State plans a gravel sale on the Parks Highway near Denali

The state is preparing to sell gravel from a site along the Parks Highway near Milepost 230, between Cantwell and the Denali Park entrance, to Revine Creek Environmental LLC.

The Department of Natural Resources has given public notice of its intent to issue the negotiated material sale, ADL 422879. The site is not new: DNR sought public input in 2020 on operating and reclamation requirements for ongoing extraction there.

Under state law, once DNR designates a material site, it can issue sale contracts from that site without a new best interest finding. That structure drew scrutiny in 2019, when the Alaska State Ombudsman found the Division of Mining, Land and Water had designated 20 sites without public notice, relying on language in a 2012 omnibus decision. Because designation is the stage where the public gets a say, the ombudsman concluded, skipping notice there forecloses comment on every sale that follows.

The division rejected a recommendation to end the practice, arguing its reading of the statute was lawful and necessary to process material sales for statewide projects efficiently.