I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6682 
To allow the State of Alaska to fulfill a portion of its remaining Statehood 
land entitlement by selecting certain lands from within the Tongass 
National Forest and for those lands to be managed and operated by 
the Department of Natural Resources of the State as State Timber 
Management Areas and for other purposes under the laws of the State, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2008 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To allow the State of Alaska to fulfill a portion of its 
remaining Statehood land entitlement by selecting certain 
lands from within the Tongass National Forest and for 
those lands to be managed and operated by the Depart-
ment of Natural Resources of the State as State Timber 
Management Areas and for other purposes under the 
laws of the State, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alaska Timber Man-
agement Areas for Education Land Selection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) It is in the public interest to allow the State 
of Alaska to fulfill a portion of its remaining State-
hood land entitlement by selecting certain lands 
from within the Tongass National Forest and for 
those lands to be managed and operated by the De-
partment of Natural Resources of the State as State 
Timber Management Areas and for other purposes 
under the laws of the State. 
(2) The reasons for limiting to 400,000 acres 
the selection and granting of public lands for com-
munity development and recreational purposes from 
the National Forest System by the State of Alaska 
under section 6(a) of the Statehood Act of 1958 are 
no longer applicable, and the need for National For-
est System lands in Alaska to remain in Federal 
ownership to assure satisfaction of Federal contrac-
tual obligations is no longer valid. 
(3) The State of Alaska is the level of govern-
ment that is most sensitive to the ecological and eco-
nomic needs of the people of southeast Alaska and 
other Alaskans. 
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(4) The State of Alaska is more capable than 
the Federal Government to commit to policies, re-
lated to the State Timber Management Areas under 
this Act, to engage in informed decisionmaking, pru-
dent management, and multiple, balanced, and sus-
tainable use, with respect to forest resources. 
(5) The State of Alaska is capable of commit-
ting to an endowment using all receipts, net of the 
cost of land management operations, raised through 
forest management and other land uses to be used 
specifically for State education in kindergarten 
through twelfth grade, with distribution of the funds 
to be based on the Public Law 60–136, Twenty-Five 
Percent Fund Act formula. 
(6) It is necessary to provide a smooth transi-
tion between Federal and State ownership and con-
trol of lands to be conveyed to Alaska under this Act 
and to resolve as many issues as possible prior to 
change of ownership and control. 
(7) It is necessary to create a mechanism by 
which the State of Alaska can make selections of 
land under this Act, as far as practicable, consistent 
with past law and decisions which permit the Fed-
eral Government to provide the land entitlement of 
the State under the Alaska Statehood Act. 
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SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of the Interior. 
(2) The term ‘‘State’’ means the State of Alas-
ka. 
(3) The term ‘‘Commissioner’’ means the Com-
missioner of the Department of Natural Resources 
of the State. 
(4) The term ‘‘Portions of the Tongass Na-
tional Forest’’ means all right, title, and interest of 
the United States in and to the surface and sub-
surface lands and real property (including structures 
and facilities owned by the United States Forest 
Service on Federal lands, adjacent tidelands and on 
submerged lands owned by the State) within the 
Tongass National Forest, consisting of approxi-
mately 1.8 million acres, as described on the map 
entitled ‘‘Portions of the Tongass National Forest’’ 
and dated July 30, 2008. The term does not include 
Conservation System Units (as that term is defined 
in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act) and areas protected by an Act of Congress. 
(5) The term ‘‘Federal obligation’’— 
(A) means any obligation or duty of the 
United States Forest Service arising out of any 
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lease, permit, license, contract, and other legal 
instruments issued by or with the Forest Serv-
ice relating to the selected portions of the 
Tongass National Forest; and 
(B) does not include any obligation with 
respect to a Federal law, regulation, or policy. 
(6) The term ‘‘State obligation’’ means any ob-
ligation or duty of the State arising out of any lease, 
permit, license, contract and other legal instruments 
issued by or with the State relating to the selected 
lands under this Act. 
(7) The term ‘‘selection date’’ means the date 
on which the State elects to acquire lands and noti-
fies the Secretary of such election under section 
4(a). 
(8) The term ‘‘selection-transition period’’ 
means the period beginning on the selection date 
and ending no more than one year thereafter, on the 
patent date. 
(9) The term ‘‘patent date’’ means the last day 
of the selection-transition period. 
(10) The term ‘‘State Timber Management 
Area’’ means all areas described as such in the map 
under paragraph (4). 
