The Southeast Alaska Land Trust (SEALT) collaborates with communities, individuals, and organizations throughout Southeast Alaska to help ensure that highly valued habitat, recreation, open space, and cultural and historic areas continue to thrive for the well-being of each generation.
As a landowner and stakeholder, the SEALT Board of Directors and Staff offer the following statement regarding a Juneau-Douglas North Crossing:
The Southeast Alaska Land Trust has an enduring interest in preserving the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge, based on a 25-year investment in the private conservation of lands surrounding the Refuge. While SEALT welcomes necessary development for the community of Juneau, the Refuge is not a suitable location for any second crossing between Juneau and Douglas Island.
SEALT owns and stewards 22 conservation properties around the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge to support the Refuge’s habitat, recreation, open space, and cultural values. SEALT works with voluntary landowners to conserve treasured land for future generations using grant funding, donations of land or land interests, community fundraising, and operation of a compensatory mitigation program. Our organization’s interest in the Refuge intensified in 2009 when SEALT provided mitigation to the City and Borough of Juneau to compensate for Refuge wetlands lost during the Juneau International Airport expansion. SEALT provided compensatory mitigation by conserving private wetland parcels adjacent to the Refuge, resulting in our 22 conservation properties adjacent to the Refuge.
Undertaking the stewardship of conservation properties comes with the responsibility of protecting both the financial investment in our holdings and the unique character of the lands we steward. SEALT has a direct interest in preserving its conservation properties and is a stakeholder in any proposed actions which may directly or indirectly affect those holdings.
The Refuge is an invaluable resource to the community of Juneau: it is a globally designated Important Bird Area that provides critical habitat for over 230 species of resident and migratory birds; a rearing, spawning, and feeding habitat for five species of salmon that are essential to the economy of Southeast Alaska; an iconic viewshed that is photographed and enjoyed by more than 700,000 visitors every year; a place of great cultural, subsistence, and economic significance to the Alaska Native people and Tribes of Southeast Alaska; and a favorite recreation destination for local walkers, duck hunters, and families. The health of SEALT’s conservation properties, the Refuge as a whole, and the community of Juneau would be irrevocably damaged by locating a Juneau-Douglas North Crossing within the boundaries of the Refuge.
SEALT has thoughtfully and consistently engaged in the Juneau-Douglas North Crossing Planning and Environmental Linkages Study through staff engagement and consultation with our Board of Directors. We continue to advocate for the protection of the lands that we conserve and for the integrity of the surrounding landscape of the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge.