Mild winter a mixed bag for local businesses

EOWYN LeMAY IVEY -- Frontiersman reporter

As one of the mildest winters on the record books continues, everyone from snowmachine dealers to road maintenance crews is looking around the still brown-and-green Valley and wondering when winter will actually arrive.

The first of December came and went with slightly cooler temperatures but still nothing in the way of white stuff in the Palmer-Wasilla area. While some are enjoying not having to shovel, plow and scrape, for others the lack of snow translates into slow business.

"There's a huge trickle-down effect," said Chris Graeber, manager of Hatcher Pass Polaris snowmachine dealership in Willow.

Graeber said she couldn't yet put a number on how much business has decreased at the snowmachine shop, but she said this winter has definitely brought fewer walk-in customers and fewer interested buyers. She sees the affect on nearby businesses as well, with fewer visitors coming in search of food, lodging and fuel.

"Even the gas stations are feeling it because the guys aren't out riding their snowmachines," Graeber said. Graeber said both locally and as far north as Fairbanks, organizers are having to cancel snowmachine ice races, and with little snow on the horizon, it is not looking good for snow-cross racing later this year.

"It's definitely hurting everybody right now," she said.

This is not the first time the Valley has had snowless winter months, but what make this year different are the unusually warm temperatures. Graeber said a little snow can go a long way if the rivers and lakes are frozen. So far this December, however, much of the water throughout Southcentral Alaska remains open.

"Even if we got snow now, it would still be a challenge," Graeber said earlier this week.

One of the few places Willow is getting ice is on the roads. While Department of Transportation maintenance crews don't have much to plow in the area, they are keeping busy enough sanding as freezing rain continues to pelt the roads.

"Sand usage, especially on the northern part of the Parks, is way up," said Kurt Devon, Mat-Su area superintendent for DOT. The hectic maintenance schedule has only been worsened by the fact that the Willow area lost two positions during budget cuts this year, Devon said. The saving grace so far this winter - no snow in the core area. Because crews don't have to plow Palmer and Wasilla roads, Devon said they've been able to catch up on a backlog of other projects as well as help out the Willow area.

"As soon as the weather changes that will go out the window," Devon said.

Snow could mean more work for DOT's fewer employees, but it would also mean more work for private plow companies. Dozens of such businesses are listed in the phone book, advertising snow removal services. Some use the business to provide a counterpart to seasonal summer work such as landscaping or excavating. Others hope to pay off the plows for their trucks by clearing out their neighbors' driveways.

Like snowmachine dealerships, plow companies are feeling the hurt of an unusual winter. For Eric Meester of ScoopUp Snowplowing and Sanding, this year is proof that he made the right decision in getting out of the business.

"There's just not a whole lot of money in it," Meester said. He said even during good years, the snow often comes in just 2-inch increments - not enough to urge people to pay someone to plow.

At the same time, Meester said, snow plowing can be demanding and unpredictable. When the snow does finally arrive, everyone wants to be plowed out at the same time, as quickly as possible. It's a stress Meester says he won't miss this winter.

And this stress is one reason why Karen Berg of Berg Development Corp. isn't mourning the lack of snow. While her company does snow removal, it also provides excavation services, which Berg says are much more profitable. While this mild winter is costing some businesses, she said it is actually helping hers.

"There's no snow, and that's great with us, because we can still do excavation work," she said. From digging house sites to putting in septic systems, Berg Development is keeping busy later into the winter than normal. Like Meester, Berg says she's looking forward to getting out of the snow plowing all together when her company separates the two businesses.

Berg recalled a particularly bad stretch last winter when the snow kept everyone in her company scrambling from Sunday evening to the following Wednesday morning, working on practically no sleep.

"I don't want one ounce of anything to do with the snow plowing business," she said.