ELR Citation: ELR 20745
No(s). 87-3555 (9th Cir. Dec 13, 1989)

The court holds that the Bureau of Land Management could not convey lands underlying segments of a river to a native regional corporation under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act because the segments were navigable and therefore property of the state of Alaska not subject to conveyance by the federal government. The court finds that the lower thirty miles of the Gulkana River were navigable when Alaska became a state. The present commercial use of the river, although primarily recreational, establishes that the river was capable of being used for commerce at statehood. Thus, because states generally hold title to lands underlying navigable rivers within their boundaries, the lands could not be conveyed by the federal government. The court also holds that note 4 of the Statehood Act did not reserve title to the underlying lands of the lower Gulkana for the United States at the time Alaska became a state.

Counsel for Defendants-Appellants
Robert M. Goldberg
1107 W. Seventh Ave., Anchorage AK 99501
(907) 277-8561

Counsel for Plaintiff-Appellee
Kenneth C. Powers, Ass't Attorney General
Box 9, 222 W. Seventh Ave., Rm. C-252, Anchorage AK 99513-7567
(907) 271-5071

Counsel for Defendants-Appellees
Blake Watson
Land and Natural Resource Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 633-2855

Before O'SCANNLAIN, LEAVY and TROTT, Circuit Judges.