Thinking Outside the Box: A Better Solution for the Mental Health Lands DebacleBy Rebecca Knight August 29, 2016
Recent logging - nearly 4,000 acres - at Leask Lakes, Revilla Island by the Alaska Mental Health Trust. S.3006 would give AMHT an additional 8,000 acres adjacent to this. The best alternative would be for the federal government to trade an ample monetary endowment to AMHT in exchange for the land holdings the Trust has been trying to unload. The endowment should be based on an appraisal of the profit that the Trust could be expected to net over two cutting cycles (i.e. the net value to the Trust of the present timber, plus something for the land). Of the two alternatives suggested above, the endowment alternative would be best for the environment and would focus AMHT on its real work, instead of its current distracting extra role as an arm of the timber industry. The endowment alternative is inspired by an item in another of Senator Murkowski’s bills [2], authorizing the federal government to purchase outright Shee Atika Corporation’s large, already-clearcut landholding at Cube Cove, on Admiralty Island. Clearly, the Senator’s confidence that the federal government can afford this approach demonstrates that a federal buy-out for AMHT in South- east is doable. Certainly, it is a worthy goal since it would move the “Trust” out of the land management business and instead focus AMHT’s attention on its vital role of serving the mental health needs of Alaskans [3]. There would be no loss of valuable public lands and scenic resources, and no threat to life and limb from logging-triggered landslides. That threat is very real and must be avoided on slopes above Petersburg homes and on Ketchikan’s Deer Mountain. The other alternative, a land transfer with Southeast State Forest lands has some justification, since the state was the original source of the problem in the 70’s and 80’s when it seized AMHT's prior land holdings, forcing the Trust beneficia- ries to court to have them restored with new ones. While a land exchange with the state would still result in logging by AMHT, DNR intends to log those lands in their entirety anyway. Although the public at least has minimal say on DNR’s logging, the endowment alternative is best. Lastly, in addition to the AMHT exchange, Murkowski’s goal to move federal lands to other ownerships through privatization and transfer, includes the Landless Na- tives bill [4] with a 115,200 acre loss, and other legislation [5] which includes transfer of the heart of the Tongass to the State – with up to a 2.0 million acres loss. The Senator’s legislation is all about transfer of the American public’s old- growth forest and other resources in order to circumvent gold-standard federal laws like NEPA and NFMA, as well as kill the opportunity for public comment. If passed, it would further cripple an already severely frayed and inadequate Tongass conservation strategy and would fulfill Murkowski’s objective of placing log- ging under the weak Alaska Forest Resources & Practices Act, which for example allows clearcuts of unlimited size. Becky Knight, [1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/3006 Received August 29, 2016 - Published August 29, 2016 About:"Becky Knight is a long-time southeast Alaska grassroots volunteer. She has donated thousands of hours working on a variety of timber, pesticide, mining, hydro, and other environmental issues affecting Southeast Alaska and her hometown of Petersburg. Currently, she is on the Board of the Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community. Becky was President of Petersburg based Narrows Conservation Coalition. She worked as a Forester for the US Forest Service and is retired from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Becky understands that intact habitat is our most precious Alaska resource. "
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