The 280 or so people who call Cooper Landing home are looking forward to quiet afternoons where they can watch fishermen trying their luck for the world class salmon that call the teal green river home. Afternoons without the steady traffic of those just passing through.
Shirley Wilmoth is on the Board of Directors of the Cooper Landing Chamber of Commerce…
Shirley Wilmoth: “Everyone that lives in the town is very concerned that we cannot afford to lose our river, and because we have so much truck traffic on the Sterling Highway right next to the river on very curvy roads, that does run a risk.”
Residents of Cooper Landing have waited over 40 years to have the authorities mitigate that risk, and now it looks like they are going to have to wait just a little longer with Transportation Secretary Chao’s announcement that comments on the project were going to be re-opened now that the Interior Department is willing to make a land exchange with CIRI so that public land crossings can be avoided.
CIRI Corporate Communications Director Jason Moore: “We are certainly willing to negotiate with the Department of the Interior as far as the land exchange that will allow the Juneau Creek Alternative to go forward. We are ready and willing to participate in that.”
With over 200 pages of public comment already on record, the feds want to give the question a fresh look now that many of the concerns voiced will be addressed by a land exchange. The alternative favored by the DOT wasn’t a public favorite by any measure.
Jason Moore: “Some of the complaints involve – that doesn’t necessarily take the highway away from the Kenai River, so you are potentially looking at more impacts to the river. There are also many more cultural assets that are likely to be impacted with that alternative, that upset many of the Kenaitze tribal members. We think taking the route further away from the Kenai River makes a lot more sense.”
In their written comments, the Russian River Land Group which is composed of CIRI, along with Kenaitze Indian Tribe, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the US Forest Service to cooperate on efforts to “protect and preserve the outstanding historic, cultural, and natural resources” in the vicinity of the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers noted that at least one of the alternatives would have irreversible impacts as well as unanticipated effects to sites defined by the Kenaitze Indian Tribe as sacred and spiritual, including traditional burial sites.
The fall 2017 Final Determination originally offered by the State DOT seems to be a push. In an interview with KSRM News, Federal DOT spokesman Doug Hecox said the federal government is not doing anything this fall.
Doug Hecox: “We aren’t committed to any specific timetable. It is hard to know exactly what is going to happen until after this timetable is over.”
Find out more information including videos that explain the details of each of the four alternatives at this link. Submit your comment by sending an email to the Sterling Highway team leaders at sterlinghwy@hdrinc.com.
Story as aired on KSRM News:
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