## Facts

- Nome 2000 (a limited partnership) and Robert L. Achor held record title to a tract known as Mineral Survey 1161, a rural parcel of roughly seven and one-half acres overlooking the Nome River in the Osborn area.
- The Osborn area is seasonally used: it is suitable for homesites, subsistence, and recreation in warmer months, and sees little or no use in colder months.
- The Fagerstrom family used the parcel beginning in the mid-1940s, initially using an abandoned cabin on the land as a summer subsistence base; they continued seasonal subsistence and recreational use thereafter.
- After Charles and Peggy Fagerstrom married, they increased their activities on the northern portion: bringing building materials (1966), placing a camper trailer, creating a picnic area, building an outhouse and fish rack, later constructing a small cabin, planting trees, and regularly cleaning and maintaining the area during usable seasons.
- In 1970 or 1971, they staked a rectangular area with cornerposts for a Native allotment application; at least two stakes were on or near Mineral Survey 1161.
- Community members associated the land with the Fagerstroms because of their recurring presence and visible improvements.
- Their use of the southern portion was comparatively limited and consisted mainly of trails, berry picking, and litter cleanup, with no permanent structures.
- Nome 2000 sued in 1987 to eject the Fagerstroms; the Fagerstroms counterclaimed title by adverse possession under Alaska’s ten-year statute.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence supported a finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that the Fagerstroms possessed the parcel continuously, openly and notoriously, exclusively, and hostilely for the statutory period.
2. Whether any adverse possession extended to the entire described parcel or only to the portion actually controlled and used in a manner typical of an owner of similar rural land.

## Decision

- The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part.
- The court upheld adverse possession as to the northern portion where the Fagerstroms’ improvements and regular seasonal occupation provided visible notice and owner-like control.
- The court rejected adverse possession as to the southern portion because the activities there were insufficiently open and notorious and did not demonstrate exclusive dominion.
- The case was remanded to determine the precise boundary lines consistent with partial adverse possession.

## Legal Principles

- A claimant must prove adverse possession by clear and convincing evidence showing possession that is continuous, open and notorious, exclusive, and hostile for the statutory period.
- The acts required to establish adverse possession depend on the character of the land; for rural, seasonally used property, continuity and dominion are measured by how an average owner of similar property would use the land.
- Open and notorious possession requires use that would give visible notice to a reasonably attentive record owner; substantial, observable improvements and recurring presence can satisfy this requirement even if use is seasonal.
- Exclusivity is assessed by whether the claimant exercised control for themselves rather than sharing control with the true owner or the public; occasional permissive entry by others may be consistent with exclusivity in a rural, recreational setting.
- Hostility is objective and is shown by possession without the owner’s permission and inconsistent with the owner’s rights; it does not require personal animus.
- Adverse possession may be geographically limited within a single legal description when only part of the tract is possessed with sufficient owner-like dominion.

## Conclusion

The court held that seasonal use of rural land can satisfy adverse possession when it reflects typical ownership and provides visible notice, but it limited title to the portion where such dominion was actually shown, requiring a remand to set boundaries between the adversely possessed northern area and the non-possessed southern area.


Nome 2000 v. Fagerstrom, 799 P.2d 304 (Alaska 1990)