There's a lot of election news to check out this week, but my favorite story in this edition is about a massive land status change that reporter Will Steinfeld wrote about.

The federal government is expected to lift D-1 land withdrawals across 28 million acres of Alaska in the coming weeks, likely with little advance notice, as part of a push for resource development. In the Haines Borough, that includes about 205,000 acres, or roughly 14% of the land in the borough.

But there hasn't been a lot of public back-and-forth about the land status change because the Trump administration is relying on a Biden-era public process, which drew roughly 15,000 public comments and ultimately concluded that the withdrawals should be kept in place.

That means much of the information released about the change has come through mandated consultations between the federal government and tribal governments. And some tribal leaders say the required consultations have fallen short. Chilkat Indian Village president Kimberley Strong told Steinfeld that the Bureau of Land Management hasn’t answered basic questions about timing or justification, and she believes the agency is moving fast to act before a new Congress and governor take office. The Alaska Federation of Natives has asked for a halt until changes are made to the process, though some Native corporations, including Doyon, support lifting the withdrawals.

The change could have big implications for the Chilkat Valley. A 2024 federal review found that lifting them would make Palmer Project expansion and new Haines State Forest timber sales "reasonably foreseeable." Elsewhere in the state, the bigger worry is loss of federal subsistence priority as land shifts to state management.

We plan to keep following this issue. If you think there's anything we should know, send a note to [email protected].

— Rashah McChesney, Editor