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Tongass
Conservation Society
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Be Good to Gravina!
Gravina Access Highway and Bridge Projects
NEWS: Gravina Highway Poll Results Show 71% Opposed to Gravina Access Highway
Poor erosion controls on display at the
contruction site for the Gravina Highway
A new poll released this week shows strong statewide
opposition to the Gravina Access Highway, a project which will cost
$25.7 million for 3.2 miles of road according to the Alaska Department
of Transportation and which leads to a bridge that has no assured funding.
The poll, conducted by Hays Research of Anchorage, found that 71% of
Alaskans are opposed to construction of the Gravina Access Highway under
current conditions. In Ketchikan, the opposition was even stronger at
75%.
Gravina
Highway Question and Complete Poll Results
Gravina Access Highway Story
Hays Research
NEW ARTICLES AND BLOGS
Juneau
Empire: My Turn by Carol Cairnes
Muskegger:
To Build or Not to Build
NewsReader:
Alaskans Like Palin, Dislike Gravina Project
Sitnews:
Alaskan Oppose Gravina Highway
Read on to learn what you can do to help.
Gravina Island is the location of the proposed $395+ million bridge to nowhere. It is planned to span from the town of Ketchikan, over the Tongass Narrows and Pennock Island, finally touching down on Gravina. With the exception of the Ketchikan Airport, this small nearly undeveloped island is one of few islands in Southern Alaska to remain virtually untouched. Gravina Island is also what every Ketchikan resident views every day.
Even though Congress removed the funding earmark and the state can spend the money on any transportation project, the State of Alaska seems to want to go through with initial bridge construction. In November 2006 the State of Alaska gave a Notice of Request for Proposals for Phase 1 of the Ketchikan Gravina Island Access Project.
"The Project requires the design and construction of full width gravel roadway from the Lewis Reef Road near the Airport southerly to tidewater on the West Channel of Tongass Narrows, where succeeding projects will bridge across to Pennock and Revillagigedo (Revilla) Islands." according to the public online notice.
This Gravina Access Highway project, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation, was contracted out at a cost of $25.7 miilion on December 1, 2006. For this price we get 3.2 miles of road. That equates to about $8 million per mile. This contract was let by the previous administration under Frank Murkowski. The Gravina Highway was permitted by the Army Corps of Engineers on December 20, 2006, nearly three weeks after the contract was given to a company from Anchorage, Alaska.
Gravina Island is occupied by 50 people in 15 families. Many of these folks live there because the island has few roads. Alaska's former Governor Frank Murkowski has 33-acres of family owned land just south of Clam Cove on Gravina Island. Is there any wonder why Frank supports the Bridge to Nowhere and the Gravina Access Highway?
The communities surrounding this majestic island enjoy it for what it currently is: a fabulous location for subsistence hunting and gathering, a sanctuary for unique wildlife including the flying squirrel, and an historical and cultural symbol for the peoples of Native Saxman, Metlakatla, and Ketchikan. Those who are blinded by the prospects of overdevelopment throw the history and soul of Gravina Island to the side.
What Can You Do?
Write to our Governor Sarah Palin, and ask her to stop the Ketchikan Gravina Island Access Project. We as Ketchikan residents don't wish to line our former Governor's pockets anymore. We wish the funding to be re-directed to other transportation projects in Ketchikan and other communities around the state whom are in greater need of the funding for safety updates and repairs and vital, measurably beneficial new construction.
Sample
Letter - Gravina Highway (PDF)
Sample
Letter - Bostwick Road (PDF)
Go to the Official Governor Sarah Palin website and share your thoughts with the new Governor.
Gravina Island thanks you.
Roads and Bridges to Nowhere
Articles
How
Three Words Changed Politics
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review: Veteran Care with Bridge Mention
NY Times: Bridge Going Somewhere - For Now 03.2007
ADN:
Bridge to Nowhere cost rises to $395 Million 02.2007
Letters and Commentary
April 2007
How
to Get to Gravina
Quick
Hits! Gravina and other matters
71%
don't matter!
Who
Paid for the Poll?
Poll
Explanations
Poll
Disclosure
Faith
Fleeced
by Gravina Project
Don
Young, Pork, Gravina Highway, and Bridge to Nowhere
Poor
Road Conditions on the Home Island
Bridge
and Pork Barrel Politics
Bridge
to Where?
Bridge
to Somewhere
State
Agency Covering Its Tracks
Anti-war,
Pro-pork
Bridge
to Nowhere v3.0
Bridge
to Nowhere v2.0
March 2007
In
Defense of Gravina!
