52
Opinion of the Court
veyance or reservation that, properly understood, referred to submerged lands. See Montana, 450 U. S., at 548, 554; Utah Div. of State Lands, 482 U. S., at 203. Moreover, in each case, we focused on the purpose of the conveyance or reservation as a critical factor in determining federal intent. See supra, at 38-40. In Montana, we reasoned that a conveyance of a beneficial interest in submerged lands beneath a river on the Crow Reservation would not have been necessary to achieve the Government's purpose in creating the reservation, because fishing was not important to the Crow Tribe's way of life. 450 U. S., at 556. Similarly, in Utah Div. of State Lands, we concluded that the Federal Government could prevent settlers from claiming lands adjacent to waters suitable for reservoir sites and could control the development of those waters, even if lands beneath the waters in question passed to the State. 482 U. S., at 202, 208. Here, in contrast, the statement of justification accompanying the 1957 Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife application demonstrated that waters within the boundaries of the Range were an essential part of the habitats of the species the Range was designed to protect, and that retention of lands underlying those waters was critical to the Government's goal of preserving these aquatic habitats.
Alaska resists the conclusion that the application reflected an intent to include submerged lands within the Range on two grounds. First, Alaska focuses on the fact that the application sought only to withdraw lands within the Range from " 'all forms of appropriation under the public land laws' except mineral leasing and mining locations." Reply Brief for State of Alaska 17 (quoting Alaska Exh. 81, p. 1). Relying on language in Utah Div. of State Lands, Alaska argues that submerged lands are not subject to disposal under the public land laws and there would have been no need to exempt them from appropriation under those laws. Alaska Opposition Brief 17; see 482 U. S., at 203 (rejecting claim that 1888 Act authorized inclusion of submerged lands in part be-
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