State proposes 320-acre gravel site at Dalton Highway Milepost 165

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources proposed Friday to designate 320 acres at Dalton Highway Milepost 165 as a material site, a source of sand, gravel and rock that could be mined until the department's Division of Mining, Land and Water closes it.

Once the site is designated, DNR can sell material under contracts "without further finding or notice," the preliminary decision says, though the division still reviews each sale request and operation plan. The first contract would go to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities: 50,000 cubic yards of sand, gravel and rip rap over five years, below fair market value. Under the contract, the first 5,000 cubic yards used on a public project come at no charge.

The land sat for decades in the utility corridor that Public Land Order 5150 created in 1971 to protect the Trans-Alaska Pipeline route. Public Land Order 7966 partially revoked it Feb. 25, and the state received equitable title to about 1.4 million acres, including this site, on May 5. DNR proposed similar sites in February at Milepost 145 and Milepost 172.5.

"With the rescission of the Public Land Order 5150, that allows us to really start acquiring additional material sites through that entire middle section of the corridor," Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson told the Senate Transportation Committee on Sept. 24. He said the department had been challenged to get free use permits from the federal Bureau of Land Management in the past.

The proposal reserves a 100-foot-wide private non-exclusive easement to keep access open for government work, material sales and pipeline and utility management. Two ponds the state has found to be public water, one entirely inside the site and one partly inside it, would get 100-foot vegetated buffers where no mining is allowed, so the public can reach them without crossing industrial work. A state mineral order closes the site to new mining claims.

The site lies outside any organized borough and within the boundaries of Doyon, Limited, the regional Native corporation, though no corporation lands are involved. No village corporation is within 25 miles.

Written comments are due to DNR's Northern Regional Land Office in Fairbanks by Nov. 30. Only people who submit written comments during that period can appeal the final decision.