After attending a public meeting on the Matanuska Valley Moose Range and Jonesville Public Use Area Management Plans last night, I was asked what my impressions of the plan are. On the surface, the plan is well written and complies with all the state statutes and mandates that go with a plan of this sort.
On a personal level, I am highly disappointed. While the plan does update the Moose Range Plan, which is 36 years old and in dire need of revision, it does not lay out any groundwork or implementation for positive change. Combining the Moose Range Plan with the Jonesville Plan, though efficient for state government, does not manage any of the current problems occurring at Jonesville. The combined “new” plan only creates the need and requirement for more planning, which includes land classification, a trail management plan, more legislative approval, and implementation plans.
The approval of the combined “new” plan will not even occur until the fall of 2024. Only after that date can more planning begin to implement change in the Jonesville area. Most disappointing to me is the blatant bureaucracy that is apparent and perpetuated by the State of Alaska and the Department of Natural Resources. As the state began its planning process, they knew that a local group had been hard at work on a plan for Jonesville with the help of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Nowhere in the current “new” document is there any acknowledgment of this effort. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly passed the resident-led Jonesville plan and backed it up with funds to begin the process of implementation. Instead, the state of Alaska has moved forward with its own plan — a plan that will take at least 10 more years to see any form of implementation, with no funds yet appropriated for action.
Jonesville is a scenic area and could be a prime recreation spot in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Waiting for more legislation, reading and commenting on more plans, and participating in more public meetings will not change what is happening at Jonesville today. Perhaps the state of Alaska should reconsider combining these two plans. Perhaps they should begin conversations with the Mat-Su Borough to advance real change in the area. My patience after 10 years has worn thin, and it angers me to think my children and grandchildren may not see any positive changes in this beautiful area.
— Nancy Bertels
Sutton
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