Juno, Alaska: The first two federal land allocations to Alaska Native Vietnam War-era veterans have been finalized, the US Department of the Interior said.
According to the US Bureau of Land Management, Frank Nanuruk and Richard Boskofsky received the first allotments under a 2019 law passed by Congress. Agency spokesman Richard Packer said Friday via email that the allocations are east of Goodnews Bay in southwest Alaska.
The Interior Department said the allocation was finalized on Thursday.
Under the Alaska Native Allotment Act of 1906, Alaska Natives were allowed to apply for 160 acres of land. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office has said that program restrictions kept many people from applying until the 1960s. There was a push to urge Alaska Natives to apply for land if they had not done so before the 1971 law took effect. But that period overlapped with the Vietnam War.
A 1998 federal law allowed veterans to apply for land but the provisions were seen as restrictive. The Bureau of Land Management has said that the 2019 law removed the use and occupancy requirements that were part of prior laws and made land available by the end of 2025.
We have a sacred obligation to America’s veterans, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
She added: The department will continue to move rapidly so that Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans are able to select a wide selection area with land allotments they owe.
U.S. Representative Don Young said in a statement that Vietnam veterans, native to Alaska, put their lives on the line for our country, and for too long, the federal government was shamefully unable to fulfill the land allotment promises made to them. failed since.
He said that in the years to come, I look forward to these brave Alaskans and remarkable Americans eventually being allotted well-earned land.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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