The comment deadline is looming on a land-use permit application submitted by a Chehalis, Washington company proposing to build a log transfer facility in Lutak Inlet.
NSEA Timber, Inc., plans to build the facility to transfer logs from a timber sale in the Haines-area, and seeks to use about 12 acres of surface and 17 acres of submerged land in the Lutak inlet plot through, at least 2030, according to its permit application to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
The proposal to the state outlines a transfer facility that will be used to build rafts of logs and then store them in a 2,500 foot-long line parallel to the shoreline.
According to a project description included with the application, the logs produced will be sold in the export market as there are no in-state purchasers in the northern part of southeast Alaska.
For its project, NSEA Timber selected a location for a log transfer facility at a site near 4.5 mile of Lutak Road. That property is owned by Haines-based Glacier Construction, also known as Southeast Road Builders. The site is between borough property on the south end which is currently leased to Alaska Marine Lines. To the north – the former Chilkoot Lumber Company site.
The company’s plan is to build a log transfer operation on the northeast corner of the property along the shoreline of Lutak Inlet. That would consist of a long transfer facility, a log storage area in the inlet and a ship mooring area in the inlet.
In a previous application the company noted that it was not easy to find a location for the log transfer facility in part because of the local weather, zoning, and land ownership. This is the fourth try the entity is making at permitting.
Haines borough planning and zoning technician Donna Lambert told the planning commission on March 20, 2025 that the company’s first attempt was a conditional use permit a couple of years ago. The second one was located in a different zone. The company’s third attempt was a similar permit application, on the same piece of land, that the state’s Department of Natural Resources Division of Mining, Land and Water, first put out for review on March 13.
That office later withdrew the permit because it was incomplete and did not contain a required dive survey of the area, which DNR natural resource manager Tony Keith said at the time was an inadvertent omission. The state posted the application with significantly more information, including a dive survey, on Sept. 29.
That dive survey was performed in late April and determined that the site was suitable for long transfer, storage and ship moorage, with its author writing that they had not seen sensitive or critical habitat issues.
But that’s an assertion that drew opposition from many in the Chilkat Valley including Chilkat Indian Village tribal council vice president Kimberley Strong.
During a town hall with state Rep. Andi Story and Sen. Jesse Kiehl on Saturday, Strong pointed out that there are documented eulachon runs and salmon which travel through that area to get to the Chilkoot River.
“Seals, sea lions and killer whales, they all come through there,” Strong said. “Primarily we look at the crabs, Dungeness crabs in the area, and tanner crabs.”
The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game advisory committee agreed unanimously during its Oct. 9 meeting that it did not support the proposal.
“The intertidal and nearshore area of Lutak Inlet is sensitive habit,” wrote the committee in a letter attributed to chair Adam Smith. “Not only for salmon runs, but also bottom-dwelling species that are important to both subsistence and commercial fisheries. These include shrimp, crab, and halibut.”
The committee also wrote that the log transfer activities would interfere with subsistence and commercial salmon fishing in Lutak Inlet.
“Dungeness crab fisheries in Lutak Inlet alone generate an average annual ex-vessel value of approximately $260,000” according to the letter.
The committee also noted that eulachon running up the Chilkoot River are a species that are sensitive to human disturbance.
“Unlike salmon, which return to their natal streams, eulachon utilize a range of local rivers, selecting among them based on environmental conditions,” Smith wrote. “Increases in industrial activity or physical changes to the shoreline may cause eulachon to abandon Lutak Inlet and the Chilkoot River altogether.”
The state is taking public comments through Monday Oct. 13. Comments can be submitted to [email protected].