Borough to vote Tuesday on timber contract for Port Mac

PALMER — A contract between the Mat Su Borough and Charles Nash for the 24,000-acre Chijuk Creek timber sale could possibly right perceived wrongs done to the timber industry in the past. If passed at Tuesday night’s assembly meeting, Port Mackenzie would finally find a customer if it is leased to Eric Oien of Denali Timber Management.

The groundbreaking project could aid health of the forest in the area and establish a trade route between the Valley and east Asian markets that could prove fruitful, according to proponents such as former Director of Economic Development Don Dyer. He sees this vote as a tipping point in Alaska history.

The detailed timber contract proposed a use for dead spruce trees affected by the spruce beetle, a problem that has plagued Alaskan forests for more than two decades. Trees of 8-inch diameter would be cut into pieces of 8, 10, and 12 feet for export to China. While the lumber is unfit for local projects, according to Dyer, it is perfect for wooden baskets made in China. The Chinese market also has what Dyer refers to as an insatiable market for hay, which would be the next step he would like to see in the development of natural resources that has been lacking in the borough.

Six to eight ships would transport lumber for five years, according to the proposal. The clearing of the affected spruce and bent birch trees would help to revitalize the forest and create a more suitable moose habitat, he said, even as foresters would be rustling the ground around the trees to stimulate new growth. The project will not invoke a clear cutting strategy used in the past by foresters.

Past contracts have been sour and the Mat Valley timber industry has been on it’s last leg for years, according to Dyer.

“We used to have 20 little mills. There’s hardly have anybody left in it. The Borough will have to make changes on how they deal with natural resources in the Valley. It hasn’t been working,” said Greg Bell of Valley Sawmill. “How are you going to keep repeating doing dumb stuff?”

Bell started his timber company at the site of the current Wasilla Walmart in 1979. Bell has seen the timber industry in the Valley wilt and die, a contention he sees proven, for instance, when the Alaska State Fairgrounds has to ship lumber up from Kodiak to build pavilions. Looking back, he says he thought natural resources was an honorable profession to get into, and has seen that dream go all but extinct.

“To try to get a timber industry going, we’re kind of starting from zero,” said Bell.

The spruce beetle infestation has significantly elevated the fire danger within Valley forests. Executives came to a recent Mat-Su Borough assembly meeting from around the world to present.

Public commenters did not generally disapprove of the timber sale, but rather raised concerns about the transportation on slim gravel roads. The transportation plan provided addressed the issue of log trucks sharing a road with residents and hope to alleviate issues of getting the logs from the forest to the port.

“The beetle kill problem and foresters of the State Of Alaska said even a couple more years of progression is going to make this timber unmarketable, so cutting it now is critical,” Dyer said, who is currently president of the Alaska Moose Federation. “At least it will be marketable, and create unbelievably good moose habitat. There’s nothing for these poor animals to eat and they're starving to death. If they've got young willow out there, the moose population is going to explode and all that cut area is going to draw the moose away from the Parks Highway and make the roads so much safer.”

Exporting natural resources could revitalize a timber industry within the Valley and lead to further exports, boosting the local economy. The lawsuit brought forth against Nash ended up in supreme court, where the Borough lost. Dyer claims mistakes like this drove business away from the Valley during his time as Economic Development Director.

"This Assembly vote Tuesday is a tipping point in history for Alaska that can tip us onto the world stage because Alaska has to stop acting like a state, we have to act like a country,” Dyer said. “We import 96 percent of our food. We have got to take big step towards self-sufficiency. This export market vote Tuesday is a tipping point into major scale export markets and bringing us into an era of self sufficiency.”

Struggling to find customers, Port Mackenzie continues to bleed money, losing somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million each year. The losses could be countered by the $900,000 the Borough hopes to bring in with the endeavor.

Bell has been in the timber industry long enough to see the rise and fall. Machinery, expertise, and labor have all dropped off.

“This will fill jobs for a lot of people who are underemployed out of the timber industry but will just go back to it,” said Dyer. “I'm not worried about finding bodies to run chainsaws and drive trucks. The Borough has a history of doing wrong to these people and they’ve forced these companies to go and sue them. They lose lawsuits and it costs MSB tax payers.”