Petersburg Pilot -

An agreement is currently being worked out between the Alaska Mental Health Trust (AMHT) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) that could see the transfer of between 18,000 and 20,900 acres of state and federal lands.

“I’ve been working on this personally for seven years,” said Paul Slenkamp, resource manager for the AMHT Land Office. He is currently working with Forrest Cole, USFS forest supervisor for the Tongass National Forest.

“We’ve been moving through this administrative exchange over the last couple of years,” Slenkamp explained.

At the moment, the two parties are engaged in a le...