Feds take notice of South Denali efforts

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough got a shout-out from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior this week as part of his effort to highlight the most promising parks projects.

Secretary Ken Salazar plans to highlight 100 projects in his upcoming report, which includes two projects in each of the 50 states. In Alaska, the two projects are a water trail that would let small boats travel from the Homer Spit to Seldovia and a network of all-seasons trails in Denali State Park. That’s the state park south of the mountain, not the more famous national park farther north.

The state park takes up a lot of room in the northern reaches of the Mat-Su and the borough has for years been working with state and national parks bureaus to build a visitor’s center there.

“With its beautiful views and unique landscape, the region is popular for sightseeing and recreation by both residents and out-of-state visitors, and anticipated developments in the region are expected to increase demand,” according to a federal press release.

Eileen Probasco, the borough’s head of planning, said that right now the visitor’s center project has received $9 million to design the road to the proposed site atop a ridge and another $3 million to work on the transportation hub at the bottom of the ridge. The plan is to have visitors park at the hub and take a bus up to the center.

“The assembly adopted a resolution at their last meeting requesting $22 million in the governor’s budget,” Probasco said.

Once everything is built, Probasco said, projections show it will likely support itself but the borough will play a role in its eventual use.

Probasco noted that Salazar didn’t quite single out the visitor’s center but trails in the area tying into the center would be a big help.

“The article didn’t specifically say that the trails were related to the South Denali Visitor’s center, any trails within the park that are constructed or funded or identified as a project would really complement the south Denali Visitor’s Center,” she said.

It was exciting to see such an important federal official taking notice of the potential of the state’s park, she said.

“Two in each state and for the Denali State Park trails to be identified as one of the most important economically and for the other key factors that they put in the press release, that’s pretty cool,” Probasco said.

The center has been a part of the borough’s efforts to capture more tourism dollars in an area that tour operators often drive through from the docks in Anchorage to the big national park near Denali.

But it also has a few, less immediately apparent benefits to private developers in the area. Asked, for instance, how the center might get its power, Probasco said that it won’t exactly be cheap, but the borough has a quote from the Matanuska Electric Association, whose lines end miles short of the center. She described the quote as “attainable.”

But it will be more attainable if the borough gets some partners on that aspect of the project. It’s likely there are partners out there, Probasco said, in the form of nearby lodge owners who would jump at the chance to retire their costly generators.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.