Sealaska Corp. is once again lobbying hard for a land exchange, in part on claims they were treated unfairly under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). While there may be some truth in these claims, it is certainly not the whole truth.
Myth: Sealaska did not receive the total anticipated amount of profitable timber under ANCSA. The initial timber inventories indicated there was 4 to 7.8 billion board feet of commercial timber available under ANCSA. So far the combined Sealaska and village corporation harvest is about 7.7 billion board feet and there are at least 65,000 acres yet to be harvested. Simply stated, the combined Native harvests will exceed the high end of the ANCSA estimates — the timber was there, it was cut and it was primarily exported as logs.
Myth: Sealaska was unduly constrained by the two 50-year timber sale contracts on the Tongass National Forest. True, each long-term contract set-aside large forest tracts for the exclusive use of two pulp companies. However, it is erroneous to assume that Sealaska was left to select marginal timber. When you compare Sealaska’s timber base to that of the Tongass or state forest lands, Sealaska Corp. selected some of the best timber lands in Southeast Alaska. Commercial timber lands are divided into four classes and ranked from high to low productivity. Sealaska’s timber base has higher proportions of the top two classes.
Myth: Sealaska Corp. asserts that ANCSA forced them to unfairly select lands inside the withdrawal areas set aside for 10 village corporations. To the contrary, it was Sealaska Corp. who returned to Congress to specifically request a ANCSA amendment to allow them to complete their land selections inside the village corporation withdrawal areas. Sealaska’s testimony cited the endorsement of the state of Alaska, the Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission, the Alaska Federation of Natives and even the acceptance of the Sierra Club. Congress quickly amended ANCSA to accommodate Sealaska Corp. in 1976.
Myth: Sealaska’s exchange is in response to justice delayed. Sealaska Corp. often stresses the 40-year delay in finalizing their entitlement under ANCSA. There are certainly elements of truth in the Sealaska Corp. argument, but again it is not the whole story. Under the Alaska Lands Acceleration Act of 2004 there are no reasons why Sealaska Corp. cannot rightfully finish their 65,000-85,000 acre entitlement — in short order — and without further legislation.
Myth: Sealaska’s exchange is a value-for-value trade. Simply stated, Sealaska Corp. wants to exchange lower quality uncut old-growth for much higher quality old-growth on Prince of Wales Island. Sealaska claims the proposed exchange is a value-for-value trade — especially in terms of wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, there are no publicly available timber appraisals available to evaluate the proposed timber trade. However, there are two proxies for value-to-value comparisons. Based on the presence of big trees, Sealaska is getting a ten-fold increase in big tree values. Likewise, using comparative wildlife habitat measures, Sealaska will log habitat that is 3.5 times more valuable than what they are returning to the public. Granted these proxies may be somewhat subjective, but even if they off by 200 percent, Sealaska Corp. still gains much higher timber values and the public is left with lower-quality habitat.
The real issue is that Sealaska quickly liquidated their old-growth and now is looking for a second bite of the apple. Sealaska Corp. is simply angling for a windfall benefit and a benefit that may never trickle down to shareholders. Past Sealaska/village corporation logging has certainly left villages like Kake and Hoonah high and dry. Moreover, there is absolutely no justification for this windfall to Sealaska Corp. when it comes at the expense of small communities, sportsmen, tourism operators and commercial fishers.
The answer to Sen. Lisa Murkowski is simply no. Sealaska needs to finish their existing land selections under the existing ANCSA framework and not under new legislation using a misnomer of an unjust ANCSA process.
• Mehrkens is a retired forest economist and a former alternate member of the Tongass Futures Roundtable.
Comments (94)
Add commentWhy does it take guest commentary to set the record straight?
It seems, these days, journalism feels no obligation to see that the truth finds its way to the surface of public consciousness, especially if it differs with official accounts.
Thanks to Mr. Mehrkens for correcting claims made by Sealaska executives by filling their voids of factual representation with the whole truth.
Mr. Mehrkens ...........
........... seems to be one of those gentlemen who always insist that things be true and factual. This is a rare trait it the corporate world. I am glad there are experts around that can straighten out all the spin and rhetoric that is continually thrown around. I congratulate him on a fine, concise and very lucid debunking of some of the myths that have cause so much damage to the Tongass. Excellent article. We need to see more like this one.
Thank You Mr. Mehrkens...
for taking the time to submit such a timely, credible letter which clearly points out the misconstrued partial truths that have been deliberately circulated regarding Sealaska's obviously unwarranted legislation.
