UNORGANIZED BOROUGH, ALASKA

(Redirected from Unorganized borough)
Alaska with the Unorganized Borough highlighted in red

The 'Unorganized Borough' is that part of the U.S. state of Alaska not contained in any of its 16 organized boroughs. It encompasses over half of Alaska's area, 970,500 km² (374,712 square miles), an area larger than France and Germany combined. As of the 2000 census 13% of Alaskans (81,803 people) reside in it.
Unique among the United States, Alaska is not entirely subdivided into organized county equivalents. To facilitate census taking in the vast unorganized area, the United States Census Bureau, in cooperation with the state, divided the unorganized borough into 11 census areas beginning with the 1970 census:

Aleutians West Census Area

Bethel Census Area

Dillingham Census Area

Nome Census Area

Prince of Wales - Outer Ketchikan Census Area

Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area

Southeast Fairbanks Census Area

Valdez-Cordova Census Area

Wade Hampton Census Area

Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
This vast area has no local government other than that of school districts and municipalities within its limits. Except within incorporated cities, all government services in the unorganized borough, including law enforcement, are provided by the state.
Alaska adopted the borough structure 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. 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 with the Borough Act of 1961, and over the ensuing years Alaska's organized boroughs were carved out of it.
The unorganized status of this vast area is not without controversy. 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[1]. Bills have been introduced in the Alaska Legislature to compel these areas to incorporate, though as of 2006 none has been signed into law.

Contents
Major communities
External links

Major communities



Bethel (the largest city in the Unorganized Borough)

Cordova

Craig

Deltana

Dillingham

Hooper Bay

Metlakatla

Nome

Petersburg

Tok

Unalaska

Valdez

Wrangell

External links



Legislative Directive for Unorganized Borough Review

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