Eligible Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans can get up to 160 acres of federal land

Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Application Progress

• Applications Received:  298  
• Applications in Process:  286
  • Applications Requiring Additional Information: 46
  • Applications in draft survey: 51
  • Applications in Survey: 29
• Applications Certificated: 12  
• BLM still needs addresses for 158 eligible veterans.

Data is current as of 6/5/2023.

Applications will be accepted between Dec. 28, 2020, and Dec. 29, 2025, for the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program of 2019. The program provides the opportunity for eligible Vietnam-era veterans or their heirs to select 2.5 to 160 acres of Federal land in Alaska under the 2019 Dingell Act. The program is open to all eligible Alaska Natives who served between Aug. 5, 1964, and Dec. 31, 1971, and it removes the requirement for personal use or occupancy mandated under previous laws. Those receiving allotments under previous programs are ineligible.

PROGRAM UPDATE (May 9, 2023)

Upcoming workshop for the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program of 2019:

May 23 in Anchorage, BLM Alaska Aurora Conference Room, 222 W. 7th Ave, 4th floor, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Missing contact information for potentially eligible veterans and heirs

We still need your help locating potentially eligible veterans and families nationwide and getting them to provide current addresses to program lead Candy Grimes at (907) 271-5998. Please spread the word in your community centers, shelters, veterans’ organizations, places of worship, and social services organizations.

What to do if not notified of eligibility

Veterans previously notified of eligibility will receive application materials in the mail. Read the Final Rules for details. 

Those not notified can take the following actions and consult the Final Rules for instructions to apply. 

1. Update your mailing address and phone number with your BIA Realty Tribal Service Provider. 
    
2. Get a copy of your DD-214, or print a VA Service Verification Letter right from the US Department of Veterans Affairs website. The VA Service Verification Letter gives dates of service and the character of discharge. You can also:
   
   BY PHONE | You can also request the documents you need calling the VA benefits hotline at 800-827-1000.
   
   IN PERSON | Vets and family members can also book an appointment online for in-person meeting at the Anchorage Regional VA office to discuss getting a copy DD-214 copies or a VA Service Verification Letter.
   
   OTHER ONLINE | Visit the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Office of Veterans Affairs or the US Department of Veterans Affairs to request your DD-214. 
    
   * If VA does not have a copy of your DD-214 because you've never filed a claim with them, then request your DD-214 directly from the National Personnel Records Center.  This can be done by faxing an SF-180 to NPRC at 314-801-9195 or completing the form online at the eVetRecs site (https://vetrecs.archives.gov/VeteranRequest/home.html) and mailing or faxing the signature page as instructed on that website. Veterans can also print a Service Verification Letter right from the VA's website..
   
   *Your local VA office or a veteran service organization can help you navigate the process, if you need assistance. 
    
3. Coordinate a personal representative appointed by an Alaska State Court, if needed.
    
4. Review our interactive map of currently and potentially available lands for selection by eligible individuals. It will be updated regularly to account for changes as more lands become available and once allotments are applied for over the course of the program.

Once you update your contact information and receive your DD-214, ask yourself the following questions:

• Where are you keeping those documents?
• Does anyone else know where to find them?
• Who would you like to represent you & do they know you want them to?
  • Do they know what lands you want to select?
  • Did you list them in your will as a representative?

PROGRAM UPDATE CONTINUED (Apr. 13, 2023)

BLM employees with the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program went to Tulalip, Washington, April 4, for an outreach event in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and hosted by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (special thanks!). At the event, they met with more than 20 people to help them through the process, seven of whom were new applicants! 

Future outreach events will be posted on this page. 

(Sept. 14, 2022)

Public Land Order 7912 is now in effect, opening approximately 27 million acres of land for selection under the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program.

If you have any questions regarding available lands, please contact the Native Allotment Adjudication Section at 907-271-5998 or cgrimes@blm.gov.

(April 25, 2022)

Interior Department to Open 27 Million Acres of Federal Land to Selection by Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans

The BLM recently completed an environmental assessment and issued a finding of no significant impact on the effects of opening of federal lands within the Kobuk-Seward Peninsula, Ring of Fire, Bay, Bering Sea-Western Interior, and East Alaska planning areas to selection under the 2019 Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment program. 

BLM will now complete the legal descriptions to open the lands to selection. Lands are available for selection through December 29, 2025.

To find out more, read the Department of the Interior press release.

(Mar. 28, 2022)  

Bureau of Land Management releases draft environmental assessment for Alaska Native Vietnam-era vets land selection

The Bureau of Land Management released a draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact that analyzes the effects of making approximately 28 million acres of land available for selection by eligible Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans.  

Maps and other planning documents associated with the project are available on the BLM’s National NEPA Register at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014748/510 and can be reviewed at the BLM Alaska Public Information Center.  Please phone ahead to make an appointment.  

For more information, see the press release from Mar. 24, 2022.
 

(Mar. 4, 2022)

The BLM invited the public to review the steps it has taken to meet its obligations under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act relating to the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program.

(Jan. 31, 2022) 

The BLM still needs current addresses for 702 predetermined eligible individuals. The Aleut Region is the only region where we have current address for all their eligible vets. We still have 259 vets who need to provide their character of discharge before we can determine their eligibility.

Read the law 

Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans land allotment section (Sect. 1119) of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (Dingell Act)