BLM Issues Four Historic Navigability Decisions Affirming Alaska Ownership of Submerged Lands

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Bureau of Land Management today issued navigability decisions for four State of Alaska Recordable Disclaimers of Interest applications involving the Delta-Tangle River System and Tangle Lakes System, the West Fork Dennison Fork and Dennison Fork of the Fortymile River System, the Kwethluk River, and the Goodnews River System. With these decisions, the BLM formally recognizes that ownership of submerged lands beneath these waterbodies passed to the State of Alaska at statehood and that the United States does not hold any interests to them.

"Today's decisions show what can be accomplished when the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Alaska work together to provide the clarity, certainty, and results Alaskans deserve," said BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast. "These historic decisions reduce uncertainty, improve public understanding of ownership, and help ensure Alaskans know which authorities apply on these submerged lands."

These decisions are the first issued for submerged lands in Alaska since 2019 and represent an important step in the BLM's efforts to implement Executive Order 14153 and Secretary's Order 3422, both titled "Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential."

Under the constitutional equal footing doctrine and the Submerged Lands Act, ownership of lands beneath navigable waters transferred to the State of Alaska upon statehood, unless specifically reserved to the United States prior to statehood. Once the BLM determines a waterbody is navigable, the agency may issue a decision formally disclaiming any federal interest of the submerged lands.

These decisions do not change the public's ability to use navigable waters for recreation, access, hunting, fishing, or other lawful purposes nor do they alter federal management of adjacent uplands, including areas within Wild and Scenic River corridors and other federally managed lands. Also, ownership of submerged lands generally does not determine where the federal subsistence priority applies under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.