Metlakatla edible-only landscaping rule reshapes public plantings

Metlakatla has passed what may be the most unusual landscaping ordinance in the United States: any beautification of public land in the Southeast Alaska community must be edible. The result, so far, is about 50 plantings — apple, plum, and nectarine trees, plus native raspberries, gooseberries, and saskatoon berries — scattered from the ballpark to the boat harbor, with the fruit free for anyone to pick.

The program runs on a $105,244 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry program. Gatgyeda Haayk, the community's Community Garden Champion, is leading the planting effort under Metlakatla's long-standing Community Forest Management Plan.

The community of about 1,460 sits on Annette Island roughly 20 miles south of Ketchikan — on Alaska's only Indian reservation. The Annette Islands Reserve was established by federal statute in 1891, and the Metlakatla Indian Community operates under a distinct legal framework affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Metlakatla Indian Community v. Egan (1962), which is why the tribal council, rather than a city or borough, sets land-use policy here in the first place.

What happens after the three-year grant runs out — maintenance, replacement, expansion — has not been publicly addressed. The apple trees are in the ground regardless.