BLM waiver of administration may transfer administration of perpetual material site right-of-way grant to Native corporation that received conveyance of the affected land (not decided), but under terms of grant Native corporation did not have authority to terminate grant without state�s consent.
Before: Carpeneti, Chief Justice, Winfree and Stowers, Justices. [Fabe, Justice, not participating.]In September 1961, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a right-of-way grant to the Alaska Department of Public Works (now the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities) conveying a “road building material site” along the Denali Highway with no expiration date and no rental fee. The right-of-way grant was issued pursuant to federal statutes and subject to relevant federal highway regulations.After the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was enacted in 1971,[1] the United States conveyed the surface and subsurface estates encompassing the State’s material site to Ahtna, Inc. (Ahtna), an Alaska Regional Native Corporation created pursuant to ANCSA. The conveyance was “subject to” the “[r]ights-of-way for Federal Aid material sites.”
Adds precedent that influences how ANCSA corporations, regulators, and shareholders interpret governance rights and remedies.