The Southeast Alaska Land Trust and Leask Users Coalition are working together to protect intact wildlife corridors near Ketchikan, Alaska. The Leask Lakes property is 4,480 acres of intact temperate rainforest with anadromous lakes and streams at George Inlet. The Alaska Mental Health Land Trust (AMHT), owner of the Leask Lakes property, has solicited logging proposals for this property and hopes to begin a 5-year logging operation as early as May, 2005. The conservation partners have offered to purchase conservation easements to protect selected furbearer, salmon, and waterfowl habitats at Leask Lakes. The project is expected to cost $1.5 million. The money must come from several sources including federal grants, awards from private foundations and regional fundraising.

This Leaks Lakes parcel supports wolf, Sitka black tail deer, black bear, mink, marten, beaver, loons, Trumpeter swans, bufflehead, Canada geese, goldeneye, greater and lesser scaup, hooded mergansers, owls, and Queen Charlotte goshawks. Three regionally sensitive species have been documented to use Leask Lakes: the Alexander Archipelago wolf, Trumpeter swans and the Queen Charlotte goshawk. Leask Creek supports steelhead and sockeye/coho salmon.

Industrial scale logging, roading and subsequent housing development will destroy this high-valued habitat and fragment surrounding parcels. Conservation partners have offered to purchase conservation easements on 1000 acres of selected habitat corridors, matching or exceeding timber harvest revenues from these areas.

The AMHT owns 1 million acres throughout Alaska. Project success will expand the conservation constituency and become a model for negotiating multi-use/conservation options on other AMHT projects.

Link to www.leasklakes.org for more details.