ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolution of federal land policy in Alaska, particularly in the decades since Alaska became a state. It discusses the major federal laws that determined the pattern of land ownership and use in Alaska, and look at the land management decisions that federal, state, and private land owners in Alaska will face. The National Resources Committee strongly recommended that special attention be given to the preservation of the territory's wildlife, noting that while some localities of Alaska might eventually be susceptible to development, huge areas would doubtless remain in wilderness or near wilderness for some time to come. The physical and economic conditions of Alaska, along with limited national interest in subsidizing settlement and development, led to a meager demand for land. The land and resource issues facing Alaska in the 1980s can only be understood in the historical context of the protracted political struggle.
