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Southeast Alaska: Alaska Mental Health Trustees Postpone Timber Sale Reconsideration Until Jan. 2017 - The Alaska Mental Health Trustees voted Thursday to reconsider the proposed timber sales as a new matter at their next board meeting on January 25-26, 2017.

Alaska Mental Health Trust Parcels Proposed for Exchange - Ketchikan Area
Map Creation 09/19/16
Map courtesy Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office

“After taking into account the feedback we received at the community meetings, the comments shared at the Trustees meeting, and recent updates from Washington, I recommended the Trustees take more time to carefully consider the new information. They voted unanimously to revisit the matter at the end of January. They listened to the communities and are open to any alternative that best meets the interests of the Trust,” said John Morrison, Executive Director of the Trust Land Office (TLO).

The meeting included two hours for public comment. Participants from across the state focused their comments on the beneficiaries, recent leadership changes and expressed concerns about the proposed timber sales close to communities near Petersburg, Ketchikan and Saxman. Trustees voted to postpone the decision for various reasons, including:

• a chance to address suggestions raised at community meetings, including a willingness to consider viable alternatives such as the sale of parcels themselves, carbon credits and easements,
• the outcome of the national election increases the odds of the land exchange legislation passing,
• an acknowledgement of the breadth of public comment from residents of potentially impacted communities.

For nearly a decade, the Trust Land Office has been working to exchange 17,341 acres of Trust lands adjacent to the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau that would be transferred to the United States Forest Service in exchange for 20,580 acres of remote land on Prince of Wales Island and Shelter Cove to be transferred from the USFS to the Trust for development and timber harvest.

Numerous meetings have been conducted by the Trust Land Office with individuals, agencies, communities, environmental organizations and the USFS to identify and select the parcels.

The Alaska Mental Health Trust and US Forest Service Land Exchange has been pursued since 2005. An Agreement to Initiate (ATI), for the exchange, was signed in June of 2015

The Trust Land Office says the land exchange is the most responsible way to fulfill the mission of the Trust, while avoiding the potential adverse impacts on tourism, recreation, wildlife management and watershed protection in areas near Ketchikan, Petersburg and Saxman.. Protecting what remains of the timber industry in Southeast Alaska by providing more timber lands that could be managed on a sustainable yield basis is another benefit of the exchange. - More...
Sunday PM - November 20, 2016

Alaska: Arctic removed from offshore leasing program for the next five years - Friday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it will remove the Arctic from the offshore leasing program for the next five years, 2017-2022.

Considering the fragile and unique Arctic ecosystem and the recent demonstrated decline in industry interest, the Proposed Final Program does not include any lease sales in the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas. Based on consideration of the best available science and significant public input, the Department’s analysis identified significant risks to sensitive marine resources and communities from potential new leasing in the Arctic. Moreover, due to the high costs associated with exploration and development in the Arctic and the foreseeable low projected oil prices environment, demonstrated industry interest in new leasing currently is low.

Governor Bill Walker said in a prepared statement that he is very disappointed with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s announcement Friday. Walker said, "Alaska supports a plan that balances subsistence concerns with our need for economic development. There is enough opportunity and protection in the plan that it should have been an easy decision to move forward with our proposal. The State nominated the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to ensure Alaskans’ interests were protected in this process. The nominations provided subsistence protection, as well as the benefits under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). With the trans-Alaska pipeline three-quarters empty, we must spur more oil production."

Walker said, " When Alaska became a state, the federal government mandated that we live off of our resources - but we must be able to access them. My administration will reconvene with the whaling communities and industry to determine next steps.”

The Proposed Final Program does includes one sale in the northern portion of the Cook Inlet Planning Area. Cook Inlet is a mature basin with a long history of oil and gas development in state waters, where existing infrastructure could support new activity. The design of this program area balances the protection of endangered species by taking into account the beluga whale and the northern sea otter critical habitat, with the availability for leasing of areas with the greatest industry interest and existence of oil and gas resources.

“The Arctic Ocean contains vital ecological areas that are critical for the survival of many birds and wildlife species,” said Nils Warnock, Executive Director for Audubon Alaska. “This prudent Five-Year Program prevents new leasing in this crucial habitat at a time of unprecedented ecological change in the Arctic.” - More...
Sunday PM - November 20, 2016

The grant, administered by Alaska Sea Grant, will fund a two-year study by Michael Stekoll, a University of Alaska Southeast professor with a joint appointment at the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

This research project will address questions about cultivating seaweed at higher latitudes — such as when seaweed plants become fertile, whether the timing of transferring plants to the ocean can be controlled and the optimal conditions for doing so, the best time to harvest, “cold banking” of seed and feasibility of selecting for specific traits - with the goal of helping growers become successful in this emerging industry.

Seaweed aquaculture presents a new economic opportunity for coastal Alaska. Cultivated seaweeds drive a $6.6 billion industry worldwide, and the global commercial seaweed market is growing rapidly. Commercial shellfish farmers have grown oysters, clams and mussels in Alaska for years. Now seaweed has the potential to play a role in the future of the state’s aquaculture industry. Several commercial seaweed farms have recently been permitted in Alaska, and shellfish farmers have expressed a strong interest in adding seaweed cultivation to their operations, spurred by the increasing popularity of seaweed products.

Stekoll has experimented with growing seaweed in Alaska for the last 25 years. While several Alaska seaweed species have commercial potential, his current project will focus primarily on sugar kelp. Sugar kelp may have the best chance of becoming commercially viable because it is fast-growing, grows best in the winter and has a pleasing taste, according to a commercial distributor. Stekoll’s research is expected to contribute to cultivation conditions and methods that will allow producers to grow and harvest commercial quantities of this crop and eventually other species. The state of Alaska prohibits import of any seaweeds, so seaweed farmed or grown for research in Alaska’s oceans must come from local stock. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game places extensive conditions on the mariculture of seaweeds to protect existing natural populations. - More...
Sunday PM - November 20, 2016

Columns - Commentary

Paper or plastic?

Boxers or briefs?

To be or not to be?

But one that has always seemed obvious to me just got called in question.

Studs or no studs?

It's that time of year when many Alaskans think nothing of swapping out ye old summer tires for ye old winter ones.

Yeah, I realize that in the 21st Century they have these things called "all weather tires."

HAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHA.... HAHAHAHAHAH.... AHAHAHAHAHAH!

That's a good one. Really. All weather??? All weather if you live in Southern California where all "all weather" is 80 degrees and sunny.

Except of course if you are a Ketchikandian who brings his bio-clime with him. Did I ever tell you how I moved to SoCal for college and singlehandedly ended a 15-year drought? True story. It was raining so hard that caskets were floating down the streets.

Except of course if you are a Ketchikandian who brings his bio-clime with him. Did I ever tell you how I moved to SoCal for college and singlehandedly ended a 15-year drought? True story. It was raining so hard that caskets were floating down the streets.

But I digress.

We don't cotton much to "all weather" tires in these here parts because they don't work so well in our rain and snow and ice and slush and sleet and......all weather.

You see, you actually need some traction if you want to drive safely around Ketchikan in inclement weather. Which in Ketchikan is a redundant phrase. All weather is inclement.

Anyhow, the other day, I was tooling around town with a spanky new set of studded snow tires and an acquaintance dissed me.

"Those are bad for the roads, you know." - More...
Sunday PM - November 20, 2016