The Alaska Settlement Program
Issue # 73- January/February 1982
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ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Recently, one of our readers informed us that the Bureau of
Land Management (an agency of the Department of the
Interior) was planning to open up a large tract of Alaskan
land under a homesteading-type program. "Please tell folks
that there's free land to be had by those with the guts to
take it," urged the writer.
Well, friends, "guts" is the key word in that last
sentence. During December 1981 the BLM was to have made
available 10,000 acres in the heart of Alaska, in an effort
to encourage people to establish their homes and businesses
in the sparsely populated forty-ninth state. However, the
land is pretty rugged . . . and it would take a person with
well-honed survival and homesteading skills to make a
successful go on his or her claim. The land isn't entirely
free, either... it will cost a reasonable $2.50 an acre to
those who successfully fulfill the settlement requirements
and pay the filing fees necessary to obtain legal ownership
of the tract.
MOM asked a BLM representative what kind of environment a
would-be pioneer might face. "The land is extremely
isolated, with minimal tree coverage, and there's no road
access," the spokesperson replied. "The settler would have
to have resources of considerable size to fly in—or
barge in—food and fuel supplies. Also, since the
acreage is in the state's interior, there's not much water
and there are negative temperatures much of the year. It'd
take a lot of effort."