Subcontractor cited for littering

ANCHORAGE — A Wasilla subcontractor pleaded guilty to dumping about 1,200 pounds of roofing materials in a local wildlife refuge, authorities said.

Ian Beall, 20, of Wasilla, pleaded guilty Dec. 22, 2014, to a single non-criminal violation of littering in a prohibited area in Anchorage Court, according to court documents. A traffic magistrate judge ordered Beall to pay a $1,000 fine and serve 20 hours of community service picking up litter in the Goose Bay Wildlife Refuge. Officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had spent thousands of dollars and volunteer hours cleaning up the refuge, including an effort begun in 2010 involving National Guard volunteers that has removed about 107 tons of trash, 75 vehicles, 40 car batteries and other detritus from Goose Bay. Other efforts focused on improving road access, adding parking and mitigating lead pollution.

Officials have said the ultimate goal of the project is force out dumpers by flooding the area with legitimate and responsible users, such as hunters, hikers, and birdwatchers.

Three other dumpers, whom authorities say deposited a large household appliance and used it for target practice, are still sought, according to officials with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers. Authorities are asking for the public’s help in tracking them down. Wildlife troopers enthusiastically pursued the case, according to Joe Meehan, the statewide coordinator for Fish and Game’s Land Refuge Program.

Officials recently placed game cameras in a popular dumping site, and captured Beall on film, according Meehan.

“There were also items in the dumped roofing material that contained the name of the roofing company on them,” he said. “The owner of the roofing company was very cooperative, and told us who he’d contracted with.”

While materials dumped in the refuge often contain personal addresses and names, littering competes for law enforcement with other endemic problems, like poaching and other criminal matters, Meehan said.

State officials have in recent years struggled to keep persistent litterers out of local refuges, rest stops, and other areas.

The surrounding area was a traditional hunting ground for Alaska Native people, and at one time contained burned-out, blasted buildings that had housed a defunct prison (long since removed), as well as a Nike missile launch site, one of several designed to protect Anchorage from incoming Soviet bombers during the Cold War. The refuge-adjacent Goose Bay Airport, also suffers from vandalism incursions, Meehan said.

“It’s an ongoing problem, and it probably will be an ongoing problem until we change the culture of use out there,” he said.