(a) Act means the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of December 18, 1971 (43 U.S.C. 1601) and any amendments thereto.

(b) Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized delegate.

(c) Native means a Native as defined in section 3(b) of the Act.

(d) Native village means any tribe, band, clan, group, village, community, or association in Alaska, as defined in section 3(c) of the Act.

(e) Village corporation means a profit or nonprofit Alaska Native village corporation which is eligible under § 2651.2 of this chapter to select land and receive benefits under the act, and is organized under the laws of the State of Alaska in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the Act.

(f) Regional corporation means an Alaska Native regional corporation organized under the laws of the State of Alaska in accordance with the provisions of section 7 of the Act.

(g) Public lands means all Federal lands and interests in lands located in Alaska (including the beds of all non-navigable bodies of water), except:

(1) The smallest practicable tract, as determined by the Secretary, enclosing land actually used, but not necessarily having improvements thereon, in connection with the administration of a Federal installation; and,

(2) Land selections of the State of Alaska which have been patented or tentatively approved under section 6(g) of the Alaska Statehood Act, as amended (72 Stat. 341; 77 Stat. 223; 48 U.S.C. Ch. 2), or identified for selection by the State prior to January 17, 1969, except as provided in § 2651.4(a)(1) of this chapter.

(h) Interim conveyance as used in these regulations means the conveyance granting to the recipient legal title to unsurveyed lands, and containing all the reservations for easements, rights-of-way, or other interests in land, provided by the act or imposed on the land by applicable law, subject only to confirmation of the boundary descriptions after approval of the survey of the conveyed land.

(i) Patent as used in these regulations means the original conveyance granting legal title to the recipient to surveyed lands, and containing all the reservations for easements, rights-of-way, or other interests in land, provided by the act or imposed on the land by applicable law; or the document issued after approval of the survey by the Bureau of Land Management, to confirm the boundary description of the unsurveyed conveyed lands.

(j) Conveyance as used in these regulations means the transfer of title pursuant to the provisions of the act whether by interim conveyance or patent, whichever occurs first.

(k) National Wildlife Refuge System means all lands, waters, and interests therein administered on December 18, 1971, by the Secretary as wildlife refuges, areas for the protection and conservation of fish and wildlife that are threatened with extinction, wildlife ranges, game ranges, wildlife management areas, or waterfowl production areas, as provided in the Act of October 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 927, as amended by the Act of July 18, 1968, 82 Stat. 359 (16 U.S.C. 668dd).

(l) Protraction diagram means the approved diagram of the Bureau of Land Management mathematical plan for extending the public land surveys and does not constitute an official Bureau of Land Management survey, and, in the absence of an approved diagram of the Bureau of Land Management, includes the State of Alaska protraction diagrams which have been authenticated by the Bureau of Land Management.

(m) Date of filing shall be the date of postmark, except when there is no postmark, in which case it shall be the date of receipt in the proper office.

(n) LUPC means the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska.

(o) Major waterway means any river, stream, or lake which has significant use in its liquid state by watercraft for access to publicly owned lands or between communities. Significant use means more than casual, sporadic or incidental use by watercraft, including floatplanes, but does not include use of the waterbody in its frozen state by snowmobiles, dogsleds or skiplanes. Designation of a river or stream as a major waterway may be limited to a specific segment of the particular waterbody.

(p) Present existing use means use by either the general public which includes both Natives and non-Natives alike or by a Federal, State, or municipal corporation entity on or before December 18, 1976, or the date of selection, whichever is later. Past use which has long been abandoned shall not be considered present existing use.

(q) Public easement means any easement reserved by authority of section 17(b) of the Act and under the criteria set forth in these regulations. It includes easements for use by the general public and easements for use by a specific governmental agency. Public easements may be reserved for transportation, communication and utility purposes, for air, light or visibility purposes, or for guaranteeing international treaty obligations.

(r) Publicly owned lands means all Federal, State, or municipal corporation (including borough) lands or interests therein in Alaska, including public lands as defined herein, and submerged lands as defined by the Submerged Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1301, et seq.

(s) Director means the Director, Bureau of Land Management.

(t) Isolated tract means a tract of one or more contiguous parcels of publicly owned lands completely surrounded by lands held in nonpublic ownership or so effectively separated from other publicly owned lands as to make its use impracticable without a public easement for access.

(u) State means the State of Alaska.

(v) Native corporation means any Regional Corporation, any Village Corporation, Urban Corporation and any Native Group.