Borough swaps for Point MacKenzie lands

The State of Alaska and the Mat Su Borrough have agreed to a land-swap to make way for the Point MacKenzie rail line right-of-way.
Department of Natural Resources DNR issued a Final Finding and Decision for the exchange of land ownership last week.
The exchange involves the state conveying 594 acres of land to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The state land is situated along the expansion of the Alaska Railroad Right-of-way  between Houston and Port MacKenzie, generally west of Big Lake. In return the borough will convey 566 acres to the state. The borough land is adjacent to, and on the west side of the Nancy Lake State Recreation area west of Willow.  The purpose of this exchange is to allow the borough to acquire state land along the Alaska Railroad proposed Right of Way, and for the state to acquire borough land adjacent to the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area in order to consolidate land ownership and management functions.