Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Planned restoration of a historic mining road in the upper valley will make it easier for local loggers to reach timber there, forester Roy Josephson said.

Constantine Metal Resources plans to rehabilitate 2.5 miles of road for mining exploration near Glacier Creek, including building five bridges. The road was built in 1977 to access mining work at Christmas Creek, Josephson said.

The road will provide access to “Glacier Side 1,” a 2.3 million board-foot section of hemlock and spruce forest. The forest there would provide “a lot of firewood, some saw logs and a few house logs” for local operators, Josephson said.

Improvement of the road is a “huge thing” for the agency, as road work is a major expense of logging, Josephson said.

The road will be rebuilt to a width of 14 feet, including a number of turnouts.