The Haines Borough has reached an agreement that will allow people to use trails that cross Alaska Mental Health Trust Land without trespassing. The borough will pay a small fee to allow both the general public and private tour operators to use trails on the trust’s land.
Thousands of acres of land in the Haines Borough are owned by the Alaska Mental Health Trust, a state corporation that generates revenue to address mental health issues in Alaska.
David Griffin, the Southeast Lands Manager for the trust, said it makes money through land leases and sales, real estate development, natural resource development and other land uses.
“Historically, in Haines we’ve done a little bit of logging. We’ve issued some permits for some mineral exploration. We’ve sold properties for residential use, and we’ve issued some permits for commercial recreation activities,” Griffin said.
The Mental Health Trust owns some land on Mt. Ripinsky and Mt. Riley, two areas of Haines that are popular spots for hiking.
In 2019, the trust notified the borough that three public trails crossing its land on Mt. Ripinsky and Mt. Riley constituted a trespass. Griffin said that while some informal public day use of Mental Health Trust land is allowed, the trails were being used commercially and for tourism promotion by the borough.
Several private tour companies have been permitted by the Haines Borough to guide tourists along trails that cross Mental Health Trust land. According to Griffin, there was no authorization from the trust for this use.
“Obviously, the borough wants to perpetuate healthy lifestyle and outdoor recreation opportunities and the trust is on board with that, but we can’t just allow the use of trust land without any sort of authorization on it. That’s called trespass,” Griffin said.
Over the past few months, Griffin has been working with the borough to come up with an agreement that would allow tour operators and the public to continue to use the trails.
They agreed to have the borough pay the trust $2,000 for a five year license to use the Mt. Ripinsky and Mt. Riley trails on trust land. Griffin said that a more permanent agreement could be pursued, but that depends on the plans that the Mental Health Trust has for its lands.
“In some places, there may be a desire to look at something more long term like an easement, but as a landowner you have to be very careful about making sure that we don’t find ourselves ten years down the road trying to develop our property but have an issue or a conflict with other uses going on in the area,” Griffin said.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust is not the only entity that owns land on Mt. Ripinsky and Mt. Riley that is crossed by public trails. Other landowners include the University of Alaska and Haines developer Roger Schnabel.
