The state may give 20,000 acres near Houston to a development authority

The state wants to hand nearly 20,000 acres of public land north of Houston to a development authority for an industrial and energy district — a no-cost transfer that its own review says would create jobs but also reduce public access to trails hunters, mushers, and riders now use.

Under a preliminary Department of Natural Resources decision, about 19,950 acres in the Mat-Su Borough would go to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority for a logistics hub, utility corridors, and data centers. DNR says the transfer serves the public interest and would help diversify an economy long tied to resource extraction.

The parcel holds about 41.8 miles of documented trails. DNR's review lists "loss of public access to state land, and reduced access to trails" among the likely impacts, but says those can be mitigated — and that the conveyance would not close the area's legal easements or RS 2477 routes, which the state says it will defend.

DNR is also waiving the reversionary interest that state law normally requires, which would otherwise let the land return to state ownership under certain conditions. The department says that gives AIDEA's investors long-term certainty.

Public comment closes at 5 p.m. Aug. 19.