Current priorities / Point MacKenzie conveyance
885 acres at Point Mac, and not a word about access.
If you hunt, ride, run dogs or pull a trailer anywhere off Point MacKenzie Road, Guernsey Road, Holstein Avenue or Reddane Avenue, read this.
The state calls it a noncompetitive public and charitable use conveyance of Tracts 10A and 13A, Point MacKenzie Terminal Reserve Subdivision. Everyone else calls it Point Mac.
The Department of Natural Resources proposes to convey roughly 885 acres of state land to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority for rail-support and cargo logistics facilities. We are not opposing it. We are asking a question the notice does not answer: what happens to access across that ground?
What is actually proposed
DNR's Division of Mining, Land and Water has issued a preliminary decision to convey about 885 acres of state-owned land to AIDEA, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, as a noncompetitive sale to a public and charitable use applicant, case ADL 234934.
The land is Tracts 10A and 13A of the Point MacKenzie Terminal Reserve Subdivision, within Sections 19, 30 and 31, Township 15 North, Range 4 West, Seward Meridian, roughly 27 miles southwest of Wasilla in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
The stated purpose is "rail-support and cargo logistics facilities necessary for scalable import and export activity at Port MacKenzie."
Two related actions are out for comment at the same time: an amendment to the Southeast Susitna Area Plan, and a Land Classification Order, both carrying the reference SC-08-001A05.
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Why we are asking rather than opposing
Port MacKenzie is an industrial port. Rail and cargo facilities there are not surprising and are not, in themselves, something we object to. Development and access can coexist, and they usually do when somebody thinks about access before the lines are drawn rather than afterwards.
What concerns us is what is missing. The public notice does not mention access, easements, or rights of way anywhere. Not to confirm they are protected, not to describe how they will be handled, not at all.
That silence may be entirely innocent. It may also be how a trail quietly stops being a trail, which is the pattern we have watched play out across this state for years.
What we want to know from you
We are a volunteer organisation and we do not know that ground as well as the people who use it. If you do, tell us.
Do you use trails across or alongside those tracts?
Riding, hunting, trapping, mushing, hiking, berry picking, getting to a cabin or a lake. Anything.
Is there an RS 2477 right of way in there?
The state's own map carries an RS 2477 Trails layer for this area. If you know of a historic route through or beside these tracts, that is exactly the sort of thing that needs saying before the conveyance, not after.
Are there section line easements you rely on?
Tract boundaries follow section lines here. Section line easements are a common access route and a common casualty.
How do you get to the Goose Bay State Game Refuge?
The refuge sits immediately east of the area. If your route to it crosses this ground, say so.
Does this affect how you reach the water?
Knik Arm, the flats, and the launch and landing spots people use.
Anything else that would be hard to get back.
If losing it would matter, it is worth a sentence now.
How to comment, and why it is worth five minutes
Write it plainly and in your own words. Say who you are, how you use the area, and what you want DNR to confirm or protect. You do not need legal language. You need to be on the record.
Say the case number, ADL 234934, so your comment is filed against the right matter.
By post: 550 W. 7th Ave, Suite 1050, Anchorage, AK 99501. By fax: 907-269-8904. The contact for questions is Daniel Jenkins at DMLW.
Whichever way you send it, it has to arrive by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday 21 October 2026.
Read it yourself
These are the state's own documents. We have copies here so they open straight away.
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The preliminary decision
DNR's reasoning for the conveyance. The document to read if you only read one. PDF -
AIDEA's application
The public and charitable use application behind the request, ADL 234934. PDF -
Vicinity map
Tracts 10A and 13A, the surrounding roads, land status, and the RS 2477 trails layer. Image -
The official notice on the State of Alaska site
The original posting, ADL 234934. State site
Two things, and the clock is short.
Comment to DNR before 21 October. This matters more than people realise: under the terms of this notice, only those who submit timely written comments can appeal the Final Finding and Decision. Stay quiet now and you lose the right to challenge it later, whatever it turns out to say.
And tell us what you know. We want to hear from people who actually use that country. Which trails do you run, what do you cross, and is anything you rely on inside or alongside those tracts?
The button opens your email with a draft already started, addressed to the department and copied to us. Fill in the bracketed parts in your own words. Your own words are what carries weight, and the copy to us is how we can show the department how many Alaskans responded.