Assembly limits Hatcher Pass area to non-motorized use

Rindi White

PALMER -- After months of debate, the Mat-Su Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution limiting the Government Peak portion of popular Valley recreation area Hatcher Pass to only non-motorized use.
Before passing that measure, the Assembly voted down a plan to have borough staffers work with state employees and local user groups to establish a winter-only snowmachine corridor through that area.

The issue is whether to open a new area of Hatcher Pass -- an area now used by skiers -- to snowmachines and four-wheelers.

A state management plan dictates what happens in the 310,000-acre recreation area. The 24-year-old plan is being updated. The state Department of Natural Resources has been taking comments on a draft version of its updated plan. The comment period closed Wednesday.

The Mat-Su Borough has a say in some aspects of management there because it owns about 3,000 acres within Hatcher Pass, where it is developing a nordic skiing area and has plans for an alpine ski hill later. It also leases more than 8,000 acres from the state.

The Mat-Su Assembly has been debating changes to motorized corridors at the prompting of Assemblymen Mark Ewing and Ron Arvin, who in February sponsored a measure to create a corridor through the Government Peak area that snowmachines and off-road vehicles could use.

Government Peak is the first part of Hatcher Pass people drive through on their way to Independence Mine. It begins at Edgerton Parks Road on the Palmer-Fishhook Road and stops at Mile 12 of Palmer-Fishhook Road, about a mile and a half south of Motherlode Lodge. The unit extends west nearly to Bald Mountain and Summit Lake.

Snowmachine groups and supporters said they wanted a way to ride up to Gold Mint Trail or other snowmachine trails in Hatcher Pass without having to haul their machines on a trailer and risk not finding space at Gold Mint or two other parking lots nearby that are frequently crowded in winter.

But non-motorized users said putting a snowmachine corridor through Government Peak is unsafe for skiers, could irreparably harm to the fragile alpine ecosystem and the sound of snowmachines and four-wheelers echoing through the pristine area would drive away tourists. They asked the borough and state to make the entire east side of Hatcher Pass off-limits to motorized vehicles, an expansion of the off-limits area.

Ewing's and Arvin's measure didn't pass the Assembly. Assemblyman Vern Halter crafted a new version in an attempt to find a compromise that addressed the conflicts but limited the corridor to winter-only use.

"As we grow and Anchorage continues to come up here, I think we are going to see more conflicts. It was my hope to see this addressed succinctly," he said.

Halter's measure also failed -- only he and Ewing voted in support. In the end, it was Assemblyman Jim Colver's measure that passed Tuesday. Colver called his measure a compromise too. It calls for ending snowmachine use along Archangel Road, limiting winter use of the road to skiers and non-motorized users.

But it would add a motorized area on the right side of Archangel Road, extending into the Hope Creek Valley, which he said was suitable for beginning to advanced snowmachiners.

"It's just not safe when we have snowmachiners and skiers on the same trail," Colver said.

It will be up to the state to include the Assembly's proposal in the management plan.

BOROUGH: SCRAP THE PLAN

Meanwhile, the borough has asked the state to completely rethink its revised management plan.

In an April 23 letter to Richard Mylius, director of the state Division of Mining, Land and Water, Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy stated that the plan "suffers from numerous problems and fails to support many of its recommendations and management intent with any objective data or facts."

The borough is a signer on the original plan and the draft plan requires borough adoption. Duffy states that previous Hatcher Pass management plans have been drafted with "full participation" from the borough. This time, he said, "DNR ignored all requests" by the borough to participate as a member of the planning team.

Among his criticisms -- 19 of them over five pages -- are that the state plan would eliminate a section discussing water. The Talkeetna Mountains serve as an important water resource for much of the borough's core area, as well as critical stream habitat for salmon and other fish.

"Management of this important resource is critical to the well-being of the borough's community and economy," Duffy states.

Duffy asks the state to scrap its draft plan and "initiate a new, more thorough planning process" instead.

Borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan said the state has responded to the letter by asking to meet with borough officials.

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Source: http://www.adn.com/2010/05/06/1267369/assembly-limits-hatcher-pass-area.html

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