to receive land ownership (Harrington & Merken, 1995).
After the first prove up of the cabins were complete homesteaders moved on to the second prove up which was cultivating a portion of the land without harming to the natural beauty of the land (Alaska, 2008a).
Cultivating the land was a challenge when the Department of Natural Resources required all land owners keep the land free from being destroyed by removing trees or disturbing the lands natural beauty. Meanwhile having equipment available for cultivating the land was also a struggle for the homesteaders (Merrick, 2000).
Homesteaders often found it difficult to meet homesteading requirements where cultivation was concerned, because Alaska was strict about preserving the lands natural beauty (Merrick, 2000).
With issues meeting the cultivation requirements for the land ownership, Homesteaders were granted the right to remove some trees by chainsaw to meet the land cultivation guidelines (Alaska, 2008a).
After removing the trees the homesteaders were able to meet the required cultivation requirement of a minimum of 10 percent or 1/8 of the land for cultivation. “Homesteaders in Alaska were soon participating in cropping activities that today are not widely considered to be customary or traditional to Alaska Native communities” as the authors Loring and Geriach describe in their article Outpost Gardening in Interior Alaska: Food System Innovation and the Alaska Native Gardens of the 1930’3 through the 1970’s (2010).
Once homesteaders were cultivating the land they soon faced a problem with keeping the wildlife animals away from their cultivation areas. Homesteaders soon began to build so called fences, since they did not have sufficient material to build a fence they used the material they had at their disposal (Loring, Geriach, 2010).
With the help of a 48’ x 24’ garden fence homesteaders were able to keep wildlife like moose out of their cultivation areas during the first five years of homesteading to receive their legal land patent. According to the article Homesteading in Alaska (2000) by Michael Merrick not only did the fences help keep the cultivation areas safe from wildlife they also started building root cellars to grow a wider variety of crops that have a difficult time growing in the colder climates.
Homesteaders have been able to grow items such as; potatoes, cabbage, carrots and broccoli (Merrick, 2000). And in more depth Merrick (2000) describes more about the crops homesteaders were able to grow and how some homesteaders were able to start cultivating the land for fish, which has boomed in the last two decades.
While acquiring the land was challenging for homesteaders, meeting the homesteading requirement were even tougher to meet. With the building of a residence to the cultivation of the land, homesteaders have worked together to make Alaska what it is today.
While the department of natural resources and the state of Alaska were adamant to keep the land in Alaska pure and free from harm they had to allow some destruction of the natural state to allow homesteaders to build and cultivate.
Today I talked to you about the requirements the homesteaders had to be met before and after the land was purchased in Alaska and how the Department of Natural Resources website listed the guidelines potential buyer had to follow to preserve the natural beauty of the land but still meet the requirement to legally acquire the land patent.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and the Alaska Division of Economic Development while the government had high expectation for potential land owners they kept the rights to acquire land more difficult in the early 1960’s to ensure the land in Alaska would remain natural. The State of Alaska had opened the doors for potential land owners to seek financial options to purchase the land. However each potential buyer would still have guidelines to meet prior to receiving the land and the legal rights. Meeting the requirement for cultivation was tough for homesteaders to meet when the department of natural resources protecte