The Mat-Su Assembly last week agreed to spend $280,000 in borough bed taxes collected from hotels and bed and breakfast operations throughout the borough.
Of that, $130,000 is earmarked for improvements to the Moose Creek campground south of Sutton, $130,000 for continued improvements at the up-and-coming Talkeetna Lakes Park near Talkeetna and $20,000 for temporary restrooms at popular stopping spots.
The Moose Creek campground has a checkered history. Located about six miles north of Palmer on the Glenn Highway at the bottom of Moose Creek canyon, travelers, anglers and hikers who use the old Alaska Railroad route along the Matanuska River all stop there.
The campground was once managed by Alaska State Parks employees, but funding dried up when the state parks budget was slashed in 2002, said Wayne Biessel, state parks superintendent for Mat-Su.
The state contracted with private operators to run other parks and camping spots but Biessel said this one was not busy enough to turn a profit.
Without oversight, Biessel said, the campground quickly became a partying hot spot.
And with the parties came vandalism and an overload of trash.
For a while the park was shut down and boulders placed at its entrance. A pavilion, public toilets and picnic tables were removed.
Biessel said state Parks turned management of the site over to the Mining, Land and Water Division of the Department of Natural Resources. The campground was reopened but the amenities weren't replaced.
Mat-Su Borough Community Development Director Linda Brenner said the borough is working with Chickaloon Village to install permanent restrooms and informational signs, and make other improvements.
"The state recognizes a need to do this but they're in a situation where they don't have the funds to do it either. If nobody does it, it's not going to get done," Brenner said.
Brenner said the borough, state and Chickaloon Village have not yet agreed on how to spend the $130,000.
The village has already logged a lot of hours improving Moose Creek. It has a campground-improvement plan and has already completed other Moose Creek restoration projects, including a 2006 project that improved fish habitat, she said.
"Our main focus is to do a restroom there, do some signage and explain the area," Brenner said.
RESTROOM STOPSFor the borough, adding more restrooms for travelers is a major focus of tourism improvements.
A borough-commissioned study last year indicated roadside restrooms were the most critical tourism need in the borough.
McDowell Group, the borough contractor for the study, counted eight restrooms along the Parks Highway and five on the Glenn Highway in Mat-Su.
Another 24 are scattered around the borough at parks, trail heads, recreation areas and boat launches but, according to the contractor, more are needed.
Brenner said $20,000 will be spent around the borough on temporary restrooms. She said borough employees have come up with 43 potential spots for the porta-potties. But she's still working out how many will be placed this year and where they will go.
"One that we're probably for sure going to provide is at Long Lake on the Glenn Highway," Brenner said.
The lake is a popular spot for travelers to stop and stretch their legs.
Biessel said the state used to have restrooms there also, but they were also removed after funding was cut because of vandalism and lack of funding to maintain them.
"They were an attractive nuisance," Biessel said. "It really is a beautiful site. It's kind of a tragedy."
TALKEETNA TRAILS
Brenner said the borough plans to hire a contractor to install and maintain as many porta-potties as possible for $20,000.
The remaining $130,000 will pay for continued work at the borough's newest recreation area, Talkeetna Lakes Park.
Residents near there and a few community groups have banded together to cut trails, create ski trails and make other improvements on borough land just south of downtown Talkeetna.
Last year the trail workers celebrated the completion of a three-mile loop around the lake.
"It's a real dedicated group of people who are working with us up there," Brenner said.
Bed-tax dollars will pay for parking lot improvements, benches at a few spots along the trail and for more trail work and winter grooming. Brenner said she expects the work will be done by 2011.
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