The Southeast Alaska Land Trust is seeking suggestions from Haines residents on potential sites for it to buy or on which to obtain easements to preserve the character of the land.
“We’re trying to get community feedback from around Haines,” said Allison Gillum, the organization’s executive director.
The group briefed several Haines Borough residents on what it is looking for on Oct. 19 at the Haines library. “We tend to heavily focus on wetlands,” Gillum said.
The Juneau-based nonprofit organization – founded in 1995 – buys wetlands or conservation easements on wetlands to preserve them.
Overall, the land trust manages 3,461 acres in Southeast Alaska spread across 14 sites that it owns, and easements on 15 other pieces of land.
In the Haines area, that includes the 130-acre Nelson homestead in the Mud Bay area, which it bought in 2013. And the organization has owned 90 acres at Monument Point since 2001.
“We’re not anti-development. We just don’t think housing should be built on wetlands,” Gillum said.
The group also conducts workshops on the issue.
Contact information for the organization is 907-586-3100 and [email protected].