Environment

Forest service, Sitka restore gold mining site in land swap

SITKA — A 48-acre piece of land that was formerly the site of gold mining efforts in southeastern Alaska is growing wild again as the result of conservation efforts included in a land swap between Sitka and the U.S. Forest Service.

Cleaning up about 100 years of mining on Chichagof Island near Sitka cost the city almost $80,000, KCAW-FM reported. Waste and large items like sheds, a bulldozer and a camping trailer were removed to make way for the forest service.

The land swap gave the Boomer Lands to the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for an area that flooded when the Blue Lake dam was raised and the reservoir overflowed.

Sitka Conservation Society executive director Andrew Thoms says the agency helped the city and forest service officials agree on a plan for the clean-up.

Land involved in the swap was leased to an owner in the '80s.

"The Boomer property that we're talking about up there is not the whole mine area," Thoms said. "That is an inholding that somebody had as a mining claim, and they did work up there, and did some pretty bad damage up there while they were working that."

Officials put down mats of vegetation, debris and other materials to restore hydrology and vegetation.

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"The person who owned it left a ton of trash up there, some of it was toxic, just stuff you can't have out there in the forest," Thoms said.

The Alaska Lands Team with the forest service is overseeing the area's growth.

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