11 AAC 96.020. Generally allowed uses

(a) A permit or other written authorization is required for uses and activities not appearing on the list in this subsection. Unless otherwise provided in (b) of this section or in a special use land requirement in 11 AAC 96.014, the following land uses and activities, alone or in combination, are generally allowed uses on state-owned public domain land without any permit or other written authorization from the department, except that a land use or activity for a commercial recreation purpose requires prior registration under 11 AAC 96.018:

(1) travel or travel-related activities, as follows:

(A) hiking, backpacking, skiing, climbing, or other foot travel;

(B) bicycling;

(D) using a highway vehicle with a curb weight of up to 10,000 pounds, including a pickup truck and four-wheel-drive vehicle, on or off an established road easement, if the use off the road easement does not cause or contribute to water quality degradation, alteration of drainage systems, significant rutting, ground disturbance, or thermal erosion;

(E) using a recreational-type off-road or all-terrain vehicle with a curb weight of up to 1,500 pounds, including a snowmobile and four-wheeler, on or off an established road easement if use off the road easement does not cause or contribute to water quality degradation, alteration of drainage systems, significant rutting, ground disturbance, or thermal erosion;

(F) landing an aircraft or using watercraft without damaging the land, including shoreland, tideland, and submerged land;

(G) driving livestock, including any number of reindeer or up to 100 horses, cattle, or other domesticated animals;

(2) access improvements, as follows:

(A) brushing or cutting a trail less than five feet wide using only hand-held tools such as a chainsaw; making a trail does not create a property right or interest in the trail;

(B) anchoring a mooring buoy in a lake, river, or marine waters, or placing a float, dock, boat haulout, floating breakwater, or boathouse in a lake, river, or marine waters, for the personal, noncommercial use of the upland owner, if the use does not interfere with public access or another public use, and if the improvement is placed within the projected sidelines of the contiguous upland owners parcel or otherwise has the consent of the affected upland owner; in this subparagraph,

(i) "float" or "dock" means an open structure without walls or roof that is designed and used for access to and from the water rather than for storage, residential use, or other purposes;

(ii) "boat haulout" means either a rail system, at ground level or elevated with pilings, or a line attached from the uplands to an anchor or mooring buoy;

(iii) "floating breakwater" means a structure, including a log bundle, designed to dissipate wave or swell action;

(iv) "boathouse" means a structure designed and used to protect a boat from the weather rather than for other storage, residential use, or other purposes;

(3) removing or using state resources, as follows:

(A) hunting, fishing, or trapping, or placement of a crab pot, shrimp pot, herring pound, or fish wheel; nothing in this subparagraph relieves a person from complying with applicable state and federal statutes and regulations on the taking of fish and game;

(B) harvesting wild plants, mushrooms, berries, and other plant material for personal, noncommercial use; however, the cutting of trees is not a generally allowed use under this subparagraph;

(C) using dead and down wood for a cooking or warming fire, unless the department has closed the area to fires during the fire season;

(D) grazing no more than five domesticated animals;

(E) recreational gold panning;

(F) hard-rock mineral prospecting or mining using light portable field equipment, including a hand-operated pick, shovel, pan, earth auger, or a backpack power drill or auger;

(G) suction dredging using a suction dredge with a nozzle intake of six inches or less, powered by an engine of 18 horsepower or less, and pumping no more than 30,000 gallons of water per day;

(4) other improvements and structures on state land, as follows:

(A) setting up and using a camp for personal, noncommercial recreational purposes, or for any non-recreational purpose, including as a support camp during mineral exploration, for no more than 14 days at one site, using a tent platform or other temporary structure that can readily be dismantled and removed, or a floathouse that can readily be moved; the entire camp must be moved at least two miles before the end of the 14-day period; a cabin or other permanent improvement is not allowed, even if on skids or another nonpermanent foundation; the camp must be removed immediately if the department determines that it interferes with public access or other public uses or interests;

(B) brushing or cutting a survey line less than five feet wide using only hand-held tools, including a chainsaw, or setting a survey marker; however, a survey monument may not be set without written survey instructions issued under 11 AAC 53;

(C) placing a residential sewer outfall into marine waters from a contiguous privately owned upland parcel, with the consent of the affected parcel owners, if the outfall is within the projected sidelines of the contiguous upland parcel and is buried to the extent possible or, where it crosses bedrock, secured and covered with rocks to prevent damage; nothing in this subparagraph relieves a person from complying with state and federal statutes and regulations applicable to residential sewer outfalls;

(D) placing riprap or other suitable bank stabilization material to prevent erosion of a contiguous privately owned upland parcel if

(i) no more than one cubic yard of material per running foot is placed onto state shoreland; and

(ii) the project is otherwise within the scope of the United States Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 13 (Bank Stabilization), as set out in 67 Fed. Reg. 2,020 - 2,095, dated January 15, 2002 and adopted by reference;

(5) uses not listed in (1) - (4) of this subsection that

(A) are not conducted for a commercial recreational purpose;

(B) are not listed in 11 AAC 96.010;

(D) do not interfere with public access or other public uses or interests; and

(E) do not continue for more than 14 consecutive days at any site; moving the use to another site at least two miles away starts a new 14-day period.

(b) The list of generally allowed uses in (a) of this section does not

(1) apply to land withdrawn from the public domain and no longer managed under AS 38, including a state park and land owned by the University of Alaska;

(2) exempt a user from complying with other applicable federal, state, or municipal statutes, ordinances, and regulations; or

(3) authorize a use if another person has already acquired an exclusive property right to undertake that use.

(c) In order to operate under a generally allowed use listed in this section, the user must comply with the conditions set out in 11 AAC 96.025.

(d) If the department determines that, under the circumstances of a particular case, an otherwise generally allowed use interferes with public access or other public uses or interests, the use must cease.

History: Eff. 1/1/70, Register 32; am 12/7/2002, Register 164

Authority: AS 38.05.020

AS 38.05.035

AS 38.05.850

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