Agency proposes more lands for selection by Native Vietnam veterans

JUNEAU (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed an expansion of lands available for selection by Alaska Native Vietnam War-era veterans who are entitled to allotments.

Tom Heinlein, acting state director for the land agency in Alaska, last Thursday recommended opening about 27 million acres of land for allotment selections by eligible veterans. Currently, about 1.2 million acres are available, and concerns have been raised that some of the currently available lands are difficult to access or outside veterans’ cultural homelands.

Heinlein said the next step is to provide detailed land descriptions to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. It would be up to Haaland to sign and issue an opening order for land selections, he said.

The plan is to get her that information in the coming weeks, Heinlein said. He called the matter a “super high priority” for Haaland.

Haaland visited with veterans this week during her trip to Alaska, her first to the state as secretary. “We have a sacred obligation to America’s veterans,” she said in a statement, adding that she “will not ignore land allotments owed to our Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans.”

Under the 1906 Alaska Native Allotment Act, Alaska Natives were allowed to apply for up to 160 acres of land. Many Alaska Natives were unaware of this program, in large part due to communication hurdles, such as language barriers, according to the land management agency.

There were efforts to urge Alaska Natives to apply for lands if they hadn’t already done so before a 1971 law took effect, a period that overlapped with the Vietnam War. A 1998 federal law allowed veterans to apply for land, but the program was seen by some as restrictive.

A 2019 law lifted use and occupancy restrictions, the land agency said. The application period extends to late 2025.

There are roughly 2,000 eligible individuals but several hundred for whom the agency is looking for heirs or addresses, said Lesli Ellis-Wouters, an agency spokesperson in Alaska. Of those eligible, 162 have made selections and eight have had land conveyed to them, she said.