Contractors are currently working on a federally funded expansion and improvement project at the Talkeetna State Airport. As part of the initial phase, many trees near residential areas have been cleared. Now, some residents say that the methods used have unnecessarily resulted in the loss of hundreds of trees near private property, with more on the way. KTNA’s Phillip Manning has more:
The plans for Talkeetna’s airport expansion have been in the works for a decade or more. Now that heavy equipment is operating in the area, however, some property owners are saying that the clear-cutting of trees near private property has gone to unnecessary lengths. In many cases along Easy Street in East Talkeetna, trees were clear-cut to a buffer twenty-five feet from the airport’s property line. Will Monbleau owns a home near the airport, and says he has worked in the logging industry for a quarter-century. He believes that a method could have been used that would have achieved a better compromise between clearing and preservation of trees.
“I think they could have done a little different along Easy Street. You know, you have two different ways you can do things. You can do the shock and awe clear cut, or you can lighten the harvest when you get near the property lines.”
Lora Nelson, who also lives near the airport, says that some property owners are already seeing, and hearing, impacts from the reduction of trees along Easy Street.
“We’ve got somebody over there who can see [Bald Mountain] now, which is lovely, but she also hears the planes every morning. She sees the planes going off. It has affected people on I Street. They’re hearing planes that they have never heard before.”
Lora Nelson is also concerned about the next round of tree clearing, scheduled to start Tuesday morning. As part of the project, contractors plan to build a walking and bike path parallel to Second Street and the airport. Nelson’s property is across the street from the planned walking path, and she is concerned that a similar clear-cutting method will be used.
“I went and walked the path, and it’s just a straight swath going through. It’s not accommodating all these beautiful, old trees that have been there for generations. It’s not accommodating any kind of aesthetics. It’s just going to be this vicious swath through this area.”
Nelson believes that the plan should accommodate leaving some of the oldest trees along the pathway intact by going around them. She and Will Monbleau both point to examples of communities, such as Girdwood, where walking paths have accommodated retention of some old trees. Monbleau says a path is likely a good idea, but that some leeway may exist.
“I don’t think it’s absolutely set in stone that they have to cut every tree.”
In addition to the cutting scheduled for Second Street, Lora Nelson says trees on the other side of the airport, which are near Sheldon Air Service, and which she says had been “pardoned” by the state, are now scheduled for removal as well.
“Holly Sheldon got a phone call saying that they’re going to be cutting those trees tomorrow-those five or six trees that are out there in the open on an empty lot. I don’t know what the plans are for that lot, but it certainly doesn’t have to happen tomorrow.”
Will Monbleau says that he is not anti-progress, but that he has seen firsthand how steps can be taken to mitigate the impact on adjacent property owners, and he hopes that there may be a way for that kind of planning to prevail. Lora Nelson also believes progress should be made in a way that is less impactful on its neighbors. She and other community members are making plans for a protest should the cutting go forward without a “stop and talk” meeting.
“People say ‘What about change? What about progress?’…Progress shouldn’t rape a community, it really shouldn’t, and maybe I’ve seen too many movies with happy endings, but I’ve seen documentaries, too, where the right thing happened at the eleventh hour.”
Whether or not the tree removal on Second Street goes ahead as planned, the discussion is far from over, since, according to a map provided by the Department of Transportation, there is more tree clearing to be done that will have to wait until the ground freezes this winter.
