Forest Service hires company to clear brush on Portage Pass and other Chugach trails

The Forest Service hired a Colorado company Nov. 2 to cut back alder, willow and devil's club along Chugach National Forest trails, including the Portage Pass Trail out of Whittier.

The work statement for the $126,000 contract with Wayward Trails LLC of Fort Collins lists the 2.2-mile Portage Pass Trail, which starts next to the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel and ends at Portage Lake. It also lists the Devil's Creek Trail, which runs 10.2 miles from the Seward Highway to the Resurrection Pass Trail, and the Spencer Bench Trail, where the crew and all of its equipment have to arrive on the Alaska Railroad's Glacier Discovery Train.

Three more trails are optional, to be added only if money is available: the Byron Glacier Trail near Portage Lake, the Carter Lake Trail off the Seward Highway and a 2.5-mile stretch the work statement calls the "Lower Russian" trail, from the Russian River Campground in Cooper Landing to the Russian River Falls viewing platforms.

The Chugach manages more than 500 miles of trails, and the ones in the contract have been designated current priorities for brushing, the work statement says. The contract's stated purpose is to keep trail conditions safe and maintain visitor access.

Crews are to clear a corridor 6 feet on each side of a trail's center line and 10 feet high, or 8 feet on each side on the Lower Russian and Byron Glacier trails. Along with alder, willow and devil's club, the work statement lists elderberry and salmonberry. They are also to cut out downed trees, remove trees leaning into the cleared corridor and cut stems flat rather than leave pointed stubs that could injure passing trail users.

Each trail is to be brushed once. The contract runs through November 2027, and crews must work when the trails are free of snow, before snowfