Senator Lisa Murkowski Introduces University Lands Bill

SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI INTRODUCES UNIVERSITY LANDS BILL

In an effort to help expand its resources and help fund higher education, Senator Lisa Murkowski today introduced legislation, the University of Alaska Lands Bill (S.293), to grant the University of Alaska system more federal lands.

The bill grants the university 250,000 acres of federal land and the ability to select up to an additional 250,000 acres of federal land following a land grant match from the State of Alaska. This legislation seeks to remedy the discrepancy between the land the University has previously received from the federal government and that of other land grant universities across the country. Under the Federal School Lands Act of 1915, the University of Alaska system received 111,211 federal acres - only a third of what it was supposed to receive and far less than any other western state university.

"This bill will help the University system fulfill the goal of being one of the premier land grant schools in the country," Murkowski said. "A thriving university system is the cornerstone of Alaska's education environment and it is vital to the success of our economy and our communities. This bill will help the University expand both its economic and research potentials."

Under the bill, the University would receive the right to select an initial 250,000 acres from the federal government, provided it gives back its current inholdings in some national parks and refuges. These inholdings (about 10,000 acres in size) are located in Denali National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and in the Alaska Peninsula and Maritime National Wildlife Refuges, among others.

Further restrictions in the bill limit the lands the University may select. For example, the University cannot select any lands within conservation system units, from federal lands used by federal or military institutions or lands currently classified as roadless (LUD II) in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast. The bill also bars selections of any acreage containing old-growth timber in the Tongass and limits selections in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) to guarantee that both the state and federal governments benefit from future oil leasing in the petroleum reserve.

Today, the Governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski, introduced the State matching legislation, conveying 260,000 acres of state land to the University, which will allow the selection of the additional 250,000 acres.

http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=231646