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(11) The term ‘‘forest operations’’ means the 
development of forest operating plans for State Tim-
ber Management Areas, including the conduct of in-
ventories of timber resources and the engineering of 
necessary access needed necessary for timber man-
agement and related management activities. 
(b) SPECIAL RULE.—The terms used in section 6(c) 
shall be accorded the meaning given to such terms in title 
VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act. 
SEC. 4. SELECTION OF TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST LANDS 
AND PROPERTY BY THE STATE OF ALASKA. 
(a) AUTOMATIC TRANSFER OF LANDS.—In further-
ance and confirmation of the entitlement of the State 
under the Alaska Statehood Act to certain public lands 
within the National Forest System, if within 10 years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act the State pur-
suant to subsection (b) elects to select and acquire por-
tions of the Tongass National Forest under the terms and 
conditions of this Act, and so notifies the Secretary, then 
such portions of the Tongass National Forest shall be con-
veyed, by operation of law, to the State of Alaska in ac-
cordance with subsection (c), subject to valid existing 
rights. 
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(b) FORM OF ELECTION.—The election by the State 
of Alaska to acquire portions of the Tongass National For-
est pursuant to subsection (a) shall be in the form of a 
bill approved by the House and Senate of the Alaska State 
Legislature and signed by the Governor of the State of 
Alaska. Such law shall provide that— 
(1) the State of Alaska elects to acquire the 
Portions of the Tongass National Forest as partial 
consideration of land selection rights pursuant to 
section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act of 1958; 
(2) such Portions of the Tongass National For-
est lands shall be acquired subject to valid existing 
rights; 
(3) the procedures specified in this Act and the 
transition provisions of this Act shall apply to the 
acquisition; 
(4) the rights and obligations of the United 
States under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
Act with respect to lands, rights in lands, and use 
of lands acquired by this Act shall not be infringed 
by the State of Alaska; 
(5) up to 50 percent of the annual harvest of 
timber in State Timber Management Areas shall be 
offered as 10-year contracts and timber sales shall, 
to the maximum extent practicable, provide suffi-
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cient volume to meet the needs of all wood proc-
essing operations existing on the Tongass National 
Forest at the time of passage of this Act, and man-
agement shall be performed in compliance with the 
Alaska State Forest Practices Act; 
(6) all receipts from the State Timber Manage-
ment Areas acquired by the State under this Act, 
net of the cost of forest operations, obtained from 
the sale, lease or disposition of forest resources and 
any other land management receipts, net of adminis-
trative costs, shall be deposited into an account es-
tablished by the State for kindergarten through 
twelfth grade education, and the distribution of 
funds from such account shall be based on the 
Twenty-Five Percent Fund Act (Public Law 60– 
136); and 
(7) lands currently open to mineral entry under 
the General Mining Law (as amended) shall remain 
open to mineral entry under State law unless subse-
quently changed by a State mineral closing order. 
(c) PROCEDURE.—Beginning on the selection date, 
the Secretary shall prepare patents conveying Portions of 
the Tongass National Forest selected by the State and 
shall convey such patents to the State on the patent date. 
The duty of the Secretary to prepare and convey such pat-
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SEC. 5. TRANSITION PROVISIONS DURING THE EXCHANGE- 
TRANSITION PERIOD. 
(a) EXISTING
OBLIGATIONS
OF
THE
UNITED 
STATES.—The United States shall remain obligated for all 
Federal obligations incurred prior to the patent date. 
(b) EMPLOYEES.—During the selection-transition pe-
riod, to the extent practicable, the State of Alaska shall 
interview each person employed by the United States For-
est Service on the date of the enactment of this Act whose 
employment is made redundant by this Act for purposes 
of reemployment by the State of Alaska in a comparable 
job within the new State administrative system for the new 
State Timber Management Areas. Employees who do not 
secure employment with the State shall have the option 
of placement in an equivalent position available within the 
Federal government. 
(c) MANAGEMENT PENDING CONVEYANCE.—During 
the selection-transition period and until the patent date, 
except as provided otherwise under this Act, Portions of 
the Tongass National Forest not yet patented to the State 
under this Act shall be administered and managed under 
applicable Federal law and the Tongass Land Manage-
ment Plan. 
(d) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN RECEIPTS.—Receipts 
from all rentals or sales occurring on the Portions of the 
Tongass National Forest selected by the State during the 
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selection-transition period shall be kept in escrow and 
transferred to the State on the patent date to be used for 
kindergarten through twelfth grade educational purposes, 
with distribution of the funds to be based on the Twenty- 
Five Percent Fund Act formula (Public Law 60–136). 
