Fish and Wildlife, Doyon negotiate draft land exchange for Yukon Flats

Petroleum News

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Oct. 20 that it has negotiated a draft land exchange with Doyon Ltd., an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporation, for lands in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

The agency said negotiators for Doyon and the Fish and Wildlife Service “have agreed in principle to provide Doyon title to some refuge lands that may hold developable oil and gas resources.” In exchange, Fish and Wildlife will receive habitat currently owned by Doyon within the refuge boundary consisting of “wetlands previously identified by the Service as quality fish and wildlife habitat.”

The agreement now requires further policy and legal review by the Fish and Wildlife Service and by the Department of the Interior.

Once the agreement has been finalized, the Fish and Wildlife Service “will conduct a review of the biological resources impacted by the agreement,” and results of the review and the final agreement will be presented to the public for review and comment, including public meetings and a public comment period.

Under the proposed agreement Doyon would receive lands with prospects for oil and gas while an estimated 98,000 acres of “quality fish and wildlife habitat” would be added to the refuge.

The agency said the increase of 98,000 acres is calculated based on: an estimated 150,000 acres to be received by the Service in the exchange minus 110,000 acres of surface/subsurface conveyed to Doyon in the exchange, plus 58,000 acres of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act entitlement acres that will not be taken within the refuge.

The agency said Doyon will also take title to approximately 96,000 acres of subsurface oil and gas interests in a “halo” of lands around both the core lands to be transferred to it and other Doyon holdings within the refuge. If marketable oil and gas resources are discovered, Doyon would be able to access their “halo” land interests only by directional drilling from their adjacent surface holdings, with no surface occupancy or surface construction to be permitted on the 96,000 acres.