The Ketchikan Gateway Borough is accepting public comment through next month for two proposed timber sales on borough-owned land from Ketchikan-based Alcan Timber Incorporated.
The first sale would harvest about 100 acres of timber north of the airport on Gravina Island. Alcan Timber proposes to construct two access roads with required stream buffer protections. The company says one of those roads will require a steel bridge, which can be removed after project completion.
The second proposed timber sale would consist of selective cutting and small clearcuts north of Brown Dear Road in Ketchikan. If approved, Alcan Timber will also build a logging road from Fairy Chasm Road, although it won’t be used for transporting timber. All harvested timber will be hauled out via Copper Ridge Lane, by the Ketchikan Public Library.
A detailed proposal and map of the project sites can be found on the borough website or at the borough manager’s office on First Avenue in Ketchikan. Public comments can be submitted via email to public_comment@kgbak.us. They can also be mailed or delivered in person to the borough manager’s office.
Feedback from the public comment period will be presented to the borough assembly before a decision is made on the proposal. Public comment for the proposal closes on Nov. 7.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
