Title 11 . Natural Resources

Chapter 51 . (No Regulations Filed)

Section 25. Section-line easements

11 AAC 51.025. Section-line easements

(a) In accordance with AS 19.10.010, before selling, leasing, or otherwise disposing of the surveyed or unsurveyed land estate, the department will reserve along each section line public easements in the following widths:

(1) if the section line forms a boundary of the parcel being disposed, 50 feet measured from the section line;

(2) if the section line runs through the parcel being disposed, 50 feet measured on each side of the section line, for a total width of 100 feet.

(b) Whether reserved by the department or granted to the state, a section-line easement continues to exist unless and until it is vacated under 11 AAC 51.065, regardless of whether that easement is in use.

(c) Nothing in this chapter affects or modifies the existence and width of any section-line easement as established by ch. 19, SLA 1923, ch. 123, SLA 1951, ch. 35, SLA 1953, and AS 19.10.010 , as applicable.

History: Eff. 5/3/2001, Register 158

Authority: AS 19.30.400

AS 38.05.020

AS 38.05.035

Editor's note: The provisions of ch. 19, SLA 1923, ch. 123, SLA 1951, ch. 35, SLA 1953, and AS 19.10.010 apply to the existence and width of any section-line easements on federal or state lands. The existence and width of any section-line easement that arose, varies in accordance with the statute in effect on the date of the creation of the easement. The following calculations of widths, as measured from the section line and derived from the relevant statutes, are provided below as guidance, but do not alter the legal existence, extent, or terms of any section-line easement:

1. for public lands in the Territory of Alaska before April 6, 1923, section-line easements did not arise by operation of statute;

2. for surveyed land owned by the Territory of Alaska at any time on or after April 6, 1923 through Jan. 17, 1949, or for surveyed federal land that was unappropriated and unreserved at any time during that period, the width identified in ch. 19, SLA 1923 for any section-line easement is 33 feet;

3. for any land owned by the Territory of Alaska at any time on or after January 18, 1949 through March 25, 1951, section-line easements did not arise by operation of statute;

4. for federal land at any time on or after January 18, 1949 through March 20, 1953, section-line easements did not arise by operation of statute;

5. for any surveyed land owned by the Territory of Alaska or the state on or after March 26, 1951 through June 30, 1960, the width identified in ch. 123, SLA 1951 for any section-line easement is 50 feet;

6. for surveyed federal land that was unappropriated and unreserved at any time on or after March 21, 1953 through December 14, 1968, the width identified in ch. 35, SLA 1953 for any section-line easement is 33 feet;

7. for surveyed or unsurveyed land owned by the state on or after July 1, 1960, the width, as identified in AS 19.10.010 , is 50 feet.

For purposes of calculating the widths for section-line easements, "each section of land," as used in ch. 19, SLA 1923, is read to mean each section of surveyed land owned by the Territory of Alaska, and each section of surveyed, unappropriated, unreserved federal land open to the grant of a right-of-way under R.S. 2477. As used in ch. 35, SLA 1953, and AS 19.10.010 , "all other sections" is read to include all sections of surveyed, unappropriated, unreserved federal land open to the grant of a right-of-way under R.S. 2477. An easement, if any, may exist on each side of a section line. Depending on land status on each side of the section line, the total easement width may be 33 feet, 50 feet, 66 feet, 83 feet, or 100 feet.