§ 1631. Ownership of submerged lands

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

1. 1980

   Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

   Pub. L. 96–487 title IX § 901 · 94 Stat. 2371

   Enacted · 43 U.S.C. § 1631

   Pub. L. 96–487, title IX, § 901, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2430

   Source evidence

   Code source credit
   Pub. L. 96–487, title IX, § 901, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2430

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   Sec. 901. submerged lands statute of limitation (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the ownership by a Native Corporation or Native Group of a parcel of submerged land conveyed to such Corporation or Group pursuant to 43 USC 1601 note. the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or this Act, or a decision by the Secretary of the Interior that the water covering such parcel is not navigable, shall not be subject to judicial determination unless a civil action is filed in the United States District Court within five years after the date of execution of the interim conveyance if the interim conveyance was executed after the date of enactment of this Act, or within seven years after the date of enactment of this Act if the interim conveyance was executed on or before the date of enactment of this Act. If a parcel of submerged land was conveyed by a patent rather than an interim conveyance, the civil action described in the preceding sentence shall be filed within five years after the date of execution of the patent if the patent was executed after the date of enactment of this Act, or within seven years after the date of enactment of this Act if the patent was executed on or before the date of enactment of this Act. The civil action described in this subsection shall be a de novo determination of the ownership of the parcel which is the subject of the action. (b) 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 water covering a parcel of submerged land selected by a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act unless a determination by the Bureau 43 USC 1601 note. of Land Management that the water covering a parcel of submerged land is not navigable was validly appealed to such agency or board prior to the date of enactment of this Act. The execution of an interim conveyance or patent (whichever is executed first) by the Bureau of Land Management conveying a parcel of submerged land to a Native Corporation or Native Group shall be the final agency action with respect to a decision by the Secretary of the Interior that the water covering such parcel is not navigable, unless such decision was validly appealed prior to the date of enactment of this Act to an agency or board of the Department of the Interior other than the Bureau of Land Management. (c) If the court determines that a parcel of submerged land which is Costs and attorney fees. the subject of a civil action described in subsection (a) is owned by the Native Corporation or Native Group to which it was conveyed pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or this Act, 43 USC 1601 note. each defendant Native Corporation and Native Group 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) No Native Corporation or Native Group shall be determined to have been conveyed its acreage entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act until— (1) the statutes of limitation set forth in subsection (a) have expired with respect to every parcel of submerged land conveyed to such Corporation or Group; and (2) a final judgment or order not subject to an appeal has been obtained in every civil action filed pursuant to subsection (a). (e) (1) Whenever a parcel of submerged land to be conveyed to a Agreements or reconveyances with State. Native Corporation or Native Group is located outside the boundaries of a conservation system unit such Corporation or Group and the State of Alaska may mutually agree that such parcel may be selected by and conveyed to the State under the provisions of section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act. 48 USC note prec. 21. (2) In any instance in which the State could have selected a parcel of submerged land pursuant to an agreement between the State and a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to paragraph (1) if such parcel had not previously been conveyed to such Corporation or Group, such Corporation or Group is authorized to reconvey such parcel to the Secretary, and the Secretary shall accept such reconveyance. If the surface estate and subsurface estate of such parcel are owned by different Native Corporations or Native Groups, every Corporation and Group with an interest in such parcel shall reconvey its entire interest in such parcel to the Secretary. (3) In any agreement made between a Native Corporation or Native Group and the State of Alaska pursuant to paragraph (1), and in any reconveyance executed by a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to paragraph (2), each affected Corporation or Group shall disclaim its interest in the parcel which is the subject of the agreement or reconveyance. If such parcel underlies a lake having a surface area of fifty acres or greater or a stream having a width of three chains or greater, the Secretary shall determine the acreage contained in the parcel. If such parcel underlies a lake having a surface area of less than fifty acres or a stream having a width of less than three chains, the Secretary, the State, and the affected Native Corporation or Native Group shall determine the acreage contained in the parcel by mutual agreement. The affected Native Corporation or Native Group shall receive replacement lands in an amount equal to the acreage of the parcel as determined by the processes set forth in this paragraph. (4) Upon receipt by the Secretary of an agreement executed pursuant to paragraph (1) or a reconveyance executed pursuant to paragraph (2), the parcel which is the subject of the agreement or reconveyance shall be deemed vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved public land available for selection by the State pursuant to section 6 of the Alaska Statehood Act, and the State is authorized to file a land selection application for such parcel pursuant to 48 USC note prec. 21. section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act. The acreage within such parcel shall be charged against the State’s land entitlement. If the water covering a parcel of submerged land selected by or conveyed to the State pursuant to this subsection is later determined (without regard to the statutes of limitation contained in this section) by a court of competent jurisdiction to be navigable and title to such parcel to be vested in the State pursuant to section 6(m) of the Alaska Statehood Act, such selection or conveyance shall not diminish the State’s land entitlement under section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act, nor shall such judicial determination of navigability affect the land entitlement of any Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to the 43 USC 1601 note. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Land selections made by the State pursuant to this subsection shall not be subject to the size limitations of section 6(g) of the Alaska Statehood Act or this Act. Notwithstanding the survey requirements of section 6(g) of the Alaska Statehood Act and section 13 of the Alaska Native Claims 43 USC 1612. Settlement Act, no ground survey or monumentation shall be required on any parcel selected by and conveyed to the State or excluded from a conveyance to any Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to this subsection. (5) Any Native Corporation or Native Group which is entitled to receive conveyance of replacement acreage in lieu of acreage within a parcel of submerged land relinquished or reconveyed pursuant to this subsection shall receive conveyance of such replacement acreage from among existing selections made by such Corporation or Group pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or this Act. If such selections are insufficient to fulfill the acreage entitlement of such Corporation or Group pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims 43 USC 1601 note. Post, p. 2496. Settlement Act, the provisions of section 1410 shall apply to such Corporation or Group, but no land within the boundaries of a conservation system unit shall be withdrawn for such Corporation or Group pursuant to section 1410 unless such land was withdrawn 43 USC 1610. under section 11(a) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Any replacement acreage conveyed to a Native Corporation or Native Group from lands withdrawn pursuant to section 1410 shall be subject to the provisions of sections 12, 14, 16, 17, and 22 of the Alaska 43 USC 1611, 1613, 1615, 1616, 1621. Native Claims Settlement Act. (f) The procedures and statutes of limitation set forth in this section shall not apply to administrative or judicial determinations of the navigability of water covering a parcel of submerged land other than a parcel conveyed to a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant 43 USC 1601 note. to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or this Act. (g) As used in this section, the terms “navigable” and “navigability” “Navigable.” “Navigability.” mean 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 of 1953 (67 Stat. 29), and section 6(m) of the Alaska Statehood Act. 43 USC 1301 note. 48 USC note prec. 21. (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any civil action contesting the legality or authority of the United States to legislate on the subject matter of this section shall be barred unless the complaint is filed within one year after the date of enactment of this Act. The purpose of this limitation on suits is to ensure that, after the expiration of a reasonable period of time, the right, title, and interest of Native Corporations and Native Groups in submerged lands conveyed to them under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 43 USC 1601 note. and this Act will vest with certainty and finality and may be relied upon by such Corporations and Groups and all other persons in their relations among themselves and with the State and the United States.

