Timber sale won't happen until April

March 8, 2005

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Concerns expressed by Montana Creek residents prompted the Mat-Su Borough Assembly last week to postpone until April 19 its decision on the proposed sale of timber on 900 acres of borough land in that area. This was the second postponement of that timber sale in as many months.

Assembly members will hold a work session March 24 to create better guidelines and proper procedures for conducting timber sales.

"The borough has an interest in getting better management of its forests," Borough Manager John Duffy said.

The postponement of the timber sale to NPI, formerly Northern Pacific Inc., was recommended by the administration with no objection by Assembly members during last Tuesday's regularly scheduled meeting. The Assembly had just received documents outlining new stipulations to resolve some of the issues Montana Creek community members have had with harvest operations.

Some of the problems, expressed by the Y Community Council, include wear and tear on the road, wood-chipping noise at night and conflicts between school buses and logging trucks on the narrow Montana Creek Road.

"It's not in anyone's best interest to have logging trucks and school buses running at the same time," said Marc Van Dongen, port director at Port MacKenzie, the drop-off point for trucks hauling wood chips from the area near Montana Creek currently being harvested.

"We need to address the concerns of the public, address the needs of NPI and our economic development plans," Duffy said.

The Y Community Council passed a resolution Feb. 3 that asked the Assembly to create a conditional-use permit process "to mitigate the problems our community is experiencing due to the ongoing logging and chipping operations that began recently," according to a letter from Tom Kluberton, YCC acting secretary.

This will be addressed during the assembly work session March 24, Duffy said. A time has not yet been set.

"We understand that the borough has stopped offering timber sales while measures are taken to create an environment where timber harvests and local residents can co-exist," Kluberton stated in his letter last month.

The Assembly postponed timber sales during its Feb. 1 meeting, following testimony by about 20 people via teleconference from Su Valley High School Library. Fewer than 20 people testified at the Assembly chambers in Palmer as well.

The Y Community Council, as a means of resolving the issues most concerning residents, offered a list of requests. The most important of these requests was that logging-truck traffic be halted during school bus hours of operation. The council suggested the borough create in its stipulation a means to collect funds to repair borough roads after harvesting is complete."Any wear and tear done to the road will be repaired by NPI," Van Dongen said.

The Y Community Council also decided the borough should make provisions to protect the small-scale personal use of wood. Basically, the council thought it was best that the harvest companies not conflict with residents' needs to stock up on firewood and use trees for home-building or wood crafts.

The Assembly will make a decision on the timber sale to NPI during its April 19 meeting, at 6 p.m. in the borough chambers.

"We've confirmed with NPI that two or three months' delay doesn't have an effect on their operations," said Duffy, adding that NPI is also purchasing land from Native corporations and private landowners.

"There's no reason [these conditional-use permits] can't make everyone happy," Van Dongen said. "We've invested a lot in the port. NPI has invested a lot in setting up this wood-chip business deal. And it's created close to 100 jobs in the Valley."