Why should the American public, or anyone else living in Southeast Alaska, be penalized for the financial follies of a corporation that is seeking what amounts to another bailout?
#1 issue. Good point.
#1 issue. Good point. However, 7.7 billion board feet is in line with estimates of initial inventories. Large scaling methods are only "estimates" and not actuals. Your actuals are revealing. Thank you.
#2 issue. Sealaska's countered land selections are a site better than glaciers and mtn. tops originally offered. Can You agree here?
#3 issue. Here there is only a kernel of truth on Sealaska's side. Sealaska would rather trump the legalese and politically work for change. The Sealaska approach has been like trying to put lipstick on a pig and claiming their best is as good as Shareholders will receive. Somehow an elitist attitude prevails where Sealaska places itself way above any conventional norms. The land selections are a great example of this behavior. It is such an undignified approach.
#4 issue. Small and very misleading on Sealaska's side. The Old "wounded bird wing" dance. Embarrassing.
#5 issue. Another kernel of truth on Sealaska's part. The value claim is murky. The lans being traded away are unkown values. This is really what is fascinating. Sealaska trading away lands and no declared values of what is being traded away. Shareholders never know the mineral values involved. This shareholder is very concerned over this point.
Overall a great letter and very organized.
let them eat cake?
what I hate Joe is that Senator Murkowski/Sealaska are saying they are conserving wildlife and fish habitat in the process. The areas they are "protecting" seem to be either full of low value trees or otherwise protected by the roadless rule. It's ridiculous to think that you can offset trashing habitat under Alaska's logging rules by "protecting" areas that will never be logged. The congressional delegation and roundtable people working with Sealaska on this should be ashamed. You are right on Joe. This legislation is just about the delegation and corporation being a spoiled child who got fat eating their birthday cake all at once rather than saving a little and now they want another cake. If history repeats itself, the child will gobble the whole cake rather than share with the other children - nary a crumb for the shareholders. And for everybody else who is giving up their own little piece of public lands pie (guides, fishermen, sportsmen, small community residents), you get a moldy old piece of bread.
What you tell a spoiled child is: no thank you.
" Moreover, there is
" Moreover, there is absolutely no justification for this windfall to Sealaska Corp. when it comes at the expense of small communities, sportsmen, tourism operators and commercial fishers."
Sealaska Corp. is owned by thousands of ordinary people who will benefit.The trees will grow back after harvest and the residents of Southeast Alaska will benefit from resource development.Life will go on!
Resource "Development"?
Snagger,
Are you suggesting the temporary pittances of shareholder dividends actually result in a "benefit" that exceeds the present values of deer and salmon and watershed health of local communities?
If so, you've clearly not done the math. Sealaska's clearcuts surround the native villages for miles and miles and it will take many lifetimes for the forests to return to what they were.
There's nothing wrong with cutting trees on a reasonable scale for local uses. But Sealaska doesn't operate that way. It cuts as many as it can and ships them in the round to China in exchange for a shareholder pittance in dividends, while the Board of directors give themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
This legislation has been
This legislation has been based on many Myths since the beginning. For years now Sealaska has been caught at one after the other, it is time for truth over politics. Why has no assessment ever been done of the lands being given up? Also a comparison between original sites and potential sites, This has been called for by a number of different stakeholders . In 2009 the BLM stated "it is our professional opinion that inadequate professional assessments of the potential wildlife impacts of this legislation have been conducted. We believe it is essential that a thorough analysis of the various land selections under consideration and selections made under the existing law be evaluated "
Dear minority:
Dear fringe renegades opposed to the Sealaska lands bill,
I understand that you dont have much to do after campaigning so hard for Joe Miller, but consider helping a charity rather than spend your days on the blogs. Logging into 6 different accounts with various usernames has got to be confusing you, and your spouse for that matter.
Mr. Mehrkens-- your "myths" have as much truth in them as Sarah Palin's statements about troopergate.
We all have a choice in SE alaska... develop lands, create jobs, and grow our region as a whole or continue to lose representation as a region whereby one day the region will cease to exist.
Nice One Juneau - ad hominem attacks
Not all opposed to the Sealaska lands bill are/were Joe Miller supporters. Have you considered the possibility that one may support some of Murkowski's efforts, but not all of them? Fringe elements, hardly. There are several Native communities in Southeast that didn't support Murkowski (going for Miller and/or McAdams), does that make them a fringe element too?
