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Southeast Alaska: Ketchikan, Saxman and Petersburg Residents Invited to Meet with Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office - The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and Trust Land Office announced plans to host community meetings to engage with the residents of Petersburg, Saxman and Ketchikan on the status of the proposed land exchanges and potential timber sales.

AMHT Proposed land exchange in Ketchikan area marked in red.
Courtesy Alaska Mental Health Trust

“When we announced the land sale deadline, our intention was to call attention to the urgency of the land exchange legislation, which is the best option for all,” said John Morrison, executive director of the Trust Land Office. “We appreciate the questions and concerns raised by some residents of Ketchikan and Petersburg following the announcement. We look forward to sharing information at our upcoming meetings to help clarify our past and future actions so that the public can be informed as they engage in the process.”

The trustees voted in August to concur with the sale of two parcels near Ketchikan and Petersburg for selective timber harvest by helicopter, should the land exchange legislation not pass. This concurrence is now up for reconsideration with the board of trustees. If the legislation fails, and the administrative decision process to conduct these sales moves forward, the public will be involved. The public process will be discussed at the upcoming meetings.

“We are committed to finalizing this exchange if it remains in the economic interest of the Trust. That is why we’ve been working for the last decade to do a land exchange,” said Russ Webb, chair of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. On September 22, 2016, testimony on the legislation was heard before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “We remain optimistic the legislation will pass,” Webb said.

For nearly a decade, the Trust Land Office has been working to exchange lands with the United States Forest Service. Numerous meetings have been conducted with individuals, agencies, communities, environmental organizations and the USFS to identify and select the parcels that were included in the Agreement to Initiate that was signed June 30, 2015.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation this session to direct the Department of Agriculture to move forward with the exchange. On September 22, 2016, testimony on the legislation was heard before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

In the land exchange:

• 17,341 acres of Trust lands adjacent to the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau would be transferred to the USFS
• 20,580 acres of remote land on Prince of Wales Island and Shelter Cove would be transferred to the Trust for development and timber harvest

At the upcoming meetings, community members will have the opportunity to hear from and speak with representatives from both the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and Trust Land Office and ask questions. Plans are to share nformation on the: - More...
Sunday PM - October 16, 2016

Southeast Alaska: Alaska Island Community Services and SEARHC Announce Affiliation - Alaska Island Community Services (AICS) and SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) announced last week they are formally affiliating to enhance access to quality care for Wrangell residents and patients. As part of the affiliation, AICS will retain its name, and both organizations will be guided by a shared set of principles. AICS will continue to have a strong local voice and presence in Wrangell, and a local advisory council comprised of community members will be established to receive feedback and information regarding the community’s healthcare needs for planning purposes. Additionally, the council will oversee a community foundation, created with a portion of AICS’ financial reserves, to help support programs and services dedicated to improving the health of Wrangell’s residents. SEARHC will assume operational and management support roles while AICS continues operating out of all existing facilities and locations. The business transactions in support of the affiliation are expected to be completed by first quarter 2017.

“We are passionate about delivering dependable and sustainable healthcare services to Wrangell and the surrounding communities,” said AICS Executive Director Mark Walker. “Changes in the healthcare environment are creating tremendous fiscal pressures resulting in declining revenues and increasing expenses. By affiliating with SEARHC, we can continue providing quality services we can be proud of and that benefit our patients, residents and communities.” - More...
Sunday PM - October 16, 2016

Alaska: State of Alaska Receives Extension to REAL ID Requirements - Governor Bill Walker received notification from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week that Alaska received an extension to compliance with the REAL ID Act until June 6, 2017. Governor Walker requested the extension and informed DHS of his intention to introduce legislation that removes barriers to the REAL ID Act in January. For the duration of the extension, federal agencies may accept Alaska driver’s licenses and state-issued identification cards for official purposes.

“While I am pleased that we received an extension to compliance with the REAL ID Act, this is not a permanent solution,” said Governor Walker. “Thousands of Alaskans who work in federal facilities and on our military bases will be impacted when these rules are finally enforced. It is absolutely critical that the legislature take up this important issue and make the necessary changes to state statute this year.”

In 2008, the Alaska Legislature passed a law prohibiting the use of state funds to implement the REAL ID Act. While the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has implemented best practices to prevent driver’s license fraud and qualify the state agency for compliance extensions, federal officials have warned this will not continue in the future. In a letter sent to Governor Walker last week, DHS said further extension requests may be denied if the Legislature fails to act on Governor Walker’s legislation during the upcoming session. - More...
Sunday PM - October 16, 2016

Such was the case of a rugged geologist who island-hopped in the Aleutians following World War II. Thinking about the age of rocks he found, the placement of a string of volcanoes and how they were linked with the depth of earthquakes, Bob Coats arrived at this notion: the sphere of Earth is constantly eating its own plates and regurgitating them back out. At those explosive boundaries, now called subduction zones, volcanoes often ooze to the surface.

Coats died in 1995, but his idea remains in a 1962 paper he wrote of his time in Alaska.

"He solved a major problem that wasn't known to be a problem - where'd the skin (of the Earth) go?" said the late scientist's friend, David Scholl. Scholl is a seasoned geologist who recently visited Fairbanks. At the end of Coats's career, Scholl had an office just down the hall at the USGS headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Scholl, 82, thinks it important that his friend get credit for his prescient idea. It is a story of how an Alaska mystery shed light on tsunami-causing forces deep within the Earth.

At Menlo Park, the USGS had an "Alaska Branch" to which Coats was assigned. Coats was familiar with the state because he worked at the university in Fairbanks in 1937.

Just after World War II, Okmok Volcano on Umnak Island erupted, spitting ash in the air. Volcanic ash is abrasive and damaging to aircraft engines. Planes on a military base at Umnak were grounded. - More...
Sunday PM - October 16, 2016