The University of Alaska is entering into a negotiated sale to harvest 13,426 acres of timber from university-owned parcels across the Haines Borough. The University Board of Regents approved the timber sale this week.
The sale consists of roughly 100 million board feet of Sitka spruce, western hemlock, cottonwood and birch with an estimated revenue of $10 million over a minimum of a ten-year period, according to University director of land management Christine Klein.
“We have received a formal letter of interest from an international buyer for our holdings in the area,” Klein told the board of regents.
She said the sale would involve collaboration with the Division of Forestry, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Office and other private landowners to harvest the total volume.
The purchaser will construct road access to some of the parcels and others are only accessible by boat.
“Once approved, the UA Land Management intends to award the timber sale contract by the end of July 2018,” according to university documents. “The purchaser will sign a 10-year contract.”
The university must receive approvals from the Haines Borough, the terms of which will be incorporated into the negotiated sale.
The university withdrew a negotiated sale on 400 acres on the Mud Bay Peninsula earlier this month and will instead focus on residential development in the area. The assembly in November voted to evaluate the borough’s legal options if the University of Alaska awarded a timber sale contract because “the proposed University timber sale violates all existing provisions for commercial use in the Mud Bay rural residential zone as well as the purpose and intent of that code.”
The university is accepting public comment on the sale until April 19.
Representatives from the university did not respond to questions by press time.