U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in an effort to help the ailing timber in Southeast, introduced S. 3006, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Exchange Act, which would accelerate a long-proposed land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service to expedite timber to Southeast operators, while protecting important conservation areas and local trails. If the legislation is passed and signed into law, the exchange could be completed within one year.

“This bill will help improve the management of our federal lands, and facilitate a much-needed land transfer for the Alaska Mental Health Trust. These are common-sense solutions to real issues, and I am eager to advance them through the legislative process and into law,” said Murkowski.

The Alaska Mental Health Trust Land exchange, first proposed as an administrative land exchange in 2007, has been under review since 2012. In June 2015, the Department of Agriculture and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority executed an agreement to initiate the exchange. The Alaska Mental Health Trust would exchange 18,066 acres of old-growth forest lands it owns in the viewsheds at Ketchikan, Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and Myers Chuck, for an equal value of second-growth timber lands and some old-growth timber, potentially up to 20,920 acres in the Tongass National Forest, at Naukati and Hollis on Prince of Wales Island, and near Shelter Cove near Ketchikan.

Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, pointed to the Viking Lumber mill at Klawock and Alcan Timber in Ketchikan where the scarce supply of timber due to delays in U.S. Forest Service sales could cause Viking to curtail their operations within a year unless more timber is made available.

“The transition to a primarily young-growth timber program in the Tongass requires a reliable supply of economically viable timber to be made available to the existing industry. While the state is rushing to fill the void in timber availability prompted by delays in sufficient Forest Service sales, it is important for both the Mental Health Trust and University system to also provide timber. This bill will speed up that process,” Murkowski said.

At the end of May, Murkowski also released a separate bipartisan discussion draft on wildfire and forest management legislation that would help ensure the inventory of the 462,000 acres of potential young-growth timber in the Tongass region is finished. The inventory is essential to determining how fast trees are growing, the timing for timber availability, and the completion of studies that will support the economics of a transition. The two bills pursue different means of assisting the timber industry, both of which are important.

More information on S. 3006, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Exchange Act, and Murkowski’s draft wildfire and forest management legislation is available on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee website.