The Unorganized Borough is composed of the portions of the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

which are not contained in any of its 19 organized

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

. While referred to as the "Unorganized Borough", it is not a borough itself, as it forgoes that level of government structure. It encompasses nearly half of Alaska's land area, , and, as of the 2020 U.S. Census, it had a population of 77,157, which was 10.52% of the population of the state. The largest communities in the Unorganized Borough are the cities of Bethel, Unalaska, and Valdez.

Overview

This vast area has no local government other than that of school districts,

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, and tribal village governments. Except within some incorporated cities, all government services in the Unorganized Borough, including law enforcement, are provided by the state or by a tribal government. School districts in the Unorganized Borough are operated either by cities, in those limited instances when the city has chosen to undertake those powers, or through the general guidance of the Alaska Department of Education under the auspices of Rural Education Attendance Areas.

Census areas

Unique among the United States, Alaska is not entirely subdivided into county equivalents. To facilitate census-taking in the vast unorganized area, the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, in cooperation with the state, divided the unorganized borough into 11 census areas, beginning with the 1970

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

and undergoing border or name adjustments most recently in 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, and 2019.

History

During the 1950s, when the push for the

territory of Alaska The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an Organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The ...

to become a state was at its height, any municipal government was extremely limited and scattered. Territory-wide, there were no more than a few dozen incorporated cities, and a small handful of service districts, broken into public utility districts and

independent school district An independent school district (ISD) is a type of school district in some US states for primary and secondary education that operates as an entity independent and separate from any municipality or county, and only under the oversight of the res ...

s. The service districts were authorized by the territorial legislature in 1935 to allow unincorporated areas limited powers to provide services and to raise taxes for them. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

had forbidden the territory from establishing counties. The delegates of the convention which wrote the Alaska Constitution had, in fact, debated the merits of establishing counties, and had rejected the idea in favor of creating a system of boroughs, both organized and unorganized. The intent of the framers of the constitution was to provide for maximum local self-government with a minimum of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

units and tax-levying jurisdictions. The minutes of the constitutional convention indicate that counties were not used as a form of local government for various reasons. The failure of some local economies to generate enough revenue to support separate counties was an important issue, as was the desire to use a model that would reflect the unique character of Alaska, provide for maximum local input, and avoid a body of county

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of ...

already in existence. Instead, Alaska adopted boroughs as a form of regional government. This regionalization tried to avoid having a number of independent, limited-purpose governments with confusing boundaries and inefficient governmental operations, as the territorial service districts had been. The boroughs were widely seen as an important foundation for the government to provide services without becoming all-powerful and unnecessarily intrusive, an argument which surfaced time and time again during various attempts by the legislature to create organized boroughs out of portions of the unorganized borough. Alaska adopted the borough structure by statute in 1961, and envisioned boroughs to serve as an "all-purpose" form of local government, to avoid the perceived problems of county government in the lower 48 states as well as

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. According to Article X of the Alaska Constitution, areas of the state unable to support borough government were to be served by several unorganized boroughs, which were to be mechanisms for the state to regionalize services; however, separate unorganized boroughs were never created. The entire state was defined as one vast unorganized borough by the Borough Act of 1961, and over the ensuing years, Alaska's organized boroughs were carved out of it. Alaska's first organized borough, and the only one incorporated immediately after passage of the 1961 legislation, was the Bristol Bay Borough. The pressure from residents of other areas of the state to form boroughs led to the Mandatory Borough Act of 1963, which called for all election districts in the state over a certain minimum population to incorporate as boroughs by January 1, 1964. A resolution of the State of Alaska's Local Boundary Commission introduced in January 2009 spells this out in greater detail: *''WHEREAS, the 1963 Alaska State Legislature passed, and Governor Egan signed into law, the "Mandatory Borough Act" (Chapter 52, SLA 1963), dictating that certain regions of Alaskathose encompassing Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Kodiak Island, Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna valleys, and Fairbanksform organized boroughs by January 1, 1964. Furthermore, 21 Rural Education Attendance Areas were established by the Legislature in 1975. This created regional divisions of the unorganized borough for the purpose of establishing rural school districts. Many REAAs were later absorbed into organized boroughs.

Regional Educational Attendance Areas

There are 19 Regional Educational Attendance Areas in the unorganized borough.

Dispute over future mandatory boroughs

A number of boroughs have been incorporated since the Mandatory Borough Act, but most (the primary examples being North Slope, Northwest Arctic, and

Denali Denali (), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring . On p. 20 of Helm ...

