Trapping ban signs coming to borough lands

PALMER — Signs notifying would-be trappers of a ban on certain Borough-owned lands could still be placed this year, officials said.

The Borough Assembly voted in early March to ban trapping on public lands at Crevasse Moraine, Matanuska River Park, the Alcantra recreation area, West Bodenburg Butte, Lazy Mountain and Jordan Lake Park.

The law requires the Borough to “prepare and keep current a map showing areas where trapping is not allowed” and provide a copy of the map upon request. It does not specifically require signs to be placed in areas where trapping is banned, Borough officials said.

Still, District 5 Assemblyman Dan Mayfield, who proposed the legislation, said in a September interview with the Frontiersman that he did not know why signs had not yet been put in place.

“We have a very grateful recreation community who feels safer, but the fact of the matter is the signs indicating no trapping haven’t gone up in the areas where it’s illegal at this point, so it’s one of those things where some work needs to be done,” he said.

Eric Phillips, who directs the Borough’s community development office which oversees borough lands, parks, libraries and trails, said the Borough does plan to place signs despite the law not ordering them to do so.

“The administration does want to get some signage up, that just has not been accomplished yet,” he said. “There will be signage installed even though as part of the legislation it was not a requirement.” Installing the signs is not as simple as placing them at the entrance points of the areas where trapping is banned, Phillips said. That’s because some of those areas include a mixture of Borough, state and other land. The Borough can only ban trapping on the land it owns, and needs to be careful not to claim otherwise, he said.

“We can’t ban trapping on state land … we don’t have authority over that, so when you’re developing signage you have to be careful,” he said. “The Borough’s ban can only apply to Borough’s land.”

Phillips did not have a cost estimate for the signs, but said he expected the cost to the Borough to be low. “The biggest cost is going to be the labor to actually put them up,” he said.