Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed an amendment to his state lands legislation that would utilize state land to fulfill the promised land allotment to Alaska Natives who missed the opportunity while serving in the Vietnam War. Today, 1,957 veterans or their kin remain eligible for a land allotment.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said:
In 1906 Congress established the Alaska Native Allotment Act, promising Alaska Natives tracts of “vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved non-mineral” land of up to 160 acres if they could prove “continuous use and occupancy” of the land for five years. The program’s original restrictions prevented many Alaska Natives from applying until the 1960s, just as today’s veterans were deployed to the Vietnam War. 13,000 land allotments were awarded in the 1960s, however, following the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, the program was ended before many of the 3,000 Alaska Native veterans returned from deployment.
The Alaska Native Vietnam Veteran Allotment Act was passed by Congress in 1998, allowing for 255 Alaska Native Vietnam Veterans to apply for up to 160 acres of land. In 2019, President Trump signed into law an act which allowed many Alaska Native Vietnam Veterans who served during the period of August 5, 1964 through December 31, 1971, and previously didn’t receive a Native allotment, to apply for up to 160 acres of federal land.
Dunleavy says that the Biden Administration in April 2021 delayed the release of 28 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Alaska for two years. By doing so, 1.5 million acres of mostly unusable and undesirable land has been left and is open for selection for qualified applicants.
Senate Bill 97 and House Bill 120 were introduced in March. SB 97 has been heard and passed out of Senate Resources and currently resides in Senate Finance, while the House companion legislation, HB 120, is in House Resources and will be in House Finance next.