Alaska DNR issues four land decisions for University of Alaska land grants

With a federal deadline three months out, Alaska is moving fast to hand state land to the University of Alaska, issuing four transfer decisions in four days this week over the objections of everyone who commented. In one case, the objections worked.

The decisions cover the Selawik Hills, the West Fork of the Wulik River, the Delong Mountains and the Kauk River, together tens of thousands of acres in Northwest Alaska. The Kauk River parcel alone is about 25,000 acres northeast of Buckland, where all 13 comments opposed the transfer and a federal reindeer grazing permit runs through 2033. In each case the Department of Natural Resources conditionally gave up the state's claim so the university can take title, finding that in the state's best interest.

The exception came days earlier at Medicine Lake, near Fairbanks, where the state proposed releasing about 2,400 acres and received 41 comments, every one against. Residents cited hunting, fishing, trapping and trail access, including the route of the Yukon Quest sled-dog race. There, the department reversed course and kept most of the land, warning that once state land is conveyed it can no longer require public access easements.

The transfers flow from a 2023 federal law that lets Alaska pass up to 360,000 acres of its selected land to the university as revenue-generating endowment property, a way to shore up the school's finances. The authority expires Dec. 29, which explains the pace. Earlier decisions released roughly 220,000 acres in the Ray Mountains, where the department reported the same thing it has reported nearly everywhere: every comment opposed.

Anyone who commented can ask the commissioner to reconsider within 20 days, for a $200 fee.