Public Comment Period for Glen Alps Access Plan Deadline Looming

Park officials want to put in more parking lots to give the public greater area access, but not everyone thinks that increasing accessibility to Glen Alps is a good idea.

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By Lauren Maxwell
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Story Created: Oct 27, 2011 at 1:13 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Oct 27, 2011 at 1:13 PM AKDT

Time is running out to comment on a new draft management plan for Chugach State Park. Park officials are considering the rules and development projects that will take place inside the park for the next 20 years.

The 100-plus page management plan includes all areas of the park, but there is one section that is getting lots of attention. It’s a new way to manage the Glen Alps area to try and spread out the traffic in that popular part of the park.

Park officials want to change the access road from Toilsome Hill Drive to Sultana Drive, a road that is actually owned by the state and earmarked for park access. The plan also includes building a new two-and-a-half-mile-long road that would connect the parking lot at the end of Sultana with the parking lot at Flat Top.

Park officials would put in a number of parking lots along the new road to give people different access areas to different parts of the Glen Alps area. But not everyone thinks that making it easier for people to access the area is a good idea.

Valerie Conner with the Alaska Center for the Environment says she understands why people love the area, but in some sense, they may be loving it to death.

“People love to go to Glen Alps,” says Conner. “It’s got great views; you can hop up into Alpine, see wildlife. It’s really a special place and we want people to use it, but at what cost?”

Conner says she doesn’t think a new road into the old area is the answer and would instead like to see different areas of the half million-acre park be made more accessible to the public.

The State Division of Natural Resources says they welcome comments and ideas on the best way to manage the park but the deadline for the management plan is drawing near.

See the entire plan as well as information on how to comment, here.

 

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what comments said on Thursday, Oct 27 at 10:14 PM

wow a bunch of chair bi atches eh? can whine but can't show up...

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