43 U.S.C. § 1610: Withdrawal of public lands

The lands in each township that encloses all or part of any Native village identified pursuant to subsection (b); The lands in each township that is contiguous to or corners on the township that encloses all or part of such Native village; and The lands in each township that is contiguous to or corners on a township containing lands withdrawn by paragraph (B) of this subsection. All lands located within the townships described in subsection (a)(1) hereof that have been selected by, or tentatively approved to, but not yet patented to, the State under the Alaska Statehood Act are withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, and from the creation of third party interests by the State under the Alaska Statehood Act. If the Secretary determines that the lands withdrawn by subsections (a)(1) and (2) hereof are insufficient to permit a Village or Regional Corporation to select the acreage it is entitled to select, the Secretary shall withdraw three times the deficiency from the nearest unreserved, vacant and unappropriated public lands. In making this withdrawal the Secretary shall, insofar as possible, withdraw public lands of a character similar to those on which the village is located and in order of their proximity to the center of the Native village: Provided , That if the Secretary, pursuant to section 1616, and 1621(e) of this title determines there is a need to expand the boundaries of a National Wildlife Refuge to replace any acreage selected in the Wildlife Refuge System by the Village Corporation the withdrawal under this section shall not include lands in the Refuge. The Secretary shall make the withdrawal provided for in subsection (3)(A) hereof on the basis of the best available information within sixty days of December 18, 1971 , or as soon thereafter as practicable. The Native villages subject to this chapter are as follows: less than twenty-five Natives were residents of the village on the 1970 census enumeration date as shown by the census or other evidence satisfactory to the Secretary, who shall make findings of fact in each instance; or the village is of a modern and urban character, and the majority of the residents are non-Native. twenty-five or more Natives were residents of an established village on the 1970 census enumeration date as shown by the census or other evidence satisfactory to the Secretary, who shall make findings of fact in each instance; and the village is not of a modern and urban character, and a majority of the residents are Natives.