The 2024 season has been busy in the Lands and Natural Resources Department. Staff traveled to many communities to meet with local leaders.
Carbon Forestry Project
Forest inventories were conducted in late June and completed in early July for Doyon’s Ts’oo carbon project in Circle, Eagle, and Stevens Village. This is Doyon’s third carbon forestry project to be inventoried in the region.
Fire
Doyon works closely with Forestry Management Officers, the Division of Forestry, and the Forest Service to protect cultural sites, shareholder property, and Doyon and village corporation land when fires occur. There were minimal fires that occurred on Doyon or village corporation land, and those that did occur were quickly contained.
Trespass
The Lands and Natural Resources Department continued to strengthen their trespass program, meeting with representatives from villages to better understand trespass concerns and to improve mitigation efforts.
Postcards were mailed to registered hunting guides, outfitters and pilots within Alaska, ads were run in hunting guides, and brochures were distributed to each village corporation. Kiosks were installed in Manley Hot Springs and updated in the Gana-A’Yoo area, and metal signage was posted at known areas of trespass along the Alaska and Taylor highways, and at Sithylemenkat Lake.
Flyers describing Doyon land ownership were posted at various gas stations, ammo stores, and hunting stores in Tok, Delta Junction, and Fairbanks area to attract the attention and educate any hunters or tourists looking to utilize Doyon land. No Trespassing signs were sent to the community of Shageluk to be posted in preparation for hunting season.
Doyon, in collaboration with Tanana Chiefs Conference has begun developing a trespass monitoring and data collection app to use on tablets and phones. The app will be piloted in five communities this year, Circle, Eagle, Manley Hot Springs, Minto, and Tanana, with the hopes of expansion next year.
Sand, Gravel, and Rock
Lands and Natural Resources staff visited many existing material sites across the region throughout the summer in preparation for future material sales and donations. During these visits, staff worked to identify wetlands and waters around these sites to inform future site plans and responsible development. Additionally, they gathered drone imagery at each site to further assist in future planning efforts. Data gathered during these trips is used to create guidelines specific to each material site to assist communities in developing mining and reclamation plans compliant with state and federal guidelines when using Doyon gravel sites for local infrastructure projects.
In 2024, Doyon gravel was used for several large projects including the Totchaket Road developments in Nenana, airport reconstruction in Chalkyitsik, and the Sunny Lane Road continued development in Hughes. On the local side, gravel was donated to five communities for projects including flood repairs, road improvements, and shareholder housing.
Mineral Exploration
There are currently three groups doing mineral exploration on Doyon leased land.
Tectonic Metals, Inc is in the beginning stages of a drill program at Flat. Wiseman Metals has begun a mapping and soil sampling program at East Wiseman and has plans to collect samples from Kaazene around Tofty for a collaboration with University of Alaska, Fairbanks. This is the first year of work for Discovery Alaska on the Vinasale property. Models done on the deposit as well as geophysical surveys have been re-analyzed to determine targeted areas for 2025.
Internally, Doyon had two small soil sampling programs around Mt. Veta and a small reconnaissance rock sampling program at Lake Sithylemenkat. Carrie Creek was visited and closed out after Tectonic released the property last winter. Learn more about Doyon’s mineral projects here.
For more information, contact the Lands and Natural Resources Department at 907-459-2030, 1-888-458-4755, or lands@doyon.com.
