Mat-Su Assembly postpones timber sale

PALMER - Honoring the requests of a majority of its northern constituents, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, Tuesday, postponed the sale of timber on approximately 900 acres of borough-owned land southeast of Montana Creek Road.

The proposed timber sale to NPI was delayed until safety and quality-of-life issues are addressed. Then, the Assembly will vote again on the ordinance during its March 1 meeting.

NPI wants to purchase the land with plans of harvesting the timber, processing it into wood chips and shipping the product to a South Korean paper mill. Old-growth forest dominates the acreage. As part of the purchase, NPI agrees to implement reforestation practices.

Sales of borough land with a value greater than $25,000 must be approved by the Assembly. The fair-market value of the land being considered is approximately $68.10 an acre, according to the Land and Resource Management Division policy. That adds up to $47,000 to $60,000 for the parcel.

Tuesday's meeting was teleconferenced to the Su Valley High School library, where 22 adults and one 7-year-old expressed their views of the current timber harvesting and the impending sale occurring near their homes. About a dozen people who attended the borough meeting shared their varied opinions before the assembly.

At the SVHS library, all but one person opposed the sale. Although no one said they were against logging, people expressed concern about truck traffic causing safety problems and wear and tear on Montana Creek Road, bothersome noise of wood chippers operating around the clock, erosion of river banks and, foremost, conflict between logging trucks and school buses along the narrow, curvy road, which has many intersections.

Longtime bus driver Jerry Wells, who works for Bunker and Bunker, busing schoolchildren along Montana Creek Road, testified during public-hearing time.

"I've had encounters with logging trucks. They drive down the middle of the road. When trucks pull aside to chain up, they take up one side of the road," Wells said.

The harvesting of trees by NPI is already in full swing in the Montana Creek area. Independent truckers have been hauling wood chips out of the area and transporting the loads to Port MacKenzie for shipment to South Korea. The number of trucks has increased from 10 a week - as previously agreed - to 20 a day. With that increased traffic, there have been accidents, including a tractor-trailer rollover on the corner of Suzy and Montana Creek roads, several local homeowners said. Residents also complained about wood chips spilling from trucks as they drive over the railroad tracks.

"I'm going to be the unpopular person here," said Steve Hines, a member of "Y" Community Council and a Talkeetna resident who supported the timber sale. Hines cited increased employment, including his chance of getting a job from the timber harvest project, as another reason to support the proposal.

"Don't let a road problem ruin an economic problem," Hines said, "Let's solve it."

Kathy Wells, director of Friends of Mat-Su, summed up that group's view.

"We're not opposed to timber sales. But issues must be addressed … like additional traffic with hauling wood chips," Wells said.

"NPI is very flexible. They don't want unhappy people," said port director Marc Van Dongen.

Prior to the vote, assembly members suggested conditional-use permits for things such as logging trucks operating on different schedules than bus-route times and wood-chipping hours being reduced at night.

Assembly Member Betty Vehrs, who voted to defeat the proposal, stated she felt the timber sale was unfair to residents; therefore, she didn't want to sell borough land for this purpose at this time.

"The logging company (NRI) can purchase CIRI (Cook Inlet Region Inc.) land, Mental Health land or even private land," Vehrs said.

Another ordinance, designed to improve the borough's economy and increase Alaska's export power, came before the assembly. In a 4-to-2 vote, Assembly members amended the latest comprehensive plan of the Mat-Su Borough rail corridor study.

The Assembly's approval of this proposed rail route only serves as a stepping stone toward future plans, several assembly members said. The mapped route evolves according to existing homes, overpopulated areas, terrain and current laws; current laws could nullify decisions made by the Assembly.

The Assembly also voted - 5 to 1 with Assembly Member Vehrs in opposition - to change employment restrictions on nepotism only in the emergency services field.

This amendment creates a guideline that would allow a person to be hired as a fire station volunteer, or in another public safety position, where the individual's father (or mother) is a supervisor.

It clarifies the breach of ethics nepotism on the state and borough levels causes. However, it allows for high-quality public safety people not to be denied employment in the borough simply because those people are following in their parents'

foot steps.