[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4754 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4754

    To provide for the exchange of lands within Gates of the Arctic 
          National Park and Preserve, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 1994

 Mr. Young of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the exchange of lands within Gates of the Arctic 
          National Park and Preserve, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Anaktuvuk Pass Land Exchange and 
Wilderness Redesignation Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (a) On December 2, 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands 
        Conservation Act (94 Stat. 2371) established Gates of the 
        Arctic National Park and Preserve and Gates of the Arctic 
        Wilderness. The village of Anaktuvuk Pass, located in the 
        highlands of the central Brooks Range, is virtually surrounded 
        by these national park and wilderness lands and is the only 
        village located within the boundary of a National Park System 
        unit in Alaska.
            (b) Unlike most other Alaskan Native communities, the 
        village of Anaktuvuk Pass is not located on a major river, 
        lake, or coastline that can be used as a means of access. The 
        residents of Anaktuvuk Pass have relied increasingly on snow 
        machines in winter and all-terrain vehicles in summer as their 
        primary means of access to pursue caribou and other subsistence 
        resources.
            (c) In a 1983 land exchange agreement, linear easements 
        were reserved by the Inupiat Eskimo people for use of all-
        terrain vehicles across certain national park lands, mostly 
        along stream and river banks. These linear easements proved 
        unsatisfactory, because they provided inadequate access to 
        subsistence resources while causing excessive environmental 
        impact from concentrated use.
            (d) The National Park Service and the Nunamiut Corporation 
        initiated discussions in 1985 to address concerns over the use 
        of all-terrain vehicles on park and wilderness land. Those 
        discussions resulted in an agreement, originally executed in 
        1992 and thereafter amended in 1993 and 1994, among the 
        National Park Service, the Nunamiut Corporation, the City of 
        Anaktuvuk Pass, and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. Full 
        effectuation of this agreement, as amended, requires 
        ratification by the Congress.

SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF AGREEMENT.

    (a) Ratification.--
            (1) In general.--The terms, conditions, procedures, 
        covenants, reservations and other provisions set forth in the 
        document entitled ``Donation, Exchange of Lands and Interests 
        in Lands and Wilderness Redesignation Agreement Among Arctic 
        Slope Regional Corporation, Nunamiut Corporation, City of 
        Anaktuvuk Pass and the United States of America'' (hereinafter 
        referred to in this Act as ``the Agreement''), executed by the 
        parties on December 17, 1992, as amended, are hereby 
        incorporated in this Act, are ratified and confirmed, and set 
        forth the obligations and commitments of the United States, 
        Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Nunamiut Corporation and the 
        City of Anaktuvuk Pass, as a matter of Federal law.
            (2) Land acquisition.--Lands acquired by the United States 
        pursuant to the Agreement shall be administered by the 
        Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the 
        ``Secretary'') as part of the Gates of the Arctic National Park 
        and Preserve, subject to the laws and regulations applicable 
        thereto.
    (b) Maps.--The maps set forth as Exhibits C1, C2, and D through I 
to the Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances, retention 
of surface access rights, access easements and all-terrain vehicle 
easements. These lands are depicted in greater detail on a map entitled 
``Land Exchange Actions, Proposed Anaktuvuk Pass Land Exchange and 
Wilderness Redesignation, Gates of the Arctic National Park and 
Preserve'', Map No. 185/80,039, dated April 1994, and on file at the 
Alaska Regional Office of the National Park Service and the offices of 
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Fairbanks, Alaska. 
Written legal descriptions of these lands shall be prepared and made 
available in the above offices. In case of any discrepancies, Map No. 
185/80,039, shall be controlling.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM WILDERNESS.

    (a) Redesignation.--Section 701(2) of the Alaska National Interest 
Lands Conservation Act (94 Stat. 2371, 2417) establishing the Gates of 
the Arctic Wilderness is hereby amended with the addition of 
approximately fifty-six thousand eight hundred and twenty-five acres as 
wilderness and the rescission of approximately seventy-three thousand 
nine hundred and ninety-three acres as wilderness, thus revising the 
Gates of the Arctic Wilderness to approximately seven million thirty-
four thousand eight hundred and thirty-two acres.
    (b) Maps.--The lands redesignated in subsection (a) are depicted on 
a map entitled ``Wilderness Actions, Proposed Anaktuvuk Pass Land 
Exchange and Wilderness Redesignation, Gates of the Arctic National 
Park and Preserve'', Map No. 185/80,040, dated April 1994 and on file 
at the Alaska Regional Office of the National Park Service and the 
office of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Fairbanks, 
Alaska.

SEC. 5. CONFORMANCE WITH OTHER LAW.

    (a) Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.--All of the lands, or 
interests therein, conveyed to and received by Arctic Slope Regional 
Corporation or Nunamiut Corporation pursuant to the Agreement shall be 
deemed conveyed and received pursuant to exchanges under section 22(f) 
of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1601, 
1621(f)). All of the lands or interests in lands conveyed pursuant to 
the Agreement shall be conveyed subject to valid existing rights.
    (b) Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.--Nothing in 
this Act or in the Agreement shall be construed to enlarge or diminish 
the rights, privileges or obligations of any person, except to the 
extent specifically set forth in this Act or the Agreement, including 
specifically the preference for subsistence uses and access to 
subsistence resources provided under title VIII of the Alaska National 
Interest Lands Conservation Act, as amended (94 Stat. 2371, 2422).
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