Susitna Council asks borough to set aside research forest

In their regular meeting on Thursday night, the Susitna Community Council passed a motion to send comments to the Mat-Su Borough currently seeking the public’s input on an update of their Natural Resource Management Units plan. Of special interest to the council was forestry management.Council member Tami Hamler pointed out that there are two areas in the draft plan that fall within the council’s boundaries. Those are Sheep Creek and Rabideux Creek. As part of the council’s comment letter, Hamler proposed to ask the borough to dedicate some of the borough’s forested land to be set aside for research and study to better understand boreal forests. The council also pushed for continued research on adequate rotation to allow sustainable timber harvests. The third comment was to ask the borough to define cutting size by measurable units rather than the current vague description of “small, medium and large.”

The council voiced a keen interest to advance the idea of installing a woodfired boiler at the new Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School. Hamler said that currently, the school is burning 100 gallons of heating oil per day. The concept of the wood fired boiler is to lessen the cost and impact of burning fossil fuel to heat the building. Connected with the wood fired boiler is the proposal to set aside borough forest to supply fire wood but to do so in a sustainable manner. As the regeneration of boreal forests seems to be not well understood, the council agreed that further research is warranted and to ask the borough to assist by dedicating such a portion of forest for research.

In other business, council member Bronn Salmon announced that the Susitna council now has its own website at www.susitnacc.org and council members can be reached via an email link.