Viewpoints
Mental Health Timber Sales
by Dave Kiffer
March 17, 2004
Wednesday
I'm not sure if everyone has noticed the Mental Health Lands
Trust legals ads in recent issues of the Ketchikan newspaper,
so I thought I would bring them to Sitnews readers' attention.
Mental Health currently owns hundreds of acres of land in the
Ketchikan area and it has determined that it is time to maximize
its return on those lands by logging up to 90 million board feet
of timber. The Trust was given the land by the State of Alaska
in order to generate money to provide services. This is a similar
situation to the University of Alaska which was also given land
throughout the state to provide revenue. Given the concern expressed
when the University of Alaska offered a much smaller timber sale
in the Herring Cove area, it would behoove residents to check
with the borough planning department and the Mental Health trust
itself to see how those operations could effect their property.
In addition to the Leask Lakes Parcel on upper George Inlet,
Mental Health owns large chunks of land on the Ketchikan side
of Gravina Island above the airport, between Ward Cove and Ketchikan,
and along the uplands south of Ketchikan from Deer Mountain all
the way to Mountain Point. Mental Health is taking comments on
the proposed timber sales. You can call Mental Health's Doug
Campbell at (907) 269-8658 to find out which specific properties
are scheduled for sale and to make comments about the sales.
The deadline for comments is April 14th.
Dave Kiffer
Ketchikan, Alaska
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and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.
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