About 100 residents attended the University of Alaska’s meeting Wednesday at the Chilkat Center to address the negotiated timber sale on about 13,000 acres of land, the bulk of its holdings in the Haines Borough. The meeting proved dramatic at times as some audience members expressed displeasure about the meeting format.

Representatives from the University, Alaska Division of Forestry and the Mental Health Trust began by giving an overview of the timber sale and management processes and said they wanted to listen to the community’s concerns and input on the sale.

Christine Klein, University director of land management, began by explaining the University’s fiduciary responsibility to generate revenue. She said they have a very small holding, relative to other universities across the country—about 110,000 trust acres that are intended to be monetized.

“For the last 30 or 40 years those limited assets, the land resource, have generated $210 million that make up the university’s entire endowment,” Klein said. “Why that’s important is that most universities have endowments closing in on a billion dollars. This is a very tiny land asset base.”

Chris Maisch, Alaska division of forestry director, told the audience they would answer some questions, but wanted to address the bulk of the questions in small groups near maps stationed in the lobby. That format irked some attendees.

Tom Morphet said the audience as a whole would stand to benefit from hearing the questions and the answers given, a statement that was met with applause by a portion of the crowd. Morphet said many people would feel better about the project if they knew where and how the timber would be harvested.

University regional resource manager Patrick Kelly said part of the negotiated sale will be to determine those details. “They’re not all going to be logged, but they’re all going to be looked at because as good stewards of the land that’s what we’re here to do, is to figure out what we’re going to do with our land.”

One crowd member asked if the agency representatives would bring the maps into the auditorium. Shortly after, Lynn Canal Conservation director Elsa Sebastian carried two maps from the lobby into the auditorium. University regional resource manager Patrick Kelly carried them back into the lobby, which also met with applause from other audience members.

Another attendee asked how the public was supposed to comment on a project still in its infancy. “Why are we asked to comment on something that you haven’t even figured out completely how you’re going to do it?” he asked.

Maisch said the projects are hard to put together, but that the nature of the negotiated sale allows flexibility with the terms. Responding to a different question about how the timber will be harvested, Maisch said depending on the unit, sections will be selectively logged and clear cut.

Scott Ramsey asked how the University considers its effort to log along the river an ecologically and socially sustainable goal, as reflected in the University’s mission statement.

Maisch said it’s their job as agency directors to propose ways make the lands benefit the state through economic development and asked him not to make statements or grandstand. “We have lots of lands that are set aside for non-resource use, more than most states combined across the rest of the country. The very few lands we do have for resource development we have to do responsible resource development on. That’s what this group is trying to do.”

Maisch later adjourned the meeting and met with attendees in the lobby where individuals asked questions in the lobby.

Sean Maidy told the CVN the meeting was proof the timber sale proposal was still at its inception stage. “It was a lot of nothing,” Maidy said.

Ryan Cook said some of the attendees from LCC were rude and acted like bullies.

Gene Cornelius filmed the event. He said the open-house structure was planned mayhem.

Brenda Josephson said it was benefecial for the community to hear from multiple agencies at the same time.

“Multiple agencies are working together on this sale for the best possible outcome.”

The University expects the interested party, an international buyer, to harvest 100 million board feet over a minimum 10-year period.