DMLW Managed Land and Water

DMLW is responsible for managing general state lands, including about 100 million acres of uplands, plus 65 million acres of tidelands, shorelands and submerged lands covering about 34,000 miles of coastline.

The State of Alaska owns most of the tide and submerged lands along its coastline, granted to the State under the Submerged Lands Act of 1953. Tide and submerged lands include all land between the mean high tide line and three miles offshore of the mean low tideline. There are a few exclusions to the State's ownership of these tide and submerged lands, such as those lands conveyed to municipalities or those withdrawn before statehood. The State also owns shorelands, which are lands covered by navigable, nontidal water up to the ordinary high-water mark as modified by accretion, erosion or reliction. See Figure 1 for a depiction of these lands.

To research ownership of specific lands see DNR's research tools, including Alaska Mapper. Please contact SAIL or the Public Information Center with questions about ownership of specific lands.

During a spill response, one of SAIL's roles is to verify land ownership and identify third-party interests — that is, people or entities to whom DMLW issued an authorization. Alaska Mapper and the Alaska land records systems are good places to look for ownership and third-party interest information.

The following graphic and photos illustrate impacts to DMLW-managed land from spills and ADVs.

Figure 1. DMLW-managed lands include submerged lands, tidelands, uplands and shorelands.

Figure 2. Shuyak spill response. DMLW-managed tidelands and submerged lands were impacted by up to 3,000 gal Bunker C release. Photo courtesy of Alaska Chadux, LLC.

Figure 3. Pressure washing rocks on DMLW-managed tidelands. Photo courtesy of Alaska Chadux, LLC.

Figure 4. Zinc concentrate spill within a DMLW-issued easement (DNR-owned uplands) on Red Dog haul road, milepost 13.2. Photo credit Alaska DEC.

Figure 5. JP-8 fuel spill on non-state land (upland) at milepost 317 Richardson Hwy. The spill site is adjacent to shorelands managed by DMLW. Photo courtesy of Alaska DEC.

Figure 6. FV Mystic Lady fuel spill on DMLW-managed tidelands and submerged lands, and sunken vessel recovery effort. Photo courtesy of Alaska DFG.