The owner believes in the rule of law, and also believes this project may not be able to withstand legal scrutiny or media scrutiny and is fighting this because this road project is unnecessary and will be very detrimental to Moose Pass. It is not only this project but the Kenai Hydro Project, and an access road and a proposed bridge to the hydro plant. ( See our articles, tab, also research Kenai Hydro Grant Lake Project, Access Road, the Federal Register and other sources on the internet.)
Imagine you were a resident and your entire town has become the dumping ground for pork belly projects and other deals that is not garnering judicial or environmental scrutiny. Many residents were told many things and then were unable to fight these projects without paying for lawyers and also understanding the administrative process.
Imagine you could lose everything you worked for just because someone wants to widen a road for some agenda you are unaware.
These are the opinions and observations of Roland Dickason owner of the Wolf Trail Lodge, certain residents of Moose Pass, visitors of the lodge, Alaskan residents, outdoor enthusiasts, fishermen/fisherwomen, conservationists, and those who cannot speak for themselves, such as the salmon.
The lodge owner, acknowledges the men and women of the Alaska Department of Transportation are studious, smart engineers who are also Alaskans and are doing their jobs. His grievance is not personal, he does not harbor any animosity towards personnel but he knows that the DOT entity as a whole, makes mistakes and this is one big mistake predicated on the facts that can be proven based upon the surrounding area along with environmental impacts converging within a short period of time.
The issues are larger than their staff, it is about using Federal tax dollars to support road projects that are unnecessary in small areas such as this wherein large highways in America are actually crumbling.
It is about flushing our State with Federal TAX PAYER’S OPM - OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY which may sound great at first blush but gives way to greater harms, at the expense of our fish that bring in more jobs/ more money in Alaska than wide roads ever will along with the fish that supply food for us and our wildlife, and sport/commercial fishing money.
The cost of this road is allegedly 60 million dollars or more to build but in terms of long term impacts it has a must higher price tag by destroying a historic multi- million dollar one- of -a -kind lodge with resident bears, wolves , eagles, spawning salmon, and a natural beauty the is unrivaled and is irreplaceable. This is just one resident, there is the historic store which has been in an Alaskan’s family hands since the 1930’s the DOT finds it is in their way, and also a man who home lives on a cliff that will get blasted but rest assured the DOT has insurance in case his home collapses, that is so reassuring.
There are also two other salmon streams being impacted by the road but again the DOT is immune to stringent environmental protections because it obtained a Memorandum of Understanding, CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION this was done more IN 2018, five years ago, although the owner of this lodge and many others have found the premises/answers false or misleading ( See DOT webpage and our refutations ) and can be refuted by present day facts.
All these factors lead us to believe that this project is one big boondoggle. Many people have said the DOT is too powerful and too bloated with our tax dollars to be stopped but they are fallible. For instance, the road to nowhere, the bridge to nowhere, and also the Knik Arm Bridge . See our articles tab.
NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON MY PROPERTY
Negative effects on my propertythis place has been the Wolf Trail Lodge since the early 40’s
The highway was moved in 1955 closer to the lake taking out more acreage of my property
The stream going through this property has always had salmon the current culvert placed under the highway when the highway was moved keeps the salmon from going up further.
Lengthening the culvert on this side of the road will end their spawning here
if the road is left as-is, a bridge should replace the culvert. Salmon do NOT spawn in a pipe. Lengthening pipes for the other 3+ salmon spawning streams in Moose Pass will have a negative effect here as these are the headwaters of the Kenai River.
Bears, eagles, wolves, coyotes, Lynx, coyotes, owls & other animals feed out front here on spawned out salmon.
Taking 3 acres of this property will require cutting down almost all of the trees here, destroying the ambiance and as well no longer block the road noise of passing vehicles.
From MM 25.5 to MM 27 should be moved back to where it was in the late 1940's as THIS would straighten the road out and the only private property on that side is mine, taking this property to make a turn-out, bike lane and/or restroom stop is ridiculous. On OPM , (Other People’s Money) 11 miles in a wilderness setting for around 50 to 60 million or more makes no sense, we are running out of social security but can afford this boondoggle? Think about what is being lost being wrapped up in a shiny bow.
IMPACTS ON MOOSE PASS
Decimating a small but historical community
Harming the local businesses
The more the road is straightened, even if the speed limit is kept the same, vehicles ARE going to drive much faster thru than they would if the curves were kept the same.
The faster the vehicles go, the less likely they are going to stop in town causing a decline in business.
Miles 25.5 to the Y are presently considered a "Bottle Neck" for the upcoming triple volume of traffic as the boat harbor is being expanded to allow bigger and more cruise ships to dock in Seward.
Having more cruise ships equates to more ground support. As of now there is not enough housing in Seward for more people but there will be more coming in quick time. So more buses for the road to ferry passengers AND more vehicles on the road to Anchorage.
