The Matanuska Susitna Borough is offering to give away the ice breaking ferry “Susitna.”   Borough officials want to give away the ship to federal, state or local governments, because it is costing the Borough too much money to maintain it.

The Borough will also consider selling the ferry to a private entity. The “Susitna” was built with federal dollars as a U.S. Navy prototype vessel.  It can hold 20 vehicles and 120 passengers. It was supposed to serve passengers between Port MacKenzie and Anchorage. The Borough has not been successful in finding a landing site for the vessel on the Anchorage side of Knik Arm, and the Borough does not have funds to maintain the ship.

Borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan says the borough could sell the ferry to a private company for about $7 million – enough to cover federal grants the borough may have to pay back.

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Last year the rate of pertussis or “Whooping Cough” in Alaska reached epidemic proportions and it’s likely the epidemic is ongoing.

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One of Southeast’s most prominent environmental organizations has started a marketing campaign – for timber.

The Sitka Conservation Society recently printed a glossy brochure selling the virtues of second-growth Tongass timber for projects from furniture to housing.

The only problem is: There’s no way – yet – to economically harvest and process second growth.

SCS director Andrew Thoms is the first to admit that an industry based on second growth may be decades away, but he doesn’t think it’s too early for wood users to consider local products.

“As we think long-term about where we get our resources, how local we live, the cost of shipping things, and our overall carbon footprint, we need to start looking more locally about where we get our resources. And eventually we’re going to have to build the economy and the networks where we’re able to buy wood that comes from the region rather than from across the continent.”

The brochure that SCS has produced is called Alaskan Grown: A Guide to Tongass Young Growth Timber and its Uses. It features a pair of recreational log cabins built by the Forest Service in Sitka and Wrangell, a private residence in Gustavus, and a recent project in the Sitka High School woodshop using red alder to build night stands.

None of the wood for these projects was purchased through conventional means. But Thoms says there are networks of small-scale mills, from Hoonah, to Wrangell, to Prince of Wales, that can a reasonable alternative for people willing to try something that – for now – remains unconventional.

“We’ve heard anectdotally from some of the builders in town that once they have figured out a way to get a supply of local wood, the prices are cheaper, or comparable to, buying all their wood from someplace else.”

“Alaska young growth is no different than any other tree that grows in North America,” says Allen Brackley, director of the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station in Sitka.

“Be it lumber, or pulp and paper, or particle board, plywood, or engineered products. You can make them out of Alaska young growth.”

Brackley says the one limitation on young growth is that it cannot produce sawn, clear boards. That is a feature of old growth, and why it remains so valuable.

Brackley does not view the turn to young growth in the Tongass as especially innovative. Young growth is the name of the game in much of the nation’s timber industry.

“You go down to Washington and Oregon, they’ve almost totally converted to a young growth economy. Some of the industrial forest lands have made the transition to almost a plantation – a highly-managed stand – situation.”

Roughly a million acres of the Tongass was clearcut during the pulp mill era between 1960 and 1990, and is now in second-growth. But the rate of re-growth, despite Southeast’s uniform appearance from the air, is really variable. Brackley says a lot of people are working on projecting sustainable yields through time in the Tongass. But time, in this forest, works on a different scale. Brackley thinks we’re thirty- to forty years out from having enough young growth to sustain major industry again.

“Right now there is no possibility that you could support anything other than a very, very small industry.”

Brackley says that projection could change.

The SCS brochure lays these facts on the line, but Andrew Thoms is undeterred. He says the Sitka Conservation Society just wanted to show agencies and potential users what is possible with young growth, and to point the way to a more sustainable economic future for Southeast communities. He hopes many previously clearcut areas will be set aside, and not logged again for young growth. And some wood, like yellow cedar, is just too slow-growing to be a practical young growth product.

Thoms is just as deliberate in spreading the word about young growth. You probably won’t find a printed copy, except at the SCS office.

“We wanted to use as little wood as possible, and reduce our amount of paper. I think people can read this real well on the internet.”

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ACLU Challenges Anchorage Sidewalk Law

Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage

The ACLU of Alaska is challenging the Municipality of Anchorage law on sidewalk-sitting and panhandling. They say the law is unconstitutional.

NPFMC May Start Ocean Zoning Work Next Week

Steve Heimel, APRN – Anchorage

Next week the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council may start work on zoning the ocean – something it began in 2005, when it protected the coral gardens of the Aleutian Islands.  This time, sea skate nursery areas are being considered.  The Council’s preferred alternative would avoid restricting fishing in these areas, instead directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to keep an eye on them.  But this issue may set the stage for deliberations later this year on two large canyons in the Bering Sea that are full of corals, sponges and skates.

Study Names Nome, Port Clarence As Best Region For Deep Water Arctic Port

Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

The state’s long held dream of an Arctic deep water port has moved one step closer to reality. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft report Wednesday that names the Nome/Port Clarence region as the best location for the port. It will be the subject of an upcoming feasibility – level study which will help further determine a site.

Murkowski Works On Making In-State LNG Line More Feasible

Peter Granitz, APRN – Washington DC

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski is trying to make a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope more feasible. Environmentalists are welcoming a stretch of pipeline through Denali National Park.

New Legislation May Change Charter School Authorization Process

Alexandra Gutierrez, APRN – Juneau

Right now, if you and a group of like-minded individuals want to set up a charter school in your community, you need to petition your local school board to get the plan approved. A new bill could change that and open authorization up to universities, other government agencies, and nonprofits.

Mat-Su Borough Offering To Give Away Ice Breaking Ferry

Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

The Matanuska Susitna Borough is offering to give away the ice breaking ferry “Susitna.”   Borough officials want to give away the ship to federal, state or local governments, because it is costing the Borough too much money to maintain it.

The Borough will also consider selling the ferry to a private entity. The “Susitna” was built with federal dollars as a U.S. Navy prototype vessel.  It can hold 20 vehicles and 120 passengers. It was supposed to serve passengers between Port MacKenzie and Anchorage. The Borough has not been successful in finding a landing site for the vessel on the Anchorage side of Knik Arm, and the Borough does not have funds to maintain the ship.

Borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan says the borough could sell the ferry to a private company for about $7 million – enough to cover federal grants the borough may have to pay back.

Alaska Whooping Cough Cases On The Rise

Mike Mason, KDLG – Dillingham

Last year the rate of pertussis or “Whooping Cough” in Alaska reached epidemic proportions and it’s likely the epidemic is ongoing.

Eco Marketing Campaign Backs Young Growth Timber

Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka

One of Southeast’s most prominent environmental organizations has started a marketing campaign – for timber.

The Sitka Conservation Society recently printed a glossy brochure selling the virtues of second-growth Tongass timber for projects from furniture to housing.

The only problem is: There’s no way – yet – to economically harvest and process second growth.