) were incorporated to exploit a significant potential source of taxation, such as natural resource extraction and tourism. Many residents of the Unorganized Borough, particularly those in the larger communities which may be most susceptible to organized borough incorporation, have been opposed to such incorporation, and say the status quo suits them just fine. On the other hand, many Alaskans residing in organized boroughs feel that they unfairly subsidize residents of the Unorganized Borough, especially for education. In 2003, the Alaska Division of Community Advocacy identified eight areas within the Unorganized Borough meeting standards for incorporation. Bills have been introduced in the Alaska Legislature to compel these areas to incorporate, though , none have been signed into law.

Communities

Cities

* Adak * Akiak * Alakanuk * Aleknagik * Allakaket * Angoon * Aniak * Anvik * Atka * Bethel * Bettles * Brevig Mission * Chefornak * Chevak * Chuathbaluk * Clark's Point * Coffman Cove * Cordova * Craig * Delta Junction * Dillingham * Diomede *

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

* Edna Bay * Eek * Ekwok * Elim * Emmonak * Fort Yukon * Galena * Gambell * Golovin * Goodnews Bay * Grayling * Gustavus * Holy Cross * Hoonah * Hooper Bay * Hughes * Huslia * Hydaburg *

Kake KAKE (channel 10) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on West Street in northwestern Wichita, and its transmitter is located i ...

* Kaltag * Kasaan * Kotlik * Koyuk * Koyukuk * Klawock * Kwethluk * Lower Kalskag * Manokotak * Marshall * McGrath * Mekoryuk * Mountain Village * Napakiak * Napaskiak * Nenana * New Stuyahok * Nightmute * Nikolai * Nome * Nulato * Nunapitchuk * Nunam Iqua (formerly Sheldon Point) *

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

* Pilot Station *

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

* Port Alexander * Quinhagak *

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

* Russian Mission * Savoonga * Scammon Bay * Shageluk * Shaktoolik * Shishmaref * St. George * St. Mary's * St. Michael * St. Paul * Stebbins * Tanana * Teller * Tenakee Springs * Thorne Bay * Togiak * Toksook Bay * Unalakleet * Unalaska * Upper Kalskag * Valdez *

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

* Whale Pass * White Mountain * Whittier

Census-designated places

* Akiachak * Alatna * Alcan Border * Arctic Village * Atmautluak * Attu Station * Beaver * Big Delta * Birch Creek * Central * Chalkyitsik * Chenega *

Chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

* Chisana * Chistochina * Chitina *

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

* Copper Center * Coldfoot * Crooked Creek * Deltana * Dot Lake * Dot Lake Village * Dry Creek * Eagle Village * Eareckson Station * Elfin Cove * Evansville * Flat *

Fort Greely Fort Greely is a United States Army launch site for anti-ballistic missiles located about southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska. It is also the home of the Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC), as Fort Greely is one of the coldest areas ...

* Four Mile Road * Gakona * Game Creek * Glennallen * Gulkana * Healy Lake * Hollis * Hyder * Kasigluk * Kenny Lake * Kipnuk * Klukwan * Koliganek * Kongiganak * Kwigillingok * Lake Minchumina * Lime Village * Livengood * Manley Hot Springs * McCarthy * Mendeltna * Mentasta Lake * Mertarvik * Metlakatla * Minto * Nabesna * Naukati Bay * New Allakaket * Newtok * Nelchina * Nikolski * Northway Junction (former) * Northway Village (former) * Oscarville * Paxson * Pitkas Point * Point Baker * Port Clarence * Port Protection * Portage Creek *

Rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

* Red Devil * Silver Springs * Slana * Sleetmute * Stevens Village * Stony River * Takotna * Tanacross * Tatitlek * Tazlina * Tetlin * Tok * Tolsona * Tonsina * Tuluksak * Tuntutuliak * Tununak * Twin Hills * Venetie * Whitestone * Whitestone Logging Camp * Willow Creek * Wiseman

Unincorporated communities

* Bill Moore's Slough * Chuloonawick * Copperville * Crow Village * Cube Cove * Eyak * HamiltonThe History of Hamilton, ''Explore North''
/ref> * Haycock * Georgetown * Napaimute * Ohogamiut *

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

* Umkumiute *

Waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

Indian reservation

* Annette Island

References

External links

Legislative Directive for Unorganized Borough ReviewMap of proposed model borough boundaries
Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (1997) {{Authority control Alaska boroughs