The Department of the Interior has issued an order that partially revokes 11 Public Land Orders affecting approximately 9.7 million acres of public lands in Alaska. The affected lands were previously reserved for study and classification but are no longer needed for those purposes. These lands will be open for public land use and mining claims starting February 18, 2021, following existing laws and regulations. The decision aligns with recommendations from the Kobuk-Seward Peninsula Resource Management Plan, and previous Public Land Orders No. 6477 and 6559 will be superseded by this new order.
Simple Explanation
The government is changing some rules about a huge area of land in Alaska, making it OK for people to use and look for minerals there again. They decided this because they don't need to study the land anymore.