Have you ever dreamed of building a cross-country ski lodge somewhere on the Juneau Icefield? Or maybe a waterfront cabin on the northern shore of Lynn Canal? Well, they’re part of the Tongass National Forest that could be put up for sale under a bill the Wilderness Society described as “extraordinary giveaways aimed at privatizing public lands” while masquerading “as a way to provide more housing.”
But it’s not the kind of home I alluded to. I took a little liberty with their statement because they took a lot of liberty with the facts.
The map and table that accompany their online article imply the ice field and entire shore of Lynn Canal are among the 16 million acres within the Tongass and Chugach National Forests that could be sold. Along with another 234 million acres across 10 other western states.
There’s a long history of efforts to transfer ownership federally owned lands to the states.
In 1996, Congressman Don Young sponsored the Tongass Transfer and Transition Act. Under that bill, the entire Tongass National Forest would have become state owned.
In 2012, the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act laid claim to 31 million acres of federal lands. In 2015, then-House Speaker Mike Chenault sponsored similar legislation in Alaska.
More recently, Gov. Mike Dunleavy filed a lawsuit claiming submerged lands under Mendenhall River and Lake belong to the state. In December, he sent President Donald Trump a letter asking him to recognize Alaska’s ownership of all such lands in the state.
No wonder the Wilderness Society felt compelled to sound an alarm. But the way they’ve chosen to frame the issue isn’t honest.
All the current bill would do is direct the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to sell 2.2 to 3.3 million acres of the lands under their jurisdiction. It’s to be used “solely for the development of housing or to address associated community needs as defined” by their respective Secretaries. It needs to be adjacent to existing developed areas, have access to existing infrastructure, and be suitable for residential housing.
Imagine a few hundred acres on The Glacier Spur Road just beyond the forest boundary.
Lands that reduce checkerboard ownership or are “isolated tracts that are inefficient to manage” could also be put up for sale.
The Wilderness Society argues the Secretaries would be being given broad discretion to interpret all those terms. And that there’s no enforcement mechanism.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, believes the bill contains enough use restrictions to prevent abuse of the language.
I’d accept her reassurance if anybody other than Trump was president.
In the five months since taking office, he’s shown a complete lack of respect for the Constitution, previously enacted laws, and any court ruling he doesn’t like. He staffed his administration with loyalists who act as if he can do no wrong. And aside from Murkowski, very few congressional Republicans have shown any interest in holding him accountable.
There’s another reason why he’s extremely untrustworthy.
More than eight years ago, his administration introduced us to the bizarre idea of alternative facts. Although it was widely ridiculed, it started burrowing roots into the nation’s daily political discourse. After four years, they were so deep that Trump was able to convince a quarter to a third of the country that the 2020 election was stolen.
He’s still clinging to that well-documented falsehood.
In April, he ordered an investigation of Chris Krebs. In Trump words, the former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency “falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.”
In a social media post last Friday, he wrote “the 2020 election was a total FRAUD! The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING. A Special Prosecutor must be appointed.”
Simmering below that bold face lie are thousands of others he’s curated. Collectively, they’re shredding the fabric of the shared realities necessary to sustain a healthy democracy.
That’s why I’m disturbed by the misinformation being spread by the Wilderness Society. They may be playing a much smaller role in the dangerous game of alterative facts. But if the honest truth isn’t sufficient to defend their cause, then they don’t deserve the support of even the most dedicated environmentalists.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
