In February 1997, the Council authorized funds for the purchase of land within Kenai Fjords National Park and the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge from the English Bay Corporation. Surface title to 32,470 acres of land was acquired for a cost of $15,156,790, with the Council contributing $14,128,074. The federal trustees agreed to provide up to $1.24 million from federal criminal restitution funds to complete the acquisition. Certain access rights for hunting, fishing and gathering activities were reserved and retained by the English Bay Corporation on 6,068 acres in the Beauty Bay area of Nuka Bay. In addition, certain rights to indigenous cultural resources were retained by the English Bay Corporation on all these lands. The English Bay Corporation also agreed to commit $500,000 from its proceeds to establish a special cultural conservation fund to survey, protect, curate and interpret archaeological sites and cultural artifacts associated with the lands acquired. The first closing occurred in November 1997 and resulted in the purchase of 29,636 acres for $14.1 million. A second closing occurred in August 2001 and resulted in the purchase of 1,895 acres for $793,580.24. The third and final closing of 843 acres occurred in 2012. Staggered closings were necessary because of the need to await conveyances from BLM to the English Bay Corporation.
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