Agencies schedule two public meetings in Fairbanks, Delta Junction on Army's land-withdrawal request
The federal Bureau of Land Management is asking for public comment on the Army’s request to keep using 870,000 acres of public land around Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely for military training areas. The BLM has scheduled two public meetings next month to talk about the Army land withdrawals.
The 870,000 acres that the Army wants to continue using encompass the Yukon Training Area, east of Fort Wainwright, and the Donnelly Training Areas, East and West, which are located south of Fort Greely. The Army’s been using those lands ever since it was first withdrawn from public use back in 1961. It re-applied to extend that status in 1986 and 2001. And now it’s applying again.
“Their current application requests an extension of those same lands for 25 years or more,” says Chelsea Kreiner, a BLM land-transfer resolution specialist with BLM's statewide office in Anchorage. Kreiner is working with the Army on its application to extend the withdrawal, which will expire in 3½ years.
A BLM news release says the Army needs the land to continue training military servicemembers.
“The lands are used for all sorts of different training activities,” she said in an interview Monday.
One of those activities is a big training exercise that began this week called the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center-Alaska. Some 8,000 soldiers and more than 500 military vehicles are participating in the exercise in the Yukon Training Area. It’s closed to the public, like most of the training areas. But other parts periodically are open to hunting and other uses.
“The recreational access is managed by the Army, through their iSportsman program,” she said.
In years past, hunters have raised concerns over public access into or through training areas, and they may again offer input on the issue in public comments the Army is soliciting for a type of Environmental Impact Statement it’s compiling called a Legislative EIS.
Congress will have the final say on the Army's request. Kreiner says it’s expected to vote on the issue before the old agreement expires in November 2026. She says BLM already has gotten feedback for and against the request since the public comment period opened on March 10.
As part of the EIS process, the BLM and Army will conduct two public meetings in communities affected by the withdrawals.
“We encourage participation either through submitting written comments for this, or if possible by attending our public meetings to be held on Monday April 10th in Fairbanks or on Tuesday April 11th in Delta Junction,” Kreiner said.
The Fairbanks meeting will be at the Westmark Hotel and Convention Center, 813 Noble St., and the one in Delta at the city’s Community Center, 2287 Deborah St. Both begin at 5 p.m., and both will require members of the public to attend in-person. The deadline to submit comments to the BLM is June 7th.
