The Soldotna City Council unanimously adopted a resolution that would authorize the city manager to issue an invitation to bid for beetle kill hazard tree mitigation efforts on select city properties within close proximity to the city’s campgrounds. A grant application was developed and submitted for the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program through the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The project proposed to mitigate the risk of wildfire originating or traversing municipal lands that would impact critical infrastructure, cause loss and damage to private homes, businesses, and community assets.
City Manager Stephanie Queen:
“We have identified funds and they’re federal funds that were going to be passed through a state agency. We had done, I think, a good job on our part of getting them the information they needed, but despite that, the process has taken longer than was ideal. Though we’ve done some small amounts of mitigation, based on the dog park, we’re really at a place now where, because of the length of time since those trees have since the infestation, as you know, they’re now at a risk of falling. Though the original grant was to deal with wildfire mitigation, now we’ve got a real concern about proximity of some of these trees to our campground, our trails, and we reached out to our contacts at the state who have really kind of been with us along with this process all along. We’ve stressed the urgency that exists now and our very real concerns about opening up the campgrounds in the current state with the trees the way they are.”
Queen adds that the program funds are a state pass-through, originating with FEMA. Though the city expects to receive those funds, the processing of the grant application has been delayed.
The scope of work included the removal of beetle killed trees and fire hazard mitigation activities on more than 375 acres of municipally owned property, at a total estimated project cost of $295,934. The administration requests authorization to solicit bids from contractors to perform mitigation activities at Centennial Campground, Swiftwater Campground, Soldotna Memorial Park, Aspen Park (and Three Friends Dog Park), and Parker Park.