKA STATEHOOD › § 1631

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

When the Secretary of the Interior surveys land picked by a Native, a Native Corporation, or the State under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Alaska Statehood Act, or this Act, the shores of lakes, rivers, and streams must be traced (meandered) using the Bureau of Land Management’s 1973 survey rules. A lake under 50 acres or a river/stream less than three chains wide must not be meandered if the State never got title to the land under it under the Submerged Lands Act. The Secretary does not have to decide navigability, calculate the underwater acreage, or describe that underwater land in conveyance papers for features that must be meandered. The law does not force ground surveys or placement of monuments for meanderlines. When land next to a meanderable lake, river, or stream is conveyed to a Native, Native Corporation, or the State (before or after August 16, 1988), any U.S. interest in the land under the water between the upland and the median line or midpoint transfers to the grantee and does not reduce their acreage entitlement; the underwater interest is no bigger than the estate in the adjoining land. The Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of the Interior and the State of Alaska dated March 28, 1984, is made part of this law. Bureau of Land Management interim conveyances or patents are final agency decisions about navigability unless they were validly appealed on or before December 2, 1980, and other Interior agencies cannot later decide navigability in those selections unless such an appeal was filed by that date. If a court finds a Native Corporation owns submerged land, the corporation is awarded its costs and attorney’s fees, including on appeal. Definition: "navigable"/"navigability" here means navigable only for deciding who owns the land under water between the United States and the States under the Submerged Lands Act and section 6(m) of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §1631

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Meandering in the surveying of submerged land (b) Ownership of riparian lands; ratification of memorandum of agreement
(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), whenever the Secretary surveys land selected by a Native, a Native Corporation, or the State pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], the Alaska Statehood Act, or this Act, lakes, rivers, and streams shall be meandered in accordance with the principles in the Bureau of Land Management, “Manual of Surveying Instructions” (1973).
(2)If title to lands beneath navigable waters of a lake less than fifty acres in size or a river or stream less than three chains in width did not vest in the State pursuant to the Submerged Lands Act [43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq., 1311 et seq.], such lake, river, or stream shall not be meandered.
(3)The Secretary is not required to determine the navigability of a lake, river, or stream which because of its size or width is required to be meandered or to compute the acreage of the land beneath such lake, river, or stream or to describe such land in any conveyance document.
(4)Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require ground survey or monumentation of meanderlines.
(c)Interim conveyances and patents; navigability of streams; award of costs and attorney’s fees
(1)The execution of an interim conveyance or patent, as appropriate, by the Bureau of Land Management which conveys an area of land selected by a Native or Native Corporation which includes, surrounds, or abuts a lake, river, or stream, or any portion thereof, shall be the final agency action with respect to a decision of the Secretary of the Interior that such lake, river, or stream, is or is not navigable, unless such decision was validly appealed to an agency or board of the Department of the Interior on or before December 2, 1980.
(2)No agency or board of the Department of the Interior other than the Bureau of Land Management shall have authority to determine the navigability of a lake, river, or stream within an area selected by a Native or Native Corporation pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.] or this Act unless a determination by the Bureau of Land Management that such lake, river, or stream, is or is not navigable, was validly appealed to such agency or board on or before December 2, 1980.
(3)If title to land conveyed to a Native Corporation pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.] or this Act which underlies a lake, river, or stream is challenged in a court of competent jurisdiction and such court determines that such land is owned by the Native Corporation, the Native Corporation shall be awarded a money judgment against the plaintiffs in an amount equal to its costs and attorney’s fees, including costs and attorney’s fees incurred on appeal.
(d)Definitions
For the purposes of this section, the terms “navigable” and “navigability” means navigable for the purpose of determining title to lands beneath navigable waters, as between the United States and the several States pursuant to the Submerged Lands Act [43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq., 1311 et seq.] and section 6(m) of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, referred to in subsecs. (a)(1), (b)(1), and (c)(2), (3), is Pub. L. 92–203, Dec. 18, 1971, 85 Stat. 688, which is classified generally to chapter 33 (§ 1601 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1601 of this title and Tables. This Act, referred to in subsecs. (a)(1), (b)(1), and (c)(2), (3), is Pub. L. 96–487, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2371, known as the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 3101 of Title 16, Conservation, and Tables. The Alaska Statehood Act, referred to in subsecs. (a)(1), (b)(1), and (d), is Pub. L. 85–508,
July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, which is set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. The Submerged Lands Act, referred to in subsecs. (a)(2) and (d), is act
May 22, 1953, ch. 65, 67 Stat. 29, which is classified generally to subchapters I and II (§§ 1301 et seq., 1311 et seq.) of chapter 29 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1301 of this title and Tables. Codification August 16, 1988, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), was in the original “the date of enactment of this section”, which was translated as meaning the date of enactment of Pub. L. 100–395, which amended this section generally, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Amendments

1988—Pub. L. 100–395 amended section generally, revising and restating as subsecs. (a) to (d) provisions of former subsecs. (a) to (h). 1986—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99–644 substituted “eight years after the date of execution” for “six years after the date of execution” in two places and “nine years after
December 2, 1980” for “seven years after
December 2, 1980” in two places. Pub. L. 99–258 substituted “six years after the date of execution” for “five years after the date of execution” in two places.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives changed to Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives on Jan. 5, 1993, by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Third Congress.

Construction

Pub. L. 100–395, title I, § 102, Aug. 16, 1988, 102 Stat. 980, provided that: “Nothing in this Act [amending this section and section 3192 of Title 16, Conservation, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section] shall amend or alter any land exchange agreement to which the United States is a party, or any statute, including but not limited to the Act of
January 2, 1976 (89 Stat. 1151) and section 506(c) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (94 Stat. 2409; Public Law 96–487), that authorizes, ratifies or implements such an agreement.” Report to Congress Pub. L. 100–395, title I, § 103, Aug. 16, 1988, 102 Stat. 980, directed Secretary of the Interior to prepare a report that assesses the effects of the implementation of section 101 of Pub. L. 100–395 (amending this section) on Conservation System Units as defined in 16 U.S.C. 3102(4) and makes recommendations for appropriate action, specified scope of the report, and directed Secretary, within one year after Aug. 16, 1988, to submit a report to Congress. Definitions For definition of the terms “land”, “Federal land”, “public lands”, “conservation system unit”, “Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act”, “Native Corporation”, “Regional Corporation”, “Village Corporation”, “Urban Corporation”, “Native Group”, “Native land”, “Secretary”, “wilderness” and “National Wilderness Preservation System”, “Alaska Statehood Act”, “State”, “Alaska Native” or “Native”, “fish and wildlife”, and “take” or “taking” as used in this chapter, including sections 1639 to 1641 of this title, as having the same meaning as they have in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, section 1601 et seq. of this title, and the Alaska Statehood Act, Pub. L. 85–508,
July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions, see section 3102 of Title 16, Conservation.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 1631

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110