The 13,426 acres is scattered throughout the Haines Borough. (Map Courtesy of the University of Alaska)
Haines Assembly members are frustrated with the University of Alaska.
The University announced in March it was entering into a negotiated timber sale on 13,000 acres of its land in the Haines Borough.
The 10-year project is estimated to generate 150-million board feet from different areas of the Chilkat Valley.
Representatives from UA, the Division of Forestry, Mental Health Trust Land Office, and U.S. Forest Service are holding an open house meeting in Haines tonight.
But, some assembly members weren’t satisfied with the meeting format. The agenda consists of opening comments from the different organizations and a breakout session for smaller, informal discussions.
The assembly voted 4-2 to send a message to the different parties that the assembly will withhold support of the project until there is an open public meeting, where the community’s questions are answered in public, as opposed to individual conversations.
Assembly members Brenda Josephson and Sean Maidy were opposed.
The public comment period on the sale is open until May 22 at 5 p.m. Comments can be submitted to ua-land@alaska.edu.