As a shareholder, I'm opposed to the Sealaska lands bill. One thing US Senator Claire McCaskill has managed to prove with her efforts in 8(a) SBA contracting is how little ANCSA shareholders benefit from the financial windfall that the corporations, their business partners, and managers receive from 8(a); and the lands bill is no different. The lands bill is just more of the trickle down economic theory that doesn't work - if Sealaska makes more money (for management) the shareholders will benefit; however, that hasn't happened in 30 years and is extremely unlikely to happen with the proposed lands bill. Given that the shareholders don't benefit from the corporate economic development policies of Sealaska, why should the residents and other businesses operating in Southeast Alaska expect to do better than the shareholders?
Dear fringe run-amok opposed
Dear fringe run-amok opposed to the reality that the bill never even got out of committee last year. Land grabs are that way-- only a minority fail to see the ripoff of handing a pen to Sealaska executives to rewrite ANCSA. Now there's some real charity.
As far as calling Sealaska's continuous clearcuts surrounding native villages "development"-- if it occurred by natural forces that expansive devastation would be called a natural disaster.
It takes a special mindset to call Sealaska's unnatural disasters "development", while communities wait decades for trees to grow back, and if they're lucky, the salmon runs and deer populations to return.
Juneau
Your response has become a standard issue post whenever someone makes valid points that are easily confirmed through public record.
Ironically, the more times Sealaska attempts to spin the story on their justifications for not completing their final, irrevocable ANCSA selections, the more opportunities there are for the truth to come to the surface.
By the way, your comments look rather familiar, perhaps it is you who are logging in under several different accounts...
They did such a good job before
Sealaska clear cut and hi-graded their high value timber lands before. Utter incompetance managing what should have been a sustainable resource. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice........ Now they want a second and third bite at the apple.
Lease-A Murkowski payback to crooked kookesh (both father and daughter). That's the legacy of this bill. Funny Jalen used to use her maiden name, that was before her crook daddy was found strong arming the city of craig and pilfering the salmon resource. AFN's man of the year, how proud the native people must be of him.
Skeptical1 -- You are right on the money!
The Kookesh family is, as a group, the most dishonest family of this year and the next and the next. I had hoped that redistriciting would get rid of Al in the legislature, but sadly the process has saved him.
Now it's up to the voters to realize the scoundrel Al Kookesh really is.
public record confirmation
SEAK 53- Each point of these "myth's" is opinion... I see no citations where I could review the material (which is probably debatable itself).
One "Myth" is that Sealaska could claim land under the act... but lets be honest with ourselves, would it be beneficial to anyone for Sealaska to claim 78,000 acres of ocean, tidelands, watersheds for villages, or mountaintops? When you consider reality and look at the situation through a lens of reason, this bill must pass and it will pass.
SEADOG- In addition to the Sealaska dividends, which are not meant to be your sole source of income, Sealaska does provide for hundreds of jobs throughout the region. I recall seeing a report some time ago, which detailed the direct, indirect and induced economic activity stemming from Sealaska activity at well over 400 jobs in the region.
Whether you like it or not, jobs are being created and provided with those "profits." Unfortunately, it is the NIMBY's like yourself that caused us to lose representation in the State legislature-- Thank you for that.
Until you provide a plan to create 400 jobs, and continue to grow jobs in Southeast rural communities, I will continue to hedge my bets on one of the few organizations that has done so successfully over the past 40 years-- Sealaska.
Dear "Juneau", .......
....do you have the crap you have posted written in the palm of you hand? This stuff sounds like something coming off of a "cheat sheet". Perhaps you should do a little objective research before going on the attack. Posting behavior like yours is becoming so predictable it's becoming sort of like some kind of "board" game. [no pun intended].
This legislation is anti job
This legislation is anti job and fiscally irresponsible. The USFS has invested heavily in the young growth to be given up. Thinning for improved wood quality and growth, stand resilience, and habitat quality. These treatments represent a significant investment in the forests. Sealaska targets 25% of the oldest young growth within phase 1 suitable land base. Sealaska will remove the oldest and most ' available' young growth within the Tongass, invested in for future timber jobs for local POW mills. How many jobs will this produce when the logs are shipped out in the round to Asia? This legislation does not produce more jobs than it eliminate's , supplies Jobs?= just another myth
"Juneau"..re: public record confirmation ....
...... perhaps you should talk to the everyday shareholder in Hoonah. Maybe he or she would turn out to be one of the "NIMBY's" you talk about.