SEC. 6. TRANSITION PROVISIONS OUTSIDE THE TRANSI-
TION PERIOD. 
(a) MANAGEMENT
OF SELECTED LANDS.—Begin-
ning on the patent date, the portions of the Tongass Na-
tional Forest conveyed to the State under this Act shall 
be administered and managed primarily for timber pro-
duction as State Timber Management Areas under appli-
cable State of Alaska law, except as otherwise provided 
in this Act for the period provided by this Act. 
(b) FUNDING.—For a period of five years following 
the patent date, the Secretary shall make available to the 
State the average annual planning, operation and mainte-
nance funds allocated for management of the Portions of 
the Tongass National Forest selected by the State during 
the five-year period prior to the selection date. The 
amount shall be calculated as the total budget of the 
Tongass National Forest, excluding funds for manage-
ment of Conservation System Units and legislated LUD 
II areas (as those terms are used in the Tongass Land 
Management Plan), divided by the total acres of the 
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Tongass National Forest, excluding Conservation System 
Units and legislated LUD II areas prior to the selection, 
multiplied by the total acres selected by the State. 
(c) LAND DESIGNATIONS.—Land use designations in 
effect on the selected Tongass National Forest lands on 
the date of the enactment of this Act under the Tongass 
Land Management Plan shall continue in effect until the 
patent date. 
(d) SUBSISTENCE USE AFTER
THE SELECTION 
DATE.—The Secretary of the Interior shall retain con-
tinuing authority to manage subsistence uses of fish and 
wildlife on lands conveyed under this Act until the patent 
date. 
(e) ACCESS.—(1) The Secretary, in accordance with 
the Tongass Forest Transportation Plan and the Trans-
portation Plan of the State, shall provide access in the 
form of easements across uplands owned by the United 
States to and from areas of the new State Timber Man-
agement Areas and other Portions of the Tongass Na-
tional Forest selected by the State. The duty of the Sec-
retary to deliver patents for such easements shall be pure-
ly ministerial and shall not be withheld or conditioned by 
any other provision of law. The Secretary shall enter into 
agreements with the Commissioner for the purpose of 
sharing the costs of common use roads. 
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(2) Following the patent date, the State shall issue 
easements to the United States for reasonable access 
across the portions of the Tongass National Forest in ac-
cordance with the Tongass Forest Transportation Plan 
and the Transportation Plan of the State. 
(f) MINING CLAIMS.—(1) Federal mining claims lo-
cated pursuant to the General Mining Law of 1872 (30 
U.S.C. 22 and following) on the portions of the Tongass 
National Forest before the selection date shall remain sub-
ject to the laws, rules, regulations, and policies of the 
United States, but such laws, rules, regulations, and poli-
cies shall be administered by the State of Alaska. The 
right and ability of a claimholder to patent such a mining 
claim and enjoy reasonable access to the claim shall not 
be infringed. An application to patent a Federal mining 
claim located on the portions of the Tongass National For-
est may be made by the claimholder with the State of 
Alaska and shall constitute an election by the claim holder 
to be subject to Federal mining claim patent procedures 
administered by the State of Alaska. 
(2) During the selection-transition period the Federal 
Government shall escrow all fees and revenues, if any, due 
on Federal mining claims on portions of the Tongass Na-
tional Forest and on the patent date transfer those re-
ceipts to the State of Alaska on the patent date to the 
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State to be used for kindergarten through twelfth grade 
educational purposes. 
(3) Any mining claims filed on portions of the 
Tongass National Forest after the selection date shall be 
subject only to the laws of the State of Alaska. 
(g) TIMBER EXPORTS.—The State shall prohibit by 
law the export of unprocessed saw, utility, and pulp logs 
originating from lands patented to the State under this 
Act except for minor species and products that may be 
permitted for export by the State to promote manufacture 
of new wood products. 
(h) OTHER RECEIPTS.—Beginning with the fiscal 
year of the State of Alaska after the patent date, escrowed 
fees and fees from all existing and future issued special 
use permits and all other land management receipts on 
portions of the Tongass National Forest, net of reasonable 
cost of administration, shall be transferred the account es-
tablished by the State for kindergarten through twelfth 
grade education purposes, with distribution to be based 
on the Twenty-Five Percent Fund Act (Public Law 60– 
136). 
(i) EXISTING OBLIGATIONS AFTER PATENT DATE.— 
On the patent date, the State shall assume all Federal 
obligations and duties and receive all rights of the United 
States Forest Service, except that the State shall assume 
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