The Department of the Interior announced today that it has transferred 47,291 acres of land on Adak Island, including the former Adak Naval Air Facility, to The Aleut Corporation in exchange for equal acreage of their Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act entitlement lands, mostly in the Shumagin Islands. The transfer was the culmination of a complex land exchange agreement among the U.S. Navy, The Aleut Corporation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that began almost 10 years ago class=msoIns>.
Adak Island was first declared a wildlife preserve in 1913, and was designated as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1940. A military base and airstrip were developed on the during World War II. Primary jurisdiction of the base, airstrip, and northern portion of the was given to the Navy in 1959 for use as a cold war facility. At its height the Naval Air Facility supported a population of 6,000 people and was the 6th largest city in Alaska. Facilities included a high school with an Olympic size swimming pool and a McDonalds. The base was ordered closed in l995 under the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act and operationally closed on March 3l, l997.
The Adak Complex was listed as a Superfund site in May of l994. Clean-up operations were managed under an agreement with the Navy, the State of Alaska, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Cleanup operations were extended when archival evidence of unexploded ordnance was discovered. In December of 2003, the Navy determined Adak suitable for transfer from the United States.
At the conveyance ceremony on Wednesday night at the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel, The Aleut Corporation first accepted transfer of the northern portion of Adak from the United States and then promptly reconveyed the airport to the State of Alaska and other public roads and facilities to the City of Adak.