A
Fun Letter in Opposition
Roads
are Silly; Vickrey a Fool Though ;-)
Gravina Documentation and Response to Opposition
LTE
in Support of Logging Roads
Natural
Gas, Logging, Roads, and So On
Opposing
Point of View: Gravina Logging Road
Traditional and Cultural Use of Gravina
Gravina
Viewpoint Appreciated
More
Bridge Thoughts
Opposing
Point of View: Bostwick Road
Anchorage
Daily News: Governor On a Roll
Juneau
Empire: Vast Doesn't Necessarily Last
Juneau
Empire: Wrong Priorities for Gravina
February 2007
A
Better Type of Bridge
Reprioritize
State Funds to Veterans
Bridge
and Roads to Nowhere
Wrong
Priorities for Gravina Island
Seleyville
(reference to Pacific Log and Lumber)
More
Eyes on Gravina
Bostwick
Road/Gravina Highway: Immoral, Illegal, Unchecked
Another
Perspective on Gravina
All
Eyes on Gravina
Opposing
Point of View: Pro-Roads
Point
of View on Gravina Roads and Other Projects
Be Good to Gravina (PDF)
Letter
to Governor Palin re: Gravina Bridge
TCS Perspective
on Gravina (PDF)
Governer
Palin: Halt the Gravina Access Highway
Another
Letter to Governor Palin re: Gravina Highway
Stop
the Road Building on Gravina LTE
Editorial on the Bridge
Archives
Conservative
Group Against Gravina Highway
Commentary
on Bridge from December 2005
Two Fights. One
Cause. Gravina.
Get info on the Bostwick Road directly
below.
Check out the left column for the Gravina Highway.
Scroll down the left column for all the letters and commentary.
Whew!
Thanks for the support!
The Bostwick Road to Nowhere
Logs recently clearcut line the Bostwick Road.
This clearcut will eventually be over 340 acres.
Gravina Island is currently being clearcut, and access to the timber occurs via the Bostwick road. We have monitored the status of this road for nearly a year, and construction continues illegally - without proper Army Corps of Engineers permits. The Clean Water Act is being violated as you read this.
As for the clearcuts, the activity is occuring on State owned lands and adjacent Alaska Mental Health Trust lands. At least ten cuts are simultaneously occuring.
The illegal Bostwick Road currently ends at this
massive stump garden.
We Need Your Help
The state of Alaska has signed off on the Bostwick timber
sale on Gravina Island near Ketchikan. There, Pacific Log and Lumber mill
owner Steve Seley finalized a contract with the Division of Forestry for
a 12 million board foot timber sale in the Bostwick Bowl. The sale was
made possible by construction of a 7.2 mile road through the former governor's
"Roads to Resources" program. The Bostwick Bowl timber sale
is located adjacent to a Tongass Forest timber sale that will be made
available at a later date.
Each of the parties involved with the project - including the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska Department of Transportation, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, and the US Forest Service - failed to be up front about the road when communicating with the public and the Army Corps of Engineers. No permits were sought for the project, thus allowing the construction to begin without proper oversight to protect water quality and habitat on Gravina. To date, over seven miles of road have been constructed, reaching beyond the majestic Bostwick Lake; erosion controls are all but non-existent; at least 8 unpermitted rock pits have been blasted; and 10 new clear cuts are being expanded as you read.
These highlight the activities still ongoing and still unpermitted. We fully expected a Cease and Desist order to come from the Army Corps of Engineers with the turning of the calendar. Due to administrative hand-tying orders from above, Corps staff responsible for issuing the order were prevented from doing so. Unfortunately, a significant amount of damage has already occurred, as you can see from the photos.
Sample
Letter - Bostwick Road (PDF)
General
Gravina Talking Points (PDF)
Gravina
Roads Talking Points (PDF)
Where
to send your Letters (PDF)
Send a Letter
to Governor Palin via this site
1. If you are willing to write a letter for print, or to our Governor,
please respond to
this bulletin.
Go to the Official
Governor Sarah Palin website and share your thoughts with the new
Governor. You
may also:
Write
Governor Sarah Palin
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001
Call
Governor Palin
Phone (907) 465-3500
Fax (907) 465-3532
State Info (907) 465-2111
2. Contact the Army Corps of Engineers by calling: 800.478.2712. Ask the Corps to issue a Cease and Desist order for the Bostwick road immediately.
3. If you are an activist and are willing to participate
in direct action, please let
us know.
4 . If you are an Alaskan who wants to help us deal with the Department
of Natural Resources, please let
us know.
Additional Gravina Info
Laws
Associated with Bostwick road and pits
State of Alaska Gravina Page
Timber
Sale Map: Bostwick #1 (PDF)
These trees were clearcut along the illegal Bostwick Road.
An approximately 500 year old Sitka Spruce...gone.
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Conservation Society - P.O. Box 23377 - Ketchikan, Alaska 99901 -
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