[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 232 (Monday, December 4, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62105-62106]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-29380]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary


Advisory Committee Establishment

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.

ACTION: Notice, establishment of Advisory Committee.

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SUMMARY: This notice is published in accordance with Section 9(a)(2) of 
the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App. 2 (1988) and 
41 CFR part 101-6, section 101-6, 1015(a). Following consultation with 
the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and 
Budget, notice is hereby given that the Secretary of the Interior is 
administratively establishing an advisory committee known as the Alaska 
Land Managers Forum. The purpose of the committee is to advise the 
Secretary of the Interior, the Governor of Alaska, and others on Alaska 
land and resources issues.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This decision is effective December 4, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Williams, Special Assistant to 
the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska, Office of the Secretary, 
Department of the Interior, 1689 C Street, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska 
99501-5151, (907) 271-5485.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 36 years since Statehood, land 
ownership and management in Alaska has undergone a massive change. In 
1959, nearly all of Alaska (99.8 percent) was owned by the Federal 
Government, and most of this land (332 million acres) was public domain 
under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. Today, the 
State has received title to 85 million acres of a 104 million acre 
entitlement. Alaskan Natives, through village and regional corporations 
established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, have 
become major land holders (35 million acres interim conveyed or 
patented) with the eventual ownership of 45.5 million acres. Finally, 
over 150 million acres in Federal ownership are in national forests, 
parks, and wildlife refuges. These changes in land status have, in 
turn, generated changes in the roles and relationships of the State and 
Federal agencies in Alaska. Also, Native corporations, as owners of 12 
percent of the State's land area, have become major participants in the 
complexities of land and resource management.
    Since Statehood there have been several different types of 
cooperative planning entities charged with making an overview of Alaska 
issues and developing comprehensive recommendations to the State and 
Federal Governments. None of these planning entities exist today. The 
Secretary of the Interior is establishing the Alaska Land Managers 
Forum advisory committee, with concurrence of the Governor of Alaska, 
in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act 
(FACA) (5 U.S.C. app.), for the purpose of advising him and others on 
land and resource issues in Alaska.
    Membership on the Forum will consist of individuals appointed by 
the Secretary of the Interior. To be appointed as cochairs will be the 
Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska as the 
Federal 

[[Page 62106]]
Cochair and the Lt. Governor of the State of Alaska as the State 
Cochair. In addition, the charter provides for appointing the 
commissioners or directors of specified State agencies, the State 
directors of specified Federal land management agencies, and the heads 
of two Alaska Native organizations.
    Administrative establishment of the Alaska Land Managers Forum is 
necessary and in the public interest.

    Dated: November 28, 1995.
Bruce Babbitt,
Secretary of the Interior.
[FR Doc. 95-29380 Filed 12-1-95; 8:45 am]
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