If people of Kake could take a step back in time, to twenty years ago, do you think they would be "NIMBY's"?
Clear cut logging is destructive. It must stop.
Wise up.
SEACC vs. Economy
zerocut-- we have two very different positions. Unfortunately not everyone in the region can live off of trust funds handed down to them with a silver spoon. The majority of us must have jobs and jobs require responsible development of our land.
You speak of those in Hoonah... Well, I am pretty sure that they all speak of a time before 20 years, when they owned all the land. They speak of a time where they could harvest seagull eggs and not have to have their hand held, a time where they could hunt a seal in glaicer bay, a time where they could put up a fish camp and not have it burned down... Point being, there is little being done by your SEACC bretheren to allow for development in rural areas.
Provide solutions, not opposition.
Another mis-perception?
Interesting how that perception about the lack of selection areas keeps being recited when Sealaska's own publications don't back that up.
While they do refer to being limited to making their selections from federally designated "withdrawal" areas that total 327,000 acres, they admit these lands are productive and suitable for selection, and also state that nearly 85%, or 277,000 acres, are enormous swaths of pristine stands of old-growth hemlock, Sitka Spruce, yellow cedar and western red cedar.
Evidently there are adequate areas available, since their final "withdrawal area" selections were submitted to the BLM in June of 2008.
It would be interesting to see a study done on how many jobs will be LOST as a result of Sealaska's desire to change course in their development strategy over three decades after others in Southeast have developed their lives and businesses around the boundaries of ANCSA.
Juneau - a truly sad poster
Don't we make assumptions here? My dividends aren't my sole source of income. I guess you don't have any valid, factual points to make in support of the Sealaska bill, so you restort to name-calling and personal attacks. Unfortunately, that has become the Sealaska way as shown by the management.
Juneau, you may be unaware of it, but Sealaska lawyers, Rosita Worl, former Sealaska Board Member Ethel Lund, ANB Grand Treasurer Brad Fleutsch, etc. all attacked William Paul Sr. for the contract he drew up concerning the REPLICA of a raven hat now at the Alaska State Museum. The thugs at Sealaska will attack anyone, even from history, to get what they want.
Juneauian - attacking a legislator is fair game - a family isn't
Condemning an entire family as dishonest is way beyond the limits. I can understand accusing a politician of it, but to broadly brush the entire family this way is over the top! I hope your comment is trashed, because it is appropriate.
I know a number of that family and I know them by their actions as being honest and forthright. Perhaps a little too forthright at times - but consider the world from their perspective, it is refreshing to hear something other than only the non-Native perspective.
Over the the top.
Over the the top.
Juneauian - attacking a legislator is fair game - a family isn't
A double post, but ditto!
Response to My Turn
Just a couple of comments.
First and foremost, we as individuals must own our accomplishments and mistakes. Nonetheless, I hope any and all criticisms directed at individuals stay within the scope of good manners. Words do matter.
Second, of course all the myths cited are backed up with documented (public) facts. The cites will be included in my letters to Congress.
Mr. Merkens ...........
............ once again is a voice of moderation and reason. I agree with his comments regarding personal attacks and unwarranted and/or unsubstantiated negative language.
"juneau",.................
.......... the only "trust fund" I have to live on is my more-than-meager Social Security [which I fully paid for, over 50 years of honest work]. I'm not some shouting opportunist who has just arrived at the scene. I have seen and witnessed the devastation to the forest and wildlife habitat, and the removal of our forest treasure to the Orient. I fought hard, long and effectively against the pulp mills and their evil 50-year contracts. I have not come upon my position by whim. I'm and old man and I know, by now, what is right, and what is wrong. What Sealaska wants to do is wrong, period. No amount of excuses can justify the destruction Sealaska stands for, and which the name Sealaska has become infamous.
"juneau"....
.... , this is why elders are wise.
Great Letter
A letter I completely agree with. Hold Sealaska to the original lands, and force them to make their selections, so this issue is resolved once and for all. Sealaska has sullied their image before the public and their own shareholders. Because of their mismanagement, they are viewed as greedy exploiters of the land rather than as stewards of the land. They believe it is their right to clearcut lands around protesting communities. Shareholders should throw the BOD bums out on their keister.
elders are wise
zerocut- I fully agree with you-- Elders are wise. It is time to let those who speak on behalf and are elected by 20,000 shareholders (oops sorry SEADOG 19,999) have their voices heard and let this jobs bill pass.