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 reservations. In the remainder of the State, the unorganized borough (the legal term for the area outside of any borough), the Census Bureau and State officials delineated census subdivisions to generally follow the boundaries of the State’s election districts. The census subdivision level served to identify boroughs and military reservations within census divisions. One of the census divisions derived from the unorganized borough was divided into two portions, each a census subdivision.

The Census Bureau and State officials adjusted the census division and census subdivision boundaries for the 1980 census. The borough-based census divisions were then referred to as boroughs, the remaining census divisions were renamed census areas, and all the census subdivisions were renamed census subareas. Many of the former census divisions were split or merged to conform to the boundaries of the recently established Alaska Native Regional Corporations (ANRCs). In some cases the boroughs and census areas were subdivided into census subareas by using the boundaries of the ANRCs, significant military reservations, and the 1970 census divisions. Most of the 1980 CSAs remained unchanged for 1990, except for those in parts of the State in which new boroughs and new census areas had been established.

In 1972, the Census Bureau initiated the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) program. The BAS, repeated periodically, collects information about the legal characteristics, territories annexed or detached, and boundaries of all counties, MCDs, and incorporated places. The BAS program supplanted the previous practice of obtaining local maps showing the legal boundaries, either at the time of the actual enumeration, or shortly before the decennial census date. The BAS, a more systematic, continuing effort, has brought major improvements in the accuracy and timeliness of the Census Bureau’s inventory of geographic entities. It is now the standard source for ascertaining the existence and legal status of governmental units such as counties, incorporated places, and MCDs; it also identifies any changes in their names or boundaries. By means of the BAS, the Census Bureau can detect important developments, such as MCD boundary changes, the formation of new Notes and References 8-10County Subdivisions