Opinion ID: 478414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: conveyance-for-exchange

Text: 33 Cube Cove was conveyed to Shee Atika and Sealaska by section 506 of ANILCA, 94 Stat. at 2409-12, which provides in relevant part: 34 (c)(1) In satisfaction of the rights of the Natives of Sitka, as provided in section 14(h)(3) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Secretary of the Interior, upon passage of this Act, shall convey subject to valid existing rights and any easements designated by the Secretary of Agriculture, the surface estate in the following described lands on Admiralty Island to Shee Atika, Incorporated: 35 [description of the Cube Cove land]. 36 Concurrently with this conveyance, the Secretary shall convey the subsurface estate in the above described land to Sealaska, Incorporated. As a condition to such conveyances, Shee Atika, Incorporated, shall release any claim to land selections on Admiralty Island other than those lands described in this subsection [and Sealaska shall release any corresponding subsurface rights]. 37 .... 38 (d) In recognition of the considerable land selection costs incurred by Shee Atika, Incorporated [and two other Native Corporations], in determining the validity of land withdrawals on Admiralty Island under section 14(h)(3) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and in identifying suitable lands for exchange outside Admiralty Island, the Secretary of the Interior shall reimburse those corporations for such reasonable and necessary land selection costs, including all costs for negotiating land exchanges, court costs, and reasonable attorney's and consultant's fees, incurred prior to the date of conveyance of such land to such Native Corporations. 39 Sierra-Angoon assert that the Cube Cove land was conveyed to Shee Atika solely as a bargaining tool for a future exchange with the Department of Interior for other land, and not for the purpose of timber harvesting at Cube Cove itself. 40 Sierra-Angoon's only support for this assertion are some ambiguous, off-hand remarks of Senators in the uncorrected transcript of a Senate Committee mark-up session on ANILCA. Mark-up Session on S.9, Alaska Lands, Transcript of Proceedings, Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. 531, 533, 534, 541 (1979). Shee Atika-Sealaska dispute the accuracy of the mark-up comments and offer lengthy and persuasive legislative history indicating that the conveyance was not for exchange purposes only. They particularly point out ANILCA Sec. 1302(b), 16 U.S.C. Sec. 3192(b), which provides that [l]ands located within the boundaries of a conservation system unit which are owned by ... a Native Corporation or Native Group which has Natives as a majority of its stockholders ... may not be acquired by the Secretary without the consent of the owner. 41 Sierra-Angoon's lack of support is telling, because the conveyance-for-exchange is Sierra-Angoon's major argument in the appeal, and many of the other arguments rely on this one. Most of the restrictions on the use of the Cube Cove land that Sierra-Angoon now urge would defeat any other purpose the conveyance might serve. Only if the conveyance was purely for the purpose of a future exchange are these restrictions compatible with it. We refuse to attribute to Congress the purpose to place such restrictions on land-use absent a clear expression of intent. In light of the history and context of section 506(c), we find the conveyance to Shee Atika was not for purpose of exchange only. 42 Sierra-Angoon argue at length that section 503(d) of ANILCA, 94 Stat. at 2400, should be applied to prevent timber harvesting on the Cube Cove lands. Section 503(d) provides: 43 Within the Monuments, the Secretary shall not permit the sale of [sic] harvesting of timber: Provided, That nothing in this subsection shall prevent the Secretary from taking measures as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects, and disease. 44 Except for the Cube Cove inholding, Admiralty Island consists entirely of public lands. Sierra-Angoon argue that logging is already prohibited on the public lands on Admiralty Island by virtue of sections 503(b), (c), and (f)(1), relying on common sense readings of the sections (i.e., the establishment of a Monument, the provision for its protection, and the withdrawal of the land from disposition imply that the land will not be logged). Subsection (d) must therefore apply to the Cube Cove inholding, Sierra-Angoon argue, or the subsection is superfluous. As Shee Atika-Sealaska point out, however, none of the other sections cited prohibits timber harvesting, either expressly or by reference to another statute. Cf. 16 U.S.C. Sec. 472a(a) (timber harvesting not per se prohibited in National Monuments). 45 Sierra-Angoon also argue that their interpretation of section 503(d) is compelled by the underlying protective purposes of ANILCA. See Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Inc. v. Watson, 697 F.2d 1305, 1309 (9th Cir.1983). They cite a number of restrictions on the uses of the public lands on Admiralty Island and argue that allowing Shee Atika unrestricted use of the remainder of the island is anomalous. They also cite a number of restrictions on private land use involving other national preserves and monuments. 46 All of these are arguments the court considered in Angoon I, 749 F.2d at 1415-18. 4 The court considered the legislative history and the purpose of ANILCA and held that reading section 503(d) to prohibit logging on the Cube Cove inholding would forbid the land's only real economic use and defeat the purpose of section 506(c)'s conveyance of the land. The court therefore concluded that section 503(d)'s prohibition against the harvest of timber within the Monument[ ] applied only to public lands within the Monument and not to Shee Atika's private land. Id. at 1418. 47 Sierra-Angoon appear to raise one new argument that was not addressed by the Angoon I panel. They argue that timber harvesting is not the only economically feasible use of the Cube Cove land. Sierra-Angoon claim that the Cube Cove land has value that can be realized by exchanging the Cube Cove land for other land that would presumably have more direct utility. Sierra-Angoon note that the government may trade lands of equal or even greater value for the Shee Atika land, see ANILCA Sec. 1302(h), 94 Stat. at 2475; ANCSA Sec. 22(f), 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1621(f), and that many Native Corporations have made such exchanges at premiums as high as thirty percent. 48 This argument is in essence identical to Sierra-Angoon's argument that Congress conveyed the Cube Cove inholding to Shee Atika solely for the purpose of a future exchange. If Congress intended the conveyance to confer an economic benefit on Shee Atika and at the same time in section 503(d) prohibited Shee Atika from logging, then Congress must have conveyed the Cube Cove inholding solely for the purpose of exchange. As discussed above with regard to section 506(c) itself, the provision for voluntary exchange makes this conclusion unreasonable. 49 Sierra-Angoon next argue that, even without section 503(d), section 503(c) of ANILCA, 94 Stat. at 2399-400, imposes a duty on the government to mitigate the effects of any timber harvesting on Admiralty Island. Section 503(c) provides: 50 Subject to valid existing rights and except as provided in this section, the National Forest Monuments (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Monuments) shall be managed by the Secretary of Agriculture as units of the National Forest System to protect objects of ecological, cultural, geological, historical, prehistorical, and scientific interest. 51 Sierra-Angoon cite a number of other specific statutes that impose such duties on the government and court cases that uphold the government's power to perform them. Sierra-Angoon then cite the irreparable damage to the Monument that would result from timber harvesting at Cube Cove and conclude that the Secretary is required to mitigate this harm. The court concluded in Angoon I that such a reading of section 503(c) would inhibit the only economic benefit of the section 506(c) transfer. This conclusion is still sound and we follow it here. 5