Dozens of trees to be removed from Matanuska River Park after federal airport funding ultimatum

Published: Oct. 1, 2024
Updated: Oct. 14, 2024

What you need to know:

• Palmer officials must remove dozens of old-growth trees from the Mat-Su borough-owned Matanuska River Park and two city properties or lose millions in federal airport funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. The trees pose a safety hazard to pilots. They will be removed under an agreement with the borough..
• The removals include about 30 trees in Matanuska River Park, several on the Palmer Golf Course and one at the Palmer Arboretum. Crews will grind stumps and plant replacement trees next year, officials said.
• Palmer officials were informed of the removal requirement during an FAA grant meeting this summer. The airport relies on millions in federal funding for infrastructure upkeep and improvement projects, including lighting and runway surface repairs.

PALMER – Palmer officials must remove dozens of old-growth trees from Matanuska River Park and two city properties or lose millions in federal airport funding. 

The trees pose a safety hazard to pilots landing at the nearby Palmer Airport and will be cut down by the end of October following a recent ultimatum from the Federal Aviation Administration, Palmer officials said. 

The trees slated for removal include about 30 cottonwoods just inside the entrance to the 62-acre, borough-owned Matanuska River Park on the Old Glenn Highway, several on the Palmer Golf Course near the Matanuska River, and one in the Palmer Arboretum west of the airport. 

Crews will chip the wood and grind the stumps, and replacement trees will be planted next year,  Palmer Manager Stephen Jellie said. A webpage currently under development will provide clear information about which trees will be cut from the park before the project starts, borough officials said.

At issue is a vertical path aircraft use to reach the runway, known as a glideslope. To keep the airport’s 5,509-foot runway operational under Federal Aviation Administration standards, officials must maintain a 5%, or 20-to-1, glideslope, said Airport Manager John Diumenti. The problem trees encroach on that slope, creating a safety issue for pilots as they navigate around or just above the treetops.

Palmer Airport officials were told of the removal demand during a meeting with FAA grant officials this summer, Diumenti said. 

“They said, ‘If you don’t clear your approaches, we’re not going to fund the airport moving forward,’” Diumenti said. “I was kind of in shock.”

The city-run Palmer Airport relies heavily on federal funding for infrastructure projects, with millions expected in the coming years to overhaul runway lights and repair pavement. Since 2017, about 95% of the airport’s $20 million in improvements have been funded by FAA grants, according to city data.

Palmer’s airport, the largest in Mat-Su, hosts the region’s federal and state wildfire-fighting operations, including the U.S. Forest Service’s Convair 580, used for aerial firefighting.

While the trees identified for removal have long been a concern — some extend as much as 12 feet into the glide path, borough officials said — they weren’t removed earlier because the FAA hadn’t enforced the requirement and because previous airport managers and the borough couldn’t agree on the scope of the project, Diumenti said. He has managed the airport for about a year.

Unlike previous proposals, such as a 2021 plan that would have affected as many as 300 trees, the current project focuses only on preserving the runway as is, not extending its usable length, Diumenti said.

The Matanuska River Park project will proceed under an agreement between the borough and Palmer that limits removal to the problem trees. The golf course and arboretum projects do not require borough approval because they are on city property, officials said.

Borough officials said they are motivated to allow the removals to proceed. Blocking the project would create a safety issue for park users, who could be seriously injured if an aircraft strikes a tree that is too tall, said Jillian Morrisey, the borough’s community development director.

“We need to mitigate the risk for our user group — that’s our priority right now,” she said.

While only certain trees will be removed for now, Morrisey said she plans to work with the city to identify trees that could encroach in the future, allowing for a more streamlined management process later.

A planned borough website will include a map and other information about current and future projects, she said.

Update: A borough website published Oct. 11 includes details of the project and notes that tree removal will begin the week of Oct. 14.

Some members of the borough’s Parks, Recreation and Trails Advisory Board are concerned that the plan has not received proper oversight or public input. They said they were first notified of the potential project in late August, then told in mid-September that it had been approved and scheduled. They have not had a chance to review which trees are slated for removal, they said.

“I don’t want to set a precedent where the Palmer airport manager calls the community development director and says, ‘Hey, I need these trees to come down,’” said James Jones, who chairs the board. “At what level is a borough employee able to just say, ‘OK, I don’t want that there anymore,’ and then the public shows up, and it’s gone?”

The tree removal project comes as city officials also look for ways to make the airport self-sustaining. While federal grants pay for the airport’s infrastructure, its operating costs are covered by a combination of user fees and city funds.

Jellie said he plans to present information ahead of the 2025 budget discussions on how the airport could operate without city funding. That could include fee increases for airport users, he said at a City Council meeting last month.

“My ultimate intent is to show how these systems can operate without subsidies from the general fund,” he said.

— Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.

This story was updated Oct. 14 to include information on the borough's project website.