Alaska’s forestry division says it understands the Caribou Hills are best kept for recreational use as it considers creating a Kenai Peninsula state forest. The division held multiple public meetings on the peninsula to gauge interest in the issue and heard multiple concerns about public access to the popular recreation area on the southern peninsula.
Lily Coyle is the forestry division’s special projects coordinator. She moderated a virtual public meeting last month. The state issued a call for input on a potential Kenai Peninsula state forest in November.
“If we did get overwhelmingly, you know, positive feedback on this idea of establishing a state forest and went to, you know, proceed to the next step, which would be putting together a state forest proposal that would be looking at specific areas to include, that Caribou Hills area – it wouldn't make sense to include it really because it's classified as, you know, best use recreation,” she said.
The state still doesn’t have an exact map of what area is being considered for inclusion. Diane Campbell is the area forester for Kenai and Kodiak. She emphasized the state forest concept isn’t an official proposal yet.
“We want to start off by saying there has been no proposal, there is no proposal written at this time,” she said. “This is strictly an outreach to get community interest and to inform the community of what we're thinking.”
The division has succeeded in getting community interest.
After the public notice was published, pushback came swiftly from parts of the peninsula. Snowmachiners in the Caribou Hills area near Homer, for instance, have expressed concerns about access to existing trails on state land. And Coyle says the state has listened.
“We’ve heard, you know, loud and clear from the public that there would be no interest in having that be a part of a state forest proposal,” she said.
A state forest can only be designated by the Alaska Legislature. If the forestry division determines there’s enough public interest, they’ll draft a formal proposal and forward it to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources commissioner. The commissioner would then bring it to lawmakers.
Creating a Kenai Peninsula state forest would shift management authority over existing state land on the peninsula, from the Division of Mining, Land and Water to forestry. Coyle says the change would boost timber management, such as for harvest and regeneration after the latest spruce bark beetle outbreak. But access to existing resources, like trails, would be a priority, too.
“On the Kenai Peninsula, there is a desire, you know, at the Division of Forestry as well as at DNR to just help enable more active management to try and help kind of rebuild and restrengthen that forest canopy as well as try and reestablish and support local small industry on the peninsula,” she said.
The Alaska Division of Forestry is accepting public input on its Kenai Peninsula forest idea through Jan. 16. Comments can be submitted online at stateforests@alaska.gov or by mail to the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection at 550 W. 7th Ave. Ste. 1450 in Anchorage.