2. 1986

   Pub. L. 99–258 · 100 Stat. 42

   Substituted · 43 U.S.C. § 1631(a)

   Pub. L. 99–258 substituted “six years after the date of execution” for “five years after the date of execution” in two places

   Target inherited from the preceding amendment note.

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Pub. L. 99–258 substituted “six years after the date of execution” for “five years after the date of execution” in two places.

3. 1986

   Pub. L. 99–644 · 100 Stat. 3581

   1. Substituted · 43 U.S.C. § 1631(a)

      Pub. L. 99–644 substituted “eight years after the date of execution” for “six years after the date of execution” in two places

   2. Substituted · 43 U.S.C. § 1631(a)

      Pub. L. 99–644 substituted “nine years after December 2, 1980” for “seven years after December 2, 1980” in two places

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   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.

4. 1988

   Pub. L. 100–395 title I § 101 · 102 Stat. 979

   Amended · 43 U.S.C. § 1631

   Pub. L. 100–395 amended section generally, revising and restating as subsecs. (a) to (d) provisions of former subsecs. (a) to (h)

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Pub. L. 100–395 amended section generally, revising and restating as subsecs. (a) to (d) provisions of former subsecs. (a) to (h).

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   Sec. 101. Section 901 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (94 Stat. 2430; Public Law 96–487) is amended by 43 USC 1631. striking out text of such section and inserting in lieu thereof: “Sec. 901. (a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), whenever the Rivers and harbors. Water. Secretary surveys land selected by a Native, a Native Corporation, or the State pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 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, 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. “(b) (1) Whenever, either before or after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary conveys land to a Native, a Native Corporation, or the State pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Alaska Statehood Act, or this Act which abuts or surrounds a meanderable lake, river, or stream, all right, title, and interest of the United States, if any, in the land under such lake, river, or stream lying between the uplands and the median line or midpoint, as the case may be, shall vest in and shall not be charged against the acreage entitlement of such Native or Native Corporation or the State. The right, title, and interest vested in a Native or Native Corporation shall be no greater an estate than the estate he or it is conveyed in the land which abuts or surrounds the lake, river, or stream. “(2) The specific terms, conditions, procedures, covenants, reservations, and other restrictions set forth in the document entitled, ‘Memorandum of Agreement between the United States Department of the Interior and the State of Alaska’ dated March 28, 1984, signed by the Secretary and the Governor of Alaska and submitted to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-sources of the Senate, are hereby incorporated in this section and are ratified as to the duties and obligations of the United States and the State, as a matter of Federal law. “(c) (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 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 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) 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 and section 6(m) of the Alaska Statehood Act.”.

2 of 5 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 3 partial