Alaska Question: You've probably answered this 1,000,000 times!

[SQHunterGray]

Hello Folks:

Sorry to ask a question if it has been asked 1,000,000 times on here but...

What's the deal with homesteading in Alaska?

Just curious how things work today...Subsistence living in Alaska...


Thanks!


-Marc

[Freeholder]

Subsistence living and homesteading are two different things. You can still do subsistence living -- there are even people living in Anchorage who hunt and fish for most of their meat. But homesteading, as in the old homesteading act, was done away with back in the late 1960's or early 1970's (I don't remember the exact date, just that I was too young to get a homestead of my own before they stopped the program). If you are interested in land in Alaska, take a look at the state Department of Natural Resources website. Go to the land sales page, and click on over-the-counter lands (you have to be a resident for the other land programs).

Kathleen

[SQHunterGray]

Kathleen:

Thanks for your help. I had read that the old Homesteading Act was no longer in effect (unfortunately in my opinion).

I am interested in finding out all I can about the subsistence living side of things...I will check out the AK DNR page you suggested.

Thanks again,

-Marc

[Pouncer]

SQHunterGray, feel free to ask questions, I can recommend some other websites for you to learn from, if you like.

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by BlueJuniperFarm

Subsistence living and homesteading are two different things. You can still do subsistence living -- there are even people living in Anchorage who hunt and fish for most of their meat. But homesteading, as in the old homesteading act, was done away with back in the late 1960's or early 1970's (I don't remember the exact date, just that I was too young to get a homestead of my own before they stopped the program). If you are interested in land in Alaska, take a look at the state Department of Natural Resources website. Go to the land sales page, and click on over-the-counter lands (you have to be a resident for the other land programs).

Kathleen

Kathleen

I know they still had Homesteading in '83,because I checked it out then.I also checked out Homesteading in Canada.

big rockpile

[Freeholder]

That was a different program, Rock. The state does still offer some land on a 'prove-up on it' basis, but mostly it's small parcels, and you do have to pay something for it. You also have to be an Alaska resident. It's not the same as the old Homesteading Act homesteading program.

Kathleen

Originally Posted by big rockpile

Kathleen

I know they still had Homesteading in '83,because I checked it out then.I also checked out Homesteading in Canada.

big rockpile

[SQHunterGray]

I wish Congress would pass another Homestead Act! I think I was born in the wrong century!

I will check out any websites folks would like to share!


-Marc

[fantasymaker]

Tecknically the homestead program extended thru 1986 BUT all the land was withdrawn fot study and classification in 1972.
There were a few bits of land available under some programs about 1986 and to this day there a some town lots that should be available under the townsite trustee program. Im not sure if they actually are.
I thought the state programs ALL required paying the appraised value at some point not just proving up.?

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by big rockpile

I know they still had Homesteading in '83

Yes, they did. It went on until 1986 in Alaska.

******
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; the government believed that the best use of public lands was for them to remain in government control. The only exception to this new policy was in Alaska, for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Act
******

However, there's still cheap land available. Anyone who feels ready to start homesteading needn't let money stand in the way of getting a place to do it. There's lots of homesteadable distressed property around that you can get virtually for a song.

[SQHunterGray]

Interesting....

[Quint]

Originally Posted by SQHunterGray

I wish Congress would pass another Homestead Act! I think I was born in the wrong century!

I will check out any websites folks would like to share!


-Marc

Next homesteading opportunity may be on the moon or mars or something. I'm afraid that era on our planet has passed. It would be nice if there were suddenly some large tracts of undeveloped territory in need of settling but those days are sadly passed. I suppose we could conquer some country and kick out the occupants and open it for settlement but the way the US runs wars currently is to fight for ground and then give it back to the people you had the war with.

We've lost something by not having new lands to tame. People who are hardwired for that type of challenge and who chafe at the constraints of "civilization" don't exactly adapt well to modern life. It seems to definitely kill a vibrant and dynamic part of our nature when there aren't challenges and opportunities like that. When you take the type of person who a couple of hundred years ago who would have packed up his family and went west in a wagon to hack a thriving homestead out of the wilderness and put him in a cubicle or on an assembly line you have to kill or at the very least unnaturally suppress a very special and very necessary part of him.

As much as I enjoy technology I think I was born in the wrong era too.

[big rockpile]

Well I know we could have gotten 1,500 acres,had maps of the area how to mark the Lines and what improvements we had to make.

Canada we had to be a citizen.But I was corresponding with a nice lady up there with the prettiest French accent,told my wife it would be nice just to go visit with her.

big rockpile

[mpillow]

You can visit...

http://akhomesteaders.proboards44.com/

and a few good books....Edges of the Earth by Rick Leo, Arctic Homestead by Norma Cobb

more

http://www.amazon.com/Way-Out-Here-M.../dp/1570610614

[Freeholder]

Rock, there were some large parcels made available for agricultural use in the Delta Junction area (where I grew up). I would have loved to get one, but there was a cost -- not much, but too much for us on our income at that time. Also, my husband was not born to be a farmer, and I wouldn't have been able to build a new farm that size from scratch by myself. So we passed. There was proving up involved, as I recall, but also money involved. I know that Korean companies got some of that land, hoping to grow barley on it for export home, but as far as I know, none of them proved up. We looked at some land that they'd 'chained down' -- they hooked logging chain between two big Cats, and ran them across the land to knock the trees down. Then they never went back in to clean up the mess they'd made -- and what a mess it was! It would have been easier to clear land that had never been touched, and all the dead and down trees made for a horrible fire hazard.

Quint, that was an excellent post you made. Some of us chafe at the constraints of living so close to other people, with so much regulation and rules to follow; some of us crave wilderness. I think this is why we like science fiction books about the settling of other planets so much! Because there isn't any 'new land' left here, so all we can do is read and imagine.

Of course, the land of the America's wasn't really 'new' or 'wilderness', it just appeared so to our European ancestors.

Kathleen

[fantasymaker]

From what Ive seen those that make a living farming in Alaska do something weird.


"WEIRD" dosent seem to set well with government ....not even Alaskan Government.

[akhomesteader]

We got our land through the state homestead lottery in 1996 and proved up in '98. The state does have a homestead law however it is up to the commissioner of DNR to designate the land which he hasn't done since '96. It is doubtful any land will be open for homestead because of the low prove up rate, something like -10%. Life in the bush is something you need to work into not many people have a clue of what they re getting into. If you want to try bush life you should consider working as a winter caretaker for a remote lodge that will give you an idea of what you getting into.

You can visit...

http://akhomesteaders.proboards44.com/ or you can go Frontier Freedom our new forum.

[Pouncer]

I agree with akhomesteader....a winter at a remote lodge would be beneficial. There is a big (cultural) difference between subsistence and homesteading.

I love living here, don't really want to be any place else, but I would never attempt subsistence myself. Yes, I pick wild berries, love to eat moose or caribou, like fishing and all that but living here on a shoestring is extremely difficult and could be dangerous in the bush. I too, wish I could snap up a farm in Delta but the money involved, plus having to have some sort of job becomes an issue.....I think the state still has occasional land auctions and so does the Mental Health Trust, but 99 percent of those parcels are remote. Really really remote.

Try the City-Data forums for more information also.

[longrider]

Anything you want to know about alaska is here at:http://www.frontierfreedom.com/phpBB2/
and http://bb.bbboy.net/alaskagoldforum