The trust does indeed have a primary responsibility to its beneficiaries.  
But that responsibility can be met in an adult and cooperative manner by interacting respectfully with the thousands of Alaskans whose lives might be adversely affected by arbitrary and capricious deals concocted in a vacuum by an authoritarian Land Trust Office.  
The people of Ketchikan and Petersburg want the remaining timber industry to thrive. And it can, under intelligent land and timber exchanges.  But blackmail -- and that's what the LTO is practicing here -- is the worst way to achieve a mutual goal and gain neighbors' trust.  
Messers Webb and Morrison would serve the Trust's purposes much better over the long term if they were to become good neighbors rather than too-clever-by-half bullies.  And it would be helpful too, if the Board of Trustees -- which includes many talented and experienced Alaskans -- would become more a deliberative body and less a rubber stamp.