The Kenai City Council adopted a resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry to support Spruce Beetle mitigation and hazard fuel reduction. A grant in the amount of $50,000 per year for three years (totaling $150,000) will be used for the establishment of a slash disposal site that will support the city’s goals included in the Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
As previously reported, the slash disposal site was opened earlier this month at mile 13 of the Kenai Spur Highway, just past the Kenai Soccer Fields on the way towards Nikiski. The site will be open from Thursdays through Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from June 2 through October 2 until the site reaches 1 1/2-acre max capacity.
City Manager Paul Ostrander tells the city council:
“One of my concerns with this originally was that it might fill up very quickly with slash disposal from Nikiski, but that sounds like the Borough is actually going to establish a site in Nikiski, which should help us extend the longevity of this, hopefully throughout the summer for our city residents. Again, we’re going to try to get the word out anyway we can.”
Ostrander details what happens to the site later this year:
“We will have to get equipment out there to manage the pile and consolidate the pile throughout the course of this summer, but the plans are to wait until probably late fall/early winter to burn the pile and then wait until there’s a good prevailing wind offshore and burn it. That’s going to be multiple days as well, but we’re hoping to do it with our own staff, rather than going out to a contractor.”
The city will continuously consolidate the slash throughout the year, but due to the uncertainty surrounding the difficulty, cost, and time it will take to burn the slash pile at the end of the year, if the slash pile reaches 1.5 acres prior to the end of September, it will be closed for the year. The facility will be open to all residents of the Kenai Peninsula Borough but will not be made available for commercial operators.
A public hearing on the $150,000 appropriation will be scheduled at this Wednesday’s Kenai City Council meeting. This resolution that was adopted authorizes Ostrander to sign the Memorandum of Agreement between the city and the Department of Natural Resources now, and any expenses incurred after June 1, 2022 will be eligible for reimbursement once the appropriation is approved.