Cape Fox Land Entitlement Finalization Act of 2025
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The bill would let Cape Fox Village Corporation, an Alaska Native village corporation for Saxman, Alaska, skip a required land selection near its village and instead receive about 180 acres of surface land in the Tongass National Forest to complete its land claim.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would waive the requirement that Cape Fox Village Corporation select roughly 185 acres of land within its home township near Saxman, Alaska, under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. In its place, the bill would let Cape Fox notify the Department of the Interior within 90 days of enactment that it is selecting about 180 acres of surface land in the Tongass National Forest, which Interior would then be required to convey to Cape Fox. Once that surface land is conveyed, Interior would also have to convey the subsurface estate of the same land to Sealaska Corporation, the Alaska Native regional corporation for southeastern Alaska. The conveyances would be treated as fulfilling both corporations' outstanding land entitlements under the Act, and the transferred land would remain subject to a public access easement allowing access to National Forest land further inland.
Key provisions
- 1Would waive Cape Fox's requirement to select or receive about 185 acres in the township containing Saxman, Alaska
- 2Would allow Cape Fox to select about 180 acres of surface land in the Tongass National Forest by written notice within 90 days of enactment, requiring Interior to convey it
- 3Would require Interior to convey the subsurface estate of that land to Sealaska Corporation once the surface estate is conveyed to Cape Fox
- 4Would deem the conveyances to fulfill Cape Fox's and Sealaska's outstanding land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
- 5Would reserve a public access easement on the conveyed land to allow access to National Forest System land further inland
Who would be affected
Cape Fox Village Corporation and the Alaska Native village of Saxman it represents, Sealaska Corporation as the regional subsurface-rights holder, the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service as managers of the Tongass National Forest land, and members of the public who use the reserved access easement.
Why it matters
The change would let Cape Fox finalize a decades-old, unresolved land entitlement by trading an unwanted township selection for forest land it has requested, while giving Sealaska the subsurface rights it is due under existing law. It would also lock in Interior's conveyance deadlines and preserve public access to adjoining forest land.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1615(b)) (Sec. 3)
Waives Cape Fox's requirement to select about 185 acres within its home township as part of its land entitlement
Amends Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1615) (Sec. 4(d))
Deems Cape Fox's land entitlement fulfilled upon conveyance of the substitute Tongass National Forest land
Amends Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(f)) (Sec. 4(d))
Deems Sealaska Corporation's subsurface entitlement fulfilled upon conveyance of the subsurface estate
Amends Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1616(b)) (Sec. 5)
Applies the standard public easement reservation to the newly conveyed land for access to inland National Forest land
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- Deadline for Cape Fox to submit written notice of its land selection
- Target for Interior to complete conveyances after receiving Cape Fox's notice
How implementation would work
Cape Fox would have 90 days after enactment to submit written notice of its selection of the specified Tongass National Forest land to the Secretary of the Interior. Upon receiving that notice, the Secretary must convey the surface estate to Cape Fox and then convey the subsurface estate to Sealaska Corporation, with Congress expressing intent that both conveyances be completed within 180 days of the notice. The conveyed land carries a reserved public access easement to inland National Forest System land.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 28.
Official CRS summary
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This bill waives a statutory core township selection requirement for the Cape Fox Corporation and allows Cape Fox to receive other lands to fulfill its remaining land entitlement. Cape Fox is an Alaska Native village corporation for the Alaska Native village of Saxman, Alaska.
Specifically, the bill states that Cape Fox shall not be required to receive its previously selected land of approximately 185 acres located within the township in which the Alaska Native village of Saxman, Alaska, is located. Instead, the bill allows Cape Fox to receive land outside of Cape Fox's current exterior selection boundary upon written notice of the new selection to the Department of the Interior.
In particular, if Cape Fox submits written notice of its selection of approximately 180 acres of surface land within the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to Interior within 90 days of the bill's enactment, then Interior must convey the federal land to Cape Fox. Upon conveyance of the surface estate of the federal land to Cape Fox, Interior must convey the subsurface estate of the federal land to Sealaska Corporation (the Alaska Native regional corporation representing southeastern Alaska).
The bill reserves a public access easement on the federal land conveyed to Cape Fox and Sealaska.
Legislative subjects
Alaska; Alaska Natives and Hawaiians; Federal-Indian relations; Land transfers; Native Americans