Slana & Lake Minchumina: America’s Last Federal Settlement Areas
During 1982 and 1983, the Bureau of Land Management, under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, opened the last three blocks of federal land in America to settlement claims by private citizens. This was the continuation of a pattern of land openings that had started in the 19th century when Congress passed various laws to promote the settlement of the nation, including the passage in 1862 of the Homestead Act.
The 1982-83 land openings at Slana and Lake Minchumina were in effect for around four years. Until October 21, 1986, American citizens could file land claims for federal land for establishing rural residences and rural-based businesses. These claims could only be made in three designated areas in central and eastern Alaska. For decades before this, into the early 1970s, these types of claims (and also claims for agricultural homesteads) could be made in many parts of the state on federal land. In all, just over 40,000 acres were opened by BLM during this final federal land opening in 1982-83.
By the time the program ended in the fall of 1986, while over 1,000 claims had been initially filed, fewer than 200 would end with the land going to the claimants. Many had been unsuccessful in “proving up” by meeting all of the requirements to receive the land. But many others had left due to the climate, remoteness, or other personal reasons.
When the settlement program ended on October 21, 1986, with the final claims filed with the BLM just days earlier, so did this chapter in America’s land settlement policies. All but a handful of these claims have been resolved statewide as of 2012. Today, BLM still manages the majority of the lands in these final settlement areas and continues to work with settlers there on various issues of common interest.
What happened at Slana and Lake Minchumina starting in the early 1980s and continuing today, is a unique final chapter in the larger story of how America was settled and continues to evolve today.