LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Trust Presses Forward On Selling SE Timber

By Sentinel Staff

The trustees of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority voted Wednesday to put the timber on two parcels of Mental Health lands near Ketchikan and Petersburg up for sale.

They said the sale will move forward if Congress does not pass legislation this session requiring the U.S. Forest Service to exchange land with equal timber values for these and other Trust lands, including lands the Trust owns near Sitka.

In a statement issued after their meeting in Anchorage Wednesday, the trustees said they have been trying for the past 10 years to complete an administrative land exchange with the Forest Service. They said they approved the conditional sale because the potential loss of a viable timber industry in Southeast Alaska threatens to make these parcels valueless to the Trust if they are not marketed soon.

The trustees said the Trust Land Office will move forward with the sales after January 15, 2017, if legislation authorizing the exchange with the Forest Service has not passed by then.

The potential sale sites near Ketchikan and Petersburg are part of a land exchange proposed in Senate Bill 3006, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski in May this year.

It directs the Department of Agriculture to move forward with a land exchange with the Trust in accordance with an “agreement to initiate” signed by both the Trust Land Office and United States Forest Service on June 30, 2015.

The agreement would exchange approximately 18,000 acres of Trust land near Wrangell, Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg, and Juneau for approximately 21,000 acres of Forest Service land on Prince of Wales Island and near Shelter Cove.

“The board did not make this decision lightly,” Mental Health Trust board chairman Russ Webb said in the statement issued Wednesday.

“We understand the concerns of area communities, but our overriding responsibility is to Trust beneficiaries throughout the state. The Trust must use our land and resources to meet beneficiary needs.  We cannot allow our land to lose value or sit idly while our only opportunity to gain value from our land is lost,” he said in the statement.

He said the board’s preference is “to get S3006 passed to approve a land exchange that would accommodate the broader community and environmental interests we have learned about during our 10 years of developing a proposed exchange.”

 

The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, through revenue earned from its land, natural resources and cash assets supports programs for Alaskans with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, traumatic brain injuries, and substance abuse disorders.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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