People and Place Campaign comes to Wrangell

The People and Place Campaign has come to Wrangell, with a pair of locals taking part in its stewardship principals in the region.

The campaign is a program that is funded through private foundations and non-profits to maximize local benefits and build capacity within a community.

Currently there are two individuals in Wrangell that the People and Place program is funding – Angie Eldred, working with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, and Erik Wortman, working with Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

Wortman helped set up the recent Stewardship Contracting workshops in partnership with Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, US Forest Service, and Nature Conservancy.

These were a follow-up to the Stewardship Contracting workshops held last fall in Wrangell.

According to Borough Manager Tim Rooney, the interest generated in the Wrangell workshop led to the work of Eldred and Wortman.

“There were approximately 15 individuals attending that included presenters and USFS personnel,” Rooney stated. “The focus of the workshop was to explain what Stewardship Contracting is and discuss the potential use of it for future timber sales, including the current Wrangell Island Timber Sale.”

The Wrangell Island Timber Sale, which has been delayed again and will go out for a third scoping process by the end of July, will see the volume of timber originally stated as available for the sale to be reduced from about 80mbf to approximately 60mbf.

“Because this is considered a significant change, and because other issues have been added to the EIS statement of intent, it was determined that legally a new 30-day scoping period was required,” Rooney added.

“Wrangell Island Road Management issues will also be added to this EIS, since road closures/maintenance and uses are so important to citizens of Wrangell. Different alternatives in the EIS require new road construction, but typically those roads are closed shortly after the sale is completed,” Rooney said. “The EIS will allow for comments by the community pertaining to road needs and usage. The alternatives currently proposed within the EIS range from about 60mbf to approximately 125mbf of timber.”

Stewardship contracting, in a nutshell, allows timber receipts to remain in the region. The money can be used for restoration projects, thinning, roadwork to stop erosion, stream and fisheries enhancement, invasive weed eradication, etc. Under current federal regulations, it cannot directly be used for recreation projects unless it is for maintenance that eliminates an environmental concern.

Stewardship contracting requires local collaboration and could potentially provide some jobs for contractors, but the longevity and value of those jobs would depend on the scale of the contracts and projects to undertake.

For more information, call SEACC at (907) 586-6942.