The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the early stages of amending its Resource Management Plan (RMP) to allow for a potential land exchange conveying approximately 1,240 acres of land in Thompson Pass to the Chugach Alaska Corporation (CAC). The current BLM Resource Management Plan does not allow for land exchanges in that area. This particular proposal would apply a change that pertains only to the specific 1,240 acres in question. 

The parcels of land under consideration are located east of the hairpin turn where the Richardson Highway descends from Thompson Pass towards the Lowe River. Some locals will recognize this turn of the highway as being located between the top and bottom of the popular “road run,” although the road run itself is not part of the proposed land. The parcels are on the opposite side of the highway from Blueberry Lake. 

The Dingell Act, a large piece of legislation passed in 2019 that impacts public lands throughout the United States, requires the BLM to identify “accessible and economically viable” land that could be made available to CAC for exchange. CAC has indicated a specific interest in these two parcels because, if transferred, they would connect existing CAC lands to the road system. 

One question that has come up in Valdez area social media groups and in an open letter widely circulated via email by Valdez activist Lisa Wax is whether this transfer would block access from the highway to the public land surrounding these parcels for people who are not members of CAC. The answer to this appears to be no, due to conditions that the State of Alaska requested in order to relinquish its own claim on the area.

The land in question is currently managed by the BLM, so it is technically federal land. However, the land has also has the status of being “state selected.” The State of Alaska was entitled to select approximately 105 million acres of land when Alaska became a state in 1959. Over the ensuing decades, about 100 million acres was formally conveyed to the state by the BLM. The state has yet to receive the last bit of its allotment due to complexities surrounding the last acres such as competing claims. The state, expecting that it would not receive every parcel of land it requested, made selections in excess of its allotment in order to provide alternatives. There are about 13 million acres of remaining land in Alaska the state has formally declared an interest in, and about 5.3 million of those acres will eventually go to the state. The two parcels in question are among the 13 million acres of “state selected” land. 

Ordinarily the status of being “state selected” would be an “encumbrance” that would make the BLM unlikely to consider conveying the land to another entity. However, in an April 2020 letter from Alaska DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water Director Martin Parsons to Erika Reed, BLM deputy state director for land and cadastral survey, Parsons stated that the State of Alaska supports the transfer of the land to CAC. 

The state letter goes on to say that the state is willing to relinquish its selection of the land conditionally. The state requires a 25 foot wide easement providing public access to the Lowe River through Heiden Canyon. The state also indicates that two trails: the Keystone-Canyon Thompson Pass trail and the Tasnuna Route pass through the lands in question and that documentation of these trails goes back to 1973. Without the provision of the easement, the state is not willing to relinquish its claim to the land. Without state relinquishment of its claim, the BLM is unlikely to make the land eligible for exchange.

Although the state letter mentions the existence of the two trails that pass through the land in question, the letter does not explicitly state any conditions regarding those trails. At press time, the Copper River Record had not received clarification regarding this. However we will follow up on this in a future issue. 

In an interview, Sheri Buretta, CAC chairman of the board and interim CEO, stated that CAC would honor public access to the easement if the transfer goes through. In addition, she said the public would continue to have access to existing trails. Josie Hickel, CAC executive vice president of land and resources, confirmed that if snow or other safety concerns required travelers to pass through in an area slightly adjacent to the formal easement that would not be an issue. Hickel pointed out there are CAC lands on the Kenai Peninsula where snowmachiners or other travelers pass through easements in an inexact manner due to trail conditions without incident.

Recreational users have also speculated about future changes to recreational access to the Heiden Glacier, which is where “The Books” couloirs feed into, and the Deserted Glacier. These areas are currently managed by the BLM but parts of them have the status of being selected by the Tatitlek Corporation. This land is not involved in the current prospective land transfer. However, some residents fear that changing the status of the land at the highway could lead to a change in land use throughout the area. At press time I had not yet spoken with a representative from Tatitlek Corporation. However, I will follow up on this question in a future article. 

CAC has the right to mine on its land in Thompson Pass, and road access would make that easier. When asked about any potential for mining, Hickel stated that it was unlikely. She went on to say that maps of Alaska indicating potential mineralization in the area do not indicate enough of a potential resource to justify the considerable expense of mineral exploration.

As far as what plans for future development CAC does have in the event of this transfer, Buretta and Hickel do not have definitive answers. “Any reasonable person could see the benefit to having that connection from the road,” said Buretta. She also spoke about the spectacular beauty of the area, saying, “There’s a lot to be imagined and dreamed about for that. Certainly and foremost it will be environmentally thoughtful.” 

The process that would permit this exchange to go forward is currently in early stages. The current Resource Management Plan for the area does not allow for land exchanges, and so the first step towards creating this exchange is for the BLM to amend it to make land exchanges possible for the selected acres. On November 24, 2020, the BLM published a notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment for this proposed change. A preliminary comment period was opened, which ended on January 4 2021. 

The BLM is now preparing a draft environmental assessment of the proposed change to the Resource Management Plan to allow for land exchanges. The draft is scheduled to be completed in early 2021. This assessment will include a series of alternatives for public comment. By law, one of the alternatives will be the “no action alternative,” which would mean making no changes at all. When the draft is published, another public comment period will open for 30 days. After that the final document will be prepared, and one last comment period will occur after that. 

The BLM has also indicated that it will schedule a public meeting to hear comments and present information regarding this plan when the draft environmental assessment is published. Initially, there was a meeting scheduled for January 4. However, there were numerous holiday-related conflicts with this date and so the meeting was postponed. 

The history leading up to this potential land exchange is complex, and touches on almost every significant piece of land management legislation passed in relation to Alaska since statehood. The Copper River Record will continue to cover the current BLM process regarding this land exchange. CRR will also cover the different perspectives on this history, including the Chugach Corporation perspective, in future issues. 

For more information, visit the BLM Eplanning website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2003781/510

Article by Allison Sayer