"Lynn Canal Conservation"

Opponents say the Baby Brown project threatens biodiversity in upper Chilkat Valley.

The Southeast community of Haines has the reputation of being polarized. It lived up to that reputation last week with two vastly different events about a potential metals mine.

The tariff clash between the Trump administration and China is working in favor of local conservation groups, who hope to keep the forests near Haines standing.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has approved a waste management permit for a controversial mineral exploration project near the communities of Klukwan and Haines.

A federal judge ruled in March that the Bureau of Land Management doesn’t have to consider future mine impacts when permitting for exploration.

A federal court ruled Friday that the Bureau of Land Management does not have to consider future impacts of mine development before approving activities for mineral exploration in the Chilkat Valley.

The University of Alaska is in negotiations for the biggest timber sale in the Haines area in recent history. The 10-year, sale is estimated to yield around 100 million board-feet of timber.

The Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Lynn Canal Conservation and Rivers Without Borders filed suit against BLM over A mining exploration project near Haines.

The Baby Brown Timber Sale, about 35 miles northwest of Haines, offers up 20 million board feet of old-growth spruce and hemlock. Astoria Forest Products offered $270,000 for the timber last year. They were the only bidder. But the sale hasn’t gone forward.

A proposal for the largest potential timber sale in the Haines State Forest in 20 years is up for public comment until the end of this week.