(a) Applications by a regional corporation for selection of land within its boundaries under section 14(h)(8) of the Act shall be filed with the proper office of the Bureau of Land Management in accordance with §2650.2(a). Selections made under section 14(h)(1), (2), (3), and (5) of the Act will take priority over selections made pursuant to section 14(h)(8). Lands available for section 14(h)(8) selections are those lands originally withdrawn under section 11(a)(1), (3), or 16(a) of the Act and not conveyed pursuant to selections made under sections 12(a), (b), or (c), 16(b) or 19 of the Act.

(b) A regional corporation may select a total area in excess of its entitlement to ensure that it will obtain its entitlement in the event of any conflicts. Any acreage in excess of its entitlement shall be identified as alternate selections and shall be numerically ordered on a section by section basis to indicate selection preference.

(c) Selections need not be contiguous but must be made along section lines in reasonably compact tracts of at least 5,760 acres, not including any unavailable land contained therein. The exterior boundaries of such tracts shall be in linear segments of not less than two miles in length, except where adjoining unavailable lands or where shorter segments are necessary to follow section lines where township lines are offset along standard parallels caused by the convergence of the meridians. However, selected tracts may contain less than 5,760 acres where there is good cause shown for such selection, taking into consideration good land management planning and principles for the potentially remaining public lands, and which would not leave unduly fragmented tracts of such public lands. Each tract selected shall not be considered to be reasonably compact if (1) it excludes other lands for selection within its exterior boundaries, or (2) an isolated tract of public land of less than 1,280 acres remains after selection of the total entitlement. Regional corporations shall not be precluded from selecting less than 5,760 acres where the entire tract available for selection constitutes less than 5,760 acres. Selection shall conform as nearly as practicable to the United States land survey system.

(d) Notice of the filing of such selections, including the date by which any protest of the selection should be filed, shall be published once in the Federal Register and one or more newspapers of general circulation in Alaska once a week for three consecutive weeks by the Bureau of Land Management. Any protest to the application should be filed in the Bureau of Land Management office in which such selections were filed within the time specified in the notice.

(e) Appeals from decisions made by the Bureau of Land Management with respect to such selections shall be made to the Board of Land Appeals in accordance with 43 CFR part 4, subpart E.

[41 FR 14740, Apr. 7, 1976, as amended at 41 FR 49487, Nov. 9, 1976]