Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 94 Part 2.djvu/1153

 PUBLIC LAW 96-487—DEC. 2, 1980

94 STAT. 2431

subsection shall be a de novo determination of the ownership of the parcel which is the subject of the action. (b) No agency or board of the Department of the Interior other than the Bureau of Land Management shall have authority to determine the navigability of water covering a parcel of submerged land selected by a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act unless a determination by the Bureau of Land Management that the water covering a parcel of submerged land is not navigable was validly appealed to such agency or board prior to the date of enactment of this Act. The execution of an interim conveyance or patent (whichever is executed first) by the Bureau of Land Management conveying a parcel of submerged land to a Native Corporation or Native Group shall be the final agency action with respect to a decision by the Secretary of the Interior that the water covering such parcel is not navigable, unless such decision was validly appealed prior to the date of enactment of this Act to an agency or board of the Department of the Interior other than the Bureau of Land Management. (c) If the court determines that a parcel of submerged land which is the subject of a civil action described in subsection (a) is owned by the Native Corporation or Native Group to which it was conveyed pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or this Act, each defendant Native Corporation and Native Group shall be awarded a money judgment against the plaintiffs in an amount equal to its costs and attorney's fees, including costs and attorney's fees incurred on appeal. (d) No Native Corporation or Native Group shall be determined to have been conveyed its acreage entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act until— (1) the statutes of limitation set forth in subsection (a) have expired with respect to every parcel of submerged land conveyed to such Corporation or Group; and (2) a final judgment or order not subject to an appeal has been obtained in every civil action filed pursuant to subsection (a). (e)(1) Whenever a parcel of submerged land to be conveyed to a Native Corporation or Native Group is located outside the boundaries of a conservation system unit such Corporation or Group and the State of Alaska may mutually agree that such parcel may be selected by and conveyed to the State under the provisions of section 6(b) of the Alaska Statehood Act. (2) In any instance in which the State could have selected a parcel of submerged land pursuant to an agreement between the State and a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to paragraph (1) if such parcel had not previously been conveyed to such Corporation or Group, such Corporation or Group is authorized to reconvey such parcel to the Secretary, and the Secretary shall accept such reconveyance. If the surface estate and subsurface estate of such parcel are owned by different Native Corporations or Native Groups, every Corporation and Group with an interest in such parcel shall reconvey its entire interest in such parcel to the Secretary. (3) In any agreement made between a Native Corporation or Native Group and the State of Alaska pursuant to paragraph (1), and in any reconveyance executed by a Native Corporation or Native Group pursuant to paragraph (2), each affected Corporation or Group shall disclaim its interest in the parcel which is the subject of the agreement or reconveyance. If such parcel underlies a lake having a surface area of fifty acres or greater or a stream having a width of three chains or greater, the Secretary shall determine the acreage

79-194

O—81—pt. 2

73: QL3

43 USC 1601 note.

Costs and attorney fees. 43 USC 1601 note.

Agreements or reconveyances with State.

48 USC note prec. 21.

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