Spruce beetle treatments taking place on the Seward Ranger District

To reduce hazards to public safety posed by dead spruce trees, the Chugach National Forest, working with contractors and partner organizations, will treat impacted lands in the areas of Cooper Landing, Moose Pass, Summit Pass, and along the Seward and Sterling Highways to reduce wildfire fuels adjacent to communities, utilities, and primary ingress/egress routes on the Seward Ranger District.

An estimated 2.17 million acres of Alaska’s spruce forests have been affected by the spruce beetle outbreak that began in 2016. Of the affected area, approximately 343,800 acres are within the Chugach National Forest and Kenai Peninsula Borough, where dead spruce trees threaten public safety with increased vulnerability to wildfire and windthrow (uprooting or limb breakage).

To address this growing hazard, the Forest Service is expanding treatment and mitigation efforts into the primary ingress/egress routes for the Kenai Peninsula, which are adjacent to the Seward and Sterling highways. Efforts include but are not limited to, ground crews working with chainsaws and heavy equipment to fell hazard trees, as well as slash pile and incinerator burning.

Felled wood resulting from these hazard mitigation efforts may be made available to the public for firewood or sold to commercial firewood vendors through a public bid process. Any questions regarding this should be directed to the Seward Ranger District. For your safety, never approach a log deck, especially where heavy equipment is operating, without first calling the Seward Ranger District to ensure it is open to the public for firewood collection.

Please see the accompanying map illustrating where and when currently contracted mitigation efforts are expected to occur. The areas planned for treatment are subject to change as more work is coordinated. Please contact the Seward Ranger District for the most up-to-date information.

The following impacts may be present during the season that these lands are cleared:

•Short-term access restrictions and limitations

•The presence of heavy equipment on roadways

•Noise from heavy equipment

•Limited traffic delays

•Smoke from prescribed pile burning

•A temporary alteration in the scenic character until slash piles can be burned, log decks can be sold or emptied by the public, and time has allowed understory plants to recover.

These efforts are expected to continue on the Seward Ranger District through 2029.

For more information, contact:

Ruth D’Amico

Seward Ranger District, District Ranger

907-288-7730

ruth.damico@usda.gov