MEMORANDUM

TO:                Ron Long, Assembly President

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly

THRU:           John J. Williams, Borough Mayor

Craig Chapman, Finance Director

Bonnie Golden, Grants Manager

FROM:          Max Best, Planning Director

DATE:           June 28, 2006

SUBJECT:    Ordinance 2006-19-05, An ordinance accepting and appropriating a direct lump sum payment from the U.S. Forest Service in the amount of $2,069,000 for spruce bark beetle mitigation work on the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Continued Congressional concern over the wildfire danger on the Kenai Peninsula has resulted in Congress directing the United States Forest Service (USFS) to appropriate a direct lump sum payment in the amount of $2,069,000 to the Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) for spruce bark beetle mitigation work.

Ordinance 2000-19-19, adopted by the KPB Assembly on April 3, 2001, established the Phase II Program Outline and Description to govern KPB Spruce Bark Beetle (SBB) Mitigation Programs. Item #2 (Hazard Tree Removal) of the Phase II Program Outline and Description of KPB 2000-19-19 in part established: (1) the hazard tree removal program to clear rights of way and corridors; (2) the slash disposal program to dispose of woody debris resulting from wildfire mitigation projects; and (3) the Community Defensible Space Program to partner with community FireWise projects. The objective of these three programs is to clear beetle kill around communities to reduce wildfire hazards.

Ordinance 2004-33, adopted by the KPB Assembly on October 26, 2004, accepted the Interagency All Lands/All Hands Action Plan as the wildfire section of the KPB All-Hazard Mitigation Plan. The objective of this plan is to support Community Wildfire Protection Plans and interagency actions to continue spruce bark beetle wildfire hazard mitigation work.

This ordinance will accept the $2,069,000 direct lump sum payment from the USFS to KPB and appropriate the $2,069,000 direct lump sum payment to the SBB Hazard Tree Removal account 262.21320.07BTL.49999, established through the adoption of KPB Ordinances 2000-19-19 and 2004-33.