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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1631. Ownership of submerged lands
(a) Meandering in the surveying of submerged land
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), whenever the Secretary
surveys land selected by a Native, a Native Corporation, or the
State pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [43
U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], 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 [43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq., 1311 et seq.], 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) Ownership of riparian lands; ratification of memorandum of
agreement
(1) Whenever, either before or after August 16, 1988, the
Secretary conveys land to a Native, a Native Corporation, or the
State pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [43
U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], 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
Resources 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) Interim conveyances and patents; navigability of streams; award
of costs and attorney's fees
(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 [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.] 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 [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.] 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) Definitions
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 [43 U.S.C.
1301 et seq., 1311 et seq.] and section 6(m) of the Alaska
Statehood Act.
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