Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
03/22/2017 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB58 | |
| Confirmation Hearing: Board of Game | |
| SB88 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | SB 88 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 58 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 88-AK MENTAL HEALTH TRUST LAND EXCHANGE
4:49:44 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of SB 88 that deals with
land exchanges related to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land
Office.
SENATOR STEDMAN, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska,
sponsor of SB 88, said this measure facilitates a land trade
between the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the U.S. Forest
Service in Southeast. The federal government will receive 20,000
acres and will give up 18,000 acres. This land exchange has been
going on for many years and is a win-win situation.
He explained that some lands are adjacent to communities like
Petersburg and Ketchikan that the Mental Health Trust had viewed
for timber harvest for revenue, and both communities wanted to
have the timber harvest not so close to their communities and
their view sheds. So, that facilitates some of these parcels; it
improves the logging productivity available from Alaska land. It
has been worked through many meetings with environmental groups,
communities, Mental Health, and the Forest Service.
WYN MENEFEE, Deputy Director, Trust Land Office, Mental Health
Trust, Anchorage, Alaska, said essentially, the Alaska Mental
Health Trust is the foundational purpose for this exchange. It
is a perpetual trust that helps support comprehensive integrated
mental health services in Alaska. He provided a list of
beneficiaries.
He said the trust gives about $20 million annually to projects,
activities, state agencies, and non-profits statewide. In
Southeast they have done capital grants like the $100,000
capital grant to Petersburg Mental Health Services and the $10
million grant to help fund Medicare. Revenues are needed to
support that and to keep the trust alive. So, the job of the
Trust Land Office is basically as a contractor to the Trust
Authority. They manage the non-cash assets: the land and
resources, in the best interests of the trust. They manage
multiple asset classes and one of those is timber.
This exchange will help diversify their portfolio; it will
increase timber revenues over current land holdings and it will
protect the trust corpus by not devaluing timber assets in
Southeast by letting the timber industry fail, because they
would end up having no one to purchase their timber.
MR. MENEFEE showed them a picture of trust land holdings
currently scattered throughout Southeast Alaska and explained
that the land exchange will take about 18,000 acres of trust
lands which are primarily adjacent to communities in Southeast
Alaska in exchange for 20,000 acres that are more removed on
Prince of Wales Island and Shelter Cove. He explained that the
trust does subdivisions and commercial transaction leases as
well as timber harvest on their lands, but there is a lot of
resistance to having these activities next to communities. It's
basically an equal value land exchange; the idea is to allow
timber extraction in an area that won't conflict with
communities.
The exchange has two phases: because the timber industry is at
real risk of going under for the lack of timber, some timber is
needed immediately to keep it going. So, some parcels will be
exchanged within one year and the remaining will be exchanged
within two years. It just gives the Forest Service more time to
get the appraisals done for the other parcels.
4:56:45 PM
MR. MENEFEE said among the benefits of the exchange are that
fact that it consolidates trust land ownership, which is good
for management; it replaces lands adjacent to the communities
with ones that are more conducive for timber harvest; it will
generate about $40-60 million over the 20 years; it will protect
both timber and tourism industries; it will save real jobs; and
it protects the view sheds and certain old growth stands.
He clarified that the timber industry impacts the economy in
many ways: stevedores, equipment rental, maintenance, purchase,
transportation, timber fellers, and cruisers. Any timber
harvested on trust lands to be received via the exchange would
be done in an environmentally responsible manner, because they
are required to follow the Alaska Forest Practices Act that has
been demonstrated to be effective at protecting salmon streams
and water quality.
Why do it now? Mr. Menefee answered that this exchange is the
result of about 10 years of planning and public input from the
Tongass Futures Roundtable conservation groups which consists of
35 different parties, the Forest Service and communities. The
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) expressed some
concern that one of the parcels, the No Name Bay parcel, could
be exchanged because it is involved in litigation. However, the
Department of Law (DOL) determined that the trust has clear
title to that parcel and the lawsuit in no way prohibits the
State Legislature from enacting the exchange in this
legislation.
5:00:06 PM
Further, he said the timber industry with its lack of timber to
market will go under in two years, and they are trying to give
them timber before they leave, because once it is gone, it
doesn't' just start back up. People move and it's just not easy
to say come on up and cut our timber. So, Alaska would lose a
market.
5:01:54 PM
He explained that the Forest Service has the majority of the
timber supply in Southeast and they have withdrawn and locked up
much of the land. That means there is a dependency on the Mental
Health Trust Land Office, the University, the State Forestry,
and the Forest Service to all work together on the transition to
a sustainable young growth harvest, but timber needs to be
provided in the transition period.
MR. MENEFEE said that Senator Murkowski and Senator Sullivan
introduced SB 131 and Representative Young introduced HR 513 in
Washington, D.C., that basically direct the Forest Service to do
the exchange. They expect things to start moving very soon (this
spring) on the federal side. If it's approved, they would start
right away on working with the Forest Service to get the
appraisals and surveys done within a one-year timeframe. This
issue has a lot of support although most of it is for 2016
federal legislation that is the same piece of legislation. It is
a positive revenue generating exchange and the trust needs those
revenues to provide for its beneficiaries. He added that the
trust supports those programs without going to the general fund.
CHAIR GIESSEL said a number of people were on line to testify.
SENATOR STEDMAN said he would rather have another meeting so
people could have ample time to say their piece than try to run
them short because the committee is out of time.
CHAIR GIESSEL said she would hold SB 88 and bring it back at the
earliest opportunity.