Make a public comment by October 25th

Material Site Designation - (PDF link) (Public notice link)

If you are writing a letter for making a public comment, it should address the two issues being determined by DNR right now, identified separately in your letter.

  1. DNR has issued a Preliminary Decision to designate 113 acres of the state land next to Talkeetna Lakes Park and Christiansen Lake as a Designated Material Site. This site status is a prerequisite for any material to be sold or removed from there. Instead of the public getting advance notice prior to selling of materials each project, like the Constitution requires, it is a blank check to the state that says the public pre-approves of any kind of industrial material extraction the state wants to set up there; from sand all the way up to large rock, and from private contractors all the way up to large commercialized operations.

    This designation is a one-time public notice, that forevermore the site’s 113 acre purpose is industrialized material extraction, and that extraction can be accomplished in any myriad of ways, at any scale, or type, in partnership with anyone, and in perpetuity without further public input.

    "After this decision and notice, the department may sell materials continuously, without further finding or notice, from that designated source or site under this section until the source or site is closed by the department." (AS.38.05.550b)
  2. DNR issued a Preliminary Decision to give an Interagency Land Management Agreement (ILMA) to ADOT&PF which will transfer site management of the 113 acre extraction area to DOT for some period of time. DOT has put forth a proposed plan to hire contractors to ANNUALLY produce 5-20,000 CY (cubic yards) of rock and gravel from the site for DOT to use.

The deadline for public comments is October 25th, 2021. The final determination is appealable to State Superior court.

This will be the public’s first and only opportunity to comment on the use of this site as a permanent material site, as a quarry, or for any other alternative use.

Thank you!

How do I write the letter?

You can click here to autogenerate an email

If everything went swimmingly your email will look like this:

Screenshot of a properly addressed email, remember to write your comments!

If that link does not work, here is the nitty gritty detail of who to send your email to

 You should directly email these people
  • Corri.feige@alaska.gov
  • Marty.parsons@alaska.gov
  • Carol.hasburgh@alaska.gov
You should CC these people
  • tmeacham@gci.net
  • Mike.brown@matsugov.us
  • Alex.strawn@matsugov.us
  • Tamboevedistrict7@gmail.com
  • contact@talkeetnacouncil.org
And you should BCC these people
  • rebfisher@gmail.com
  • jon@talkeetnacouncil.org

What should I write for content?

From our "HOME" page, you can scroll below the picture and see a post on the Constitution. There is a very good talking point at the end. You can use it!

If you write something akin to

  • "I don't like the idea of a quarry"

This will elicit the response "comment received", and we don't want that.

You can use the section below with Talking Points to inspire yourself and obtain information for your letter! The talking points can be expanded to get more information. Pick a few from the different pages. Ask questions in your comment and let DNR answer them.

Talking Points

For those who want to hand write a letter

All written hard-copy comments should go to:

Department of Natural Resources
Division of Mining, Land and Water
Southcentral Regional Land Office
Attn: Carol Hasburgh
550 West 7th Ave, Ste 900C
Anchorage, AK 99501-3577

AND, because of DNR’s lack of acknowledgement of former letters, and because we administratively appealed DNR’s classification rejection to Commissioner Feige, she should receive a copy.

Department of Natural Resources
Office of the Commissioner
550 W. 7th Ave, Suite 1400
Anchorage, AK 99501
Attn: Commissioner Corri A. Feige

If you are not separately emailing the letter and cc’ing CALLA, then please snap a picture of the letter and send it to me. (We'll forward it to MSB/attorney and our own attorney to ensure all the records will be available for the review at our next level of appeal to Superior Court.) Otherwise please bcc: rebfisher@gmail.com on the email list.