# How Land Is Surveyed in Alaska: Reading a Legal Description

> Alaska land surveys explained for mineral owners: Five meridians, and lines that in many places exist only on paper. What the legal description on your deed or division order actually means, and where to look the records up free.

Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/land-survey/alaska/
Publisher: Berlin Royalties, a veteran-owned oil and gas mineral and royalty buyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, buying for its own account since 2014. Call or text 918-984-1645.
License: free to quote and cite with attribution to Berlin Royalties and a link to the source URL.

Land Surveys · Alaska

## How land is surveyed in Alaska

Five meridians, and lines that in many places exist only on paper. Here is what the legal description on your deed, lease or division order is actually telling you, and where to check it for free.

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**Alaska uses plss in principle, largely unsurveyed on the ground.** Five meridians, and lines that in many places exist only on paper.

## The principal meridians

A principal meridian and its base line are the origin of a rectangular survey. Township and range numbers count outward from that origin, which means the same township and range numbers repeat under every meridian. The meridian is the part of the description that says which grid you are on.

- **Copper River Meridian** (1905)

- **Fairbanks Meridian** (1910)

- **Kateel River Meridian** (1956)

- **Seward Meridian** (1911)

- **Umiat Meridian** (1956)

## What unsurveyed actually means

Much of Alaska had not been surveyed when ANCSA passed in 1971, which is why Congress authorized Interim Conveyances, a legal document transferring title to Alaska Native corporations before a final survey is finished, later replaced by patent once boundaries are confirmed. Where no survey exists the grid is carried as a protraction diagram, which BLM describes as a rectangular plat based on aerial photography and a best guess at where the township, range and section lines fall.

## What we see go wrong in Alaska

An Alaska description can name a section, township and range that has never been monumented. The lines exist on paper only, and they can move when a real cadastral survey is finally run, so find out whether your township is surveyed or protracted before you rely on the acreage or the boundary. Alaska also has no counties. Recording is by recording district, and there are 34 districts served by two offices, so an heir looking for the county recorder will not find one.

## Where to look it up, free

- [Alaska DNR Recorder's Office search](https://dnr.alaska.gov/ssd/recoff/Search). Free, including a meridian, township, range and section search, plus plat and survey search

- [BLM Alaska survey plats](https://sdms.ak.blm.gov). The survey plat index

Alaska DNR Land Records holds state land case files.

### Send us the description and we will read it back to you.

What it covers, how many net mineral acres it actually is, and whether anything is producing on it. Free, no obligation, and the answer does not change if you never sell anything to us. We do this every day and it usually takes us an hour.

[Ask a Landman](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/)

## Related

- [How land is surveyed in every state we work in](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/land-survey/)

- [The interactive section, township and range map](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/section-township-range-map/)

- [Alaska mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/alaska/) and the [Alaska owner's guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/alaska/)

- [How to find out if you own mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/find-out-if-you-own-mineral-rights/)

- [Depth severance](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/depth-severance/) and [the Duhig rule](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/duhig-rule-overconveyance/)

- [The mineral glossary](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/glossary/)

Compiled from BLM, state land offices, state archives and statute, current as of 2026-08. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop in Tulsa, not a law firm or a licensed surveyor. Nothing here is a boundary opinion, and a description that matters to a transaction should be run by a title attorney or a licensed surveyor in the state where the land sits.