Press Release

State Receives Notification of First Lands Into Trust Application

October 10, 2016

(Anchorage, AK) – The State of Alaska received its first notice from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of an application to take certain tribal lands into trust in Alaska. The State has 30 days to comment on the application.

The application filed by the Craig Tribal Association requests that a one acre lot within the City of Craig be placed into trust by BIA. According to the notice received by the State, the lot contains the tribe’s administration building, which includes tribal offices, a tribal hall, a local head start program, and commercial space, and a parking area for employees and guests. There are no plans to change the current uses of the property.

Over the next two weeks, the State will be gathering information regarding the application in order to analyze the impact of the property being put into trust status. In particular, BIA is requesting comments on “the impact of the removal of the subject property from the tax rolls, and…. jurisdictional problems and potential conflicts of land use which may arise.”

The State encourages any Alaskan that has information that should be incorporated into the State’s comments to send the information to Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth at attorney.general@alaska.gov. Comments must be received by October 24, 2016 in order for the State to have sufficient time to consider them before submitting final comments to the BIA. Comments can also be submitted directly to the BIA, Alaska Region at 3601 C Street, Suite 1100, Anchorage, Alaska 99503.

The State must submit its comments to BIA by November 9, 2016.

For more information, see the Notice of (Non-Gaming) Trust Land Acquisition Application - PDF (695 KB).

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.