Landfill expansion means temporary loss of trail

CREVASSE MORAINE -- When Lori Jo Oswald took her dogs for their nightly hike along a trail behind her house last Monday, she was shocked to find the 45-minute trail had been hacked into more of a five-minute jaunt.

Oswald lives next to the Crevasse Moraine trail system and regularly uses a trail dubbed "Trail 12" by the Mat-Su Borough Recreation and Library Services department.

The trail, which Oswald considers one of the most beautiful trails in the system, runs closest to the landfill. It's used by a broad range of people, from horseback riders and hikers to cross-country skiers. A picnic table was carried a short distance into the trail, and also appeared to be well-used by hikers. But the trail's location puts it in the path of landfill expansion.

"The trail that is being affected runs along a high ridge with a steep drop-off overlooking one of the cells of the landfill," Bruce Urban, the Recreation and Library Services department manager wrote in a Sept. 19 memo to borough manager John Duffy.

The memo indicated the excavation being done would eliminate about 150 feet of the trail. The excavated dirt would partially serve to create a softer slope, eliminating what was previously a drop-off protected by a fence. , In the memo Urban said the trail would be restored.

"This lost section of the trail will only be temporary as the plan is to relocate the trail … approximately 50 feet from the original trail," Urban wrote.

Urban said the trail will likely be completed within three to four weeks, in time for winter use.

But this will likely not be the last time the landfill expands into the existing trail system.

"Please be aware that much of the trail system is built on top of the land that has been set aside for the landfill," Duffy recently wrote in an e-mail responding to Oswald's concerns. "The land was dedicated for the landfill many years before the trail system was built."

Duffy said while the recreational uses of the land are important, the landfill use is critical. But a continual effort will be made to replace the trails used for the landfill.

"So as new cells are opened in the landfill, the land will be reclaimed and the trails rebuilt," Duffy wrote.

Although he made it clear he had no definitive answer as to where trails will be relocated as the landfill continues to expand, acting Community Development Director Steve Cypra said the plans for the landfill indicate expansion further south, not into the area now used by the trails. But if trails are displaced in the future, Cypra said it would be possible for them to be rerouted over the old landfill areas.

"It's possible it could go over a closed, sealed, revegetated cell," Cypra said. "But we're talking about decades now, and we all know things change here in just a few years."

Oswald, who lives in Summerwood subdivision, adjacent to the park, is not satisfied with the idea of relocating the trail.

"I don't know if people are aware that the borough says the landfill owns the park," Oswald said. "I'm sure I'm not the only one here who wouldn't have built a home here if the park was not here. I had no other reason to live next to a landfill."

Oswald said she would like to see the land dedicated solely for use as a park and left for future generations.

"What I want, and what a lot of people want and assume, is that [the trail system] is a park, and it should be taken away from the landfill," Oswald said. "They still have the right to take that park -- any or all of it. Maybe they're going to pause right now and rebuild, but what's going to happen in the future?"

Cypra said the current expansion has gone through a public process, and when future expansions are planned, they, too, will be discussed in a public forum before changes are made.

"If there were to be any major changes, there will be a public process involved," Cypra said. "I don't think it's anyone's intent here to leave the public out of the loop."