SPECTRUM: Rush for Timber at Port MacKenzie Leaves Sea of Unanswered Questions

One minute after midnight on Monday, April 16, 2018, twenty troubled years of timber leasing near Trapper Creek will be terminated. The Mat-Su Borough will again own the Chijuk timber unit that produced little more than a legacy of legal bills, little logging activity and no revenue.

The slate is clean. The Borough can now update the timber value and put it out to competitive bid. This time a successful lease can be made with open public process and good forest practices. A stable timber operator could help pay upkeep at Port MacKenzie.

Prudent business practices should work that way but it's not what's actually happening.

In reality, Borough Manger John Moosey is pressuring the Assembly to fast-track an exclusive, sole-source contract. In a rush to seal the deal, a “notwithstanding” legal maneuver is being used that shoves aside Borough laws.

Under these circumstances the new contract would become the law instead of the contract being processed within the law that ensures open public process, competitive bidding and good standard forestry practices.

Who is slated to get this exclusive contract? The same Charles Nash who held the problematic Chijuk leases since 1998. He, and his new associates, would benefit from a screamingly low price of $31.50 an acre—or roughly $2.00 per cord—the same price agreed upon in 2013.

Public accountability and fair process rules that apply to everyone equally would not be considered. Bidding opportunities for other interested timber operators are cut off.

This sets a bad precedent. The Borough's credibility can only be earned through openness, consistency and fairness on an open and level playing field.

It would help to have a stable operator at Port MacKenzie that pays some upkeep. While the concept is good, and one that I support, the devil is in the details.

Why the rush? A reliable timber operator can be found just as quickly through the open bidding process as the fast-track sole-source proposal being pushed.

One state forest worker who spoke April 3rd that beetle infested spruce should not be cut from now through July.

Critical elements of the required Detailed Plan of Operation are incomplete. There is no Timber Transporation Plan, which is required to be open to public review and comment.

Serious safety and road maintenance issues have already been raised on local roads that are already overloaded without logging trucks running 24 hours per day, 5 days a week for 5 years, as proposed.

Bottom line. During the same time it would take to push through the fast-track sole-source contract, an open competitive bid can be held. The value of timber can be updated, with full public process and good forest practices intact. It would demonstrate, to other timber operators, that everyone will be treated fairly under the same rules.

We have the time to do this right. The Borough needs to ensure public accountability and a fair process. Open competitive bids. Conduct a successful timber sale that benefits the port and opens up some new economic opportunities.

Help the Assembly think this through carefully. People are invited to comment, share ideas and ask questions during the public hearing at the regular Borough Assembly Meeting this coming Tuesday, April 17th.

We cannot afford another ferry-type fiasco.

Jim Sykes serves on the Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly. The opinions expressed are his own, personal views.