Revisions to management plans for the Haines State Forest and Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve should take less than a year, and probably won’t lead to any major changes in land or resource use in either.

Department of Natural Resources planning Chief Bruce Phelps told the Haines Chamber of Commerce last week that DNR will take a light-handed approach to updating the plans. “We want to keep the basic agreements in place. We will need to make some changes and update parts of the plans, but not overturn previous political agreements.”

That’s the message Phelps said he got when he introduced the plan revision process to Haines residents in September.

He said updating is already under way, mostly by application of geographic and other baselines data to proposed plan revisions. DNR is soliciting suggestions as to how use of land, timber, mineral and other resources uses has changed since the plans were formed in the mid-1980s.

“People need to speak to specific areas and concerns. We don’t want to resort to the ‘Here’s the plan, comment on it’ approach. When you do that, you’re assuming that you’ve got all the interagency conflicts worked out. We want the public input to define the issues for the agencies.”

At least one more public hearing is planned before the process is complete. Phelps encouraged local municipalities, advocacy groups such as Lynn Canal Conservation and the Chamber of Commerce and individuals to write or email their suggestions, instead of relying on public hearings to make points.

“The big problem with public hearings is that only a portion of the public attends and we need more variety of opinion than we generally get at a public hearing,” he said. “We need as much of a variety of information as possible.”

Surveys of commercial tourism activities in the eagle preserve and state forest are underway, with the goal to create the state’s first land use plan aimed a managing commercial recreation, Phelps said.

A survey sent out to tour vendors and charter operators asks for informaiton about volume and areas of operation. The data will be made public later this year.

Completion of the eagle preserve revisions will lead to a lifting of an emergency moratorium placed on new commercial use permits in the preerve. DNR imposed the block on new permits partially in response to a new application for airboat tours based at 12-Mile.

To comment on the plans, write Division of Mining, Land and Water, DNR, 550 West Seventh Ave., Suit 1050, Anchorage, AK, 95011, phone (907) 269-8592, fax (907) 269-8615, or email [email protected].