Ideas for Using the Land Mapper
After starting the Land Mapper and exploring it a bit, you may wonder what you might use it for. Below are a few ideas.
Determine Land Ownership
The primary use of the Land Mapper is to determine land ownership within the National Wildlife Refuges of Alaska. You would need to know this, for example, if you are planning a trip to a Refuge. There are large tracts of privately-owned native corporation land and thousands of privately-owned native allotments within the Refuges. Knowing where you can travel without trespassing on private land is an important aspect of trip planning. Refer to the Other Land Status Resources topic for information on additional sources of land ownership information.
Make a Map for a Specific Area
You can use the Print tool to save the map displayed on the screen to a file. You can then print the map and take it with you on your Refuge adventures.
Find Out How Many River Miles it is Between Villages
Maybe you're planning a trip on one of the many rivers within the Refuges. You need to figure out how many miles it is between several villages, so that you can determine how much fuel you'll need to carry on the boat. In this case, you can use the satellite basemap and the Drawing Tools to trace and measure your anticipated river route.
Plan a Fly-in Fishing Trip
You can use the Mapper to help plan your fly-in fishing trip. In this case, you can use the satellite basemap to find lakes of sufficient size for landing and taking off, and which are not within private land. You can use the Measure tool to find out if the lake is long enough for a safe landing and take-off.
See How Things Have Changed Over Time
Are you interested in how things have changed through time? Maybe you'd like to see how much glaciers have retreated or advanced over the past several decades. Or maybe you're interested in coastal erosion or lakes evolving into meadows. You can do all of this with the Mapper. Simply go to your area of interest and switch between the topographic basemap and the satellite basemap.
Obtain Topographic Maps from the U.S. Geological Survey
It's always a good idea to have a hard-copy map when you're on a trip. The U.S. Geological Survey is the definitive source for topographic maps of Alaska. In the Mapper, turn on the two USGS Topo Maps layers and view your area of interest. Click on the map to see which USGS topo map you'll need, and then click the link in the pop-up box to be directed to the USGS website where you can download the map.
View Guide Use Areas
If you have a Guide Use permit from the Fish & Wildlife Service, you can use the Mapper to get a detailed look at the boundaries of your unit and the land ownership within it. First, turn on the Guide Use Areas layer and then switch between the satellite and topographic basemaps to get an understanding of the terrain. Click anywhere within a Guide Use Area to get a pop-up box with additional information, and click the link in the pop-up to download an 8.5" x 11" map of your Guide Use Area.
Download Detailed Land Status Maps for Your Phone/Tablet
The FWS Region 7 Division of Realty has compiled hillshaded topographic geoPDF land status maps for the Alaska refuges that you can use on your smartphone or GPS-capable tablet. You can download these maps from the Land Status Maps topic.
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