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 set up by the ANCSA, the Census Bureau considers the ANVSAs to be statistically defined entities.

There were 217 ANVSAs delineated for the 1990 census. There was no minimum population size for an ANVSA. Moreover, the ANV boundaries were not constrained by other geographic entities in the census hierarchy; an ANVSA could be located inside or outside of an incorporated place or census designated place (CDP), or it could straddle a place boundary. Often, the ANVSAs had the same boundary as a CDP or city of the same name. No ANVSA boundary crossed an ANRC boundary and there were no ANVSAs on the Annette Islands Reserve, an American Indian reservation.

In addition to the initiatives discussed above, the Census Bureau sought to make tribal officials aware of other 1990 census programs and solicited their help in proposing and constructing small-area geographic entities for the tabulation and presentation of 1990 census data by AIANA. These other programs included the following:

The Block Numbering Area and Block Group (BNA/BG) Program allowed local participation in the delineation of small-area geographic entities. To be eligible to participate, a reservation had to include at least 1,000 inhabitants or at least 500 dwelling units (the minimum number needed to define two BGs), and these had to be located on a single contiguous piece of territory. For reservations extending in more than one county, each county portion with at least 1,000 inhabitants or at least 500 dwelling units was eligible. These size criteria limited the number of tribes that could participate.

The Census Bureau also urged tribes in metropolitan and more populous counties to participate in the Census Tract/BG Program. (For details, see, “Census Tracts and Block Numbering Areas.”) The tribal leaders could, if they so desired, become active members of the Census Statistical Areas Committees, which are local data user groups made up of planners, educators, local government officials, and others 5-14American Indian and Alaska Native Areas