Senate State Affairs holds SB 188 after testimony supporting Tanana Valley State Forest expansion and military concerns

The Senate State Affairs Committee on Feb. 5, 2026, held a second hearing on Senate Bill 188, a gubernatorial request to expand the Tanana Valley State Forest by adding a legal description for 43 additional units — roughly 600,000 acres — and then tabled the measure while keeping public testimony open.

Chair Jarrett Kawasaki opened the roughly 18-minute hearing and said the panel would complete a sectional analysis before taking public testimony. Deputy Commissioner Brent Goodrum summarized the bill’s sections, saying the first section “repeals and reenacts the legal description of the current Tanana Valley State Forest to include a legal description of 43 additional units,” and that, “as we talked about earlier, that's about 600,000 acres of additional acreage.” He said section 3 would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to adopt implementing regulations (section 3 has an immediate effective date) and that sections 1 and 2 would take effect on July 1, 2025.

Committee members questioned how the bill’s map shows a checkerboard pattern of included and excluded parcels. Jeremy Dowse, State Forester and Director of the Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the pattern reflects mixed land ownership — federal and military parcels bisect state lands — and differing state land classifications, such as mining or habitat, that leave some state parcels out of the forest designation. Senator Bjorkman pressed for clarification about a contiguous block of state land west of Delta that appears partly excluded; Dowse said that white parcel on the map is classified for remote recreation or disposal rather than forestry.

The committee also discussed a two-page letter and map from the U.S. Army Installation Management Command at Fort Wainwright, which raised concern that converting nearby state land to private ownership or disposal could impede military training and create safety risks from fire near the Donnelly Training Area West. Dowse acknowledged the Army’s concern, saying the areas in question are state land often slated for disposal and that the Army is worried private ownership near the installation “may inhibit some of their training mission.” Chair Kawasaki also noted that some members plan a site visit to the Joint Pacific Multi-Readiness Center area.

Joe Young, owner of Young's Timber Inc. in Tok, Alaska, testified in support of SB 188, saying the expansion would turn management over to the Alaska Division of Forestry, protect boreal forest from subdivision and development, reduce state administrative costs by consolidating interdivision work, expand the timber base for capital investment, and improve access for wildfire mitigation. Young told the committee Young's Timber invested $480,000 in timber-processing equipment in January 2026 and plans an additional roughly $500,000 in 2026 — “about $1,000,000” in total investment — and urged the committee to pass SB 188.

The committee heard no other in-room or online testimony. Chair Kawasaki said the panel will hold SB 188 for further consideration, will keep public testimony open (written testimony may be submitted to senate.state.affairs@akleg.gov), and noted that the measure will at some point proceed to the Resources Committee for further review. The meeting adjourned at 3:49 p.m.; the committee next meets Feb. 10 to hear SB 126 and SB 71 and plans additional briefings from the Department of Corrections the following week.