Alaska News

Eklutna Native Corp. places thousands of acres in land trust

According to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Eklutna Native Corp. and Great Land Trust have agreed on a deal that will remove in perpetuity 4,800 of acres of land from consideration for future development.

"It's a terrific way for Eklutna to be able to retain their own land, but also be able to get some revenue for protecting it, and it's a unique arrangement," the trust's conservation director, David Mitchell, told the Frontiersman.

The corporation was paid $1.95 million to place the land in what's called a conservation easement, and the money came from Anchorage's port expansion project. As part of a permit agreement, the Army Corps of Engineers required the municipality to place money in a fund to offset 135 acres of wetlands that were filled in. The Great Land Trust applied for funding, and the Army Corps approved.

The trust agreement allows Eklutna Corp. to retain traditional uses of the land, like hunting and fishing, and to issue the public-use permits as it sees fit, but except for small areas along the Glenn Highway and Alaska Railroad rights of way, nothing will be allowed to be built in the parcel.

The protected area can be seen from the Knik River Bridge by looking to the east. "It's not all of the lands between the Old Glenn Highway bridge and the new Glenn Highway bridge, but it's most of those," said Mitchell.

Read much more, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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