Timber

The largest timber sale in the Haines State Forest in at least 20 years is out to bid. The State Department of Natural Resources is offering the 855-acre Baby Brown timber sale for a minimum price of $250,000. A local conservation group worries the extensive logging project could harm wildlife and tourism.

Alaska Mental Health Trust’s board of trustees voted Thursday in Anchorage to reconsider an August decision to potentially move forward with logging Deer Mountain and a section of land above homes in Petersburg, and then the board delayed a final decision until the end of January.

The U.S. Forest Service grants have helped design boilers and plan wood-pellet mills in Southeast and Interior Alaska communities.

Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority’s board of trustees meets this week, and will vote on a “reconsideration” of its August decision to move forward with logging parts of Deer Mountain in Ketchikan and a parcel in Petersburg that sits above homes.

Alaska crews from multiple state and federal agencies are headed to the Lower 48 to assist in firefighting efforts there.

Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Steve Lindbeck was scheduled to be in Wrangell on Saturday, but fog prevented him from making one of his final Southeast campaign stops.