Disclaimers
Limitations of Use
The boundaries of public and private lands presented in the Land Mapper are only approximations of their true locations. Except in a few isolated cases, all parcel boundaries were digitized from either paper Master Title Plats, or from on-screen digitizing of MTPs in TIFF format. As such, parcel boundaries shown in the Mapper are not of survey-grade quality and should not be used for legal purposes or be represented as surveyed boundaries. If you require high-accuracy boundaries, consult with the Bureau of Land Management and/or the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources for official survey plats of the parcels in question.
Data Accuracy
The U. S Fish and Wildlife Service makes no stated or implied warranty that the land status information presented by the Land Mapper is error-free. While the Division of Realty has made every effort to ensure that the land status information is correct, errors may still be present. This may include out-of-date land ownership information, incorrectly represented parcel boundaries, or missing or incorrect acreages.
The Division of Realty updates the land status information monthly, as changes are received from the Bureau of Land Management. Occasionally, the Division may not receive notice from BLM of an update, in which case the land status of a township or townships may reflect outdated ownership information. If you suspect this may be the case for an area you are working with, you can check the update status by comparing the MTP date for a section (or sections) against the MTP date of BLM's current online MTP. If you find an out-of-date township or townships in the Land Mapper, please contact the Division of Realty and we will queue the township(s) for updating.
Mis-alignment of Data Layers
The Land Mapper uses data derived from different sources. These data layers were digitally-compiled by various agencies from various source documents and map scales. As a result, there are instances where you will see what appear to be errors in the position of features in the Mapper.
Acreage Figures
The Land Mapper reports two categories of acreage: legal acreage, and GIS-computed acreage. Legal acreage is the official acreage of a parcel. It is the acreage recorded by a land survey, Patent, Warranty Deed, or other officially-recognized legal document. GIS-computed acreage is calculated based on the dimensions of a digitized parcel, the accuracy of which is dependent on the source and scale from which the parcel was digitized. GIS-computed acreage can not be represented as the official, legal acreage of a parcel; it is only an approximation and is subject to change.
The National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska encompass all public land and Federally-reserved water within external boundaries that were established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). The ANILCA boundaries have not been surveyed, and likely never will be surveyed. Thus the GIS-computed acreage provides the best approximation of Refuge land and water that is available. When reporting Refuge acreage, you must also note that the acreage is not derived from a legal survey or other legal document, but rather is a GIS-computed approximation.
Private Land
The primary objective of the Land Mapper is to provide information about the location of public and private lands within the National Wildlife Refuges within the State of Alaska. Although private lands within the external Refuge boundaries are identified in the Mapper, this does not in any way permit or authorize the entry or use of such lands without the land owner's expressed permission.
It is the user's responsibility to ascertain their position with respect to public versus private land. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shall therefore not be held accountable or responsible for any possible trespass on private land by users of the Land Mapper.
If you desire, or need to access private land, you must first contact the land owner for permission. To determine ownership, use the Mapper's links to online land ownership resources. These links access the Bureau of Land Management's official land records, as well as the State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources Recorder's Office.
The Region 7 Land Mapper was developed, and is maintained by, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Region 7, Division of Realty. Questions, comments,and suggestions should be directed to ak_realty@fws.gov
This page was last updated: Thursday, March 13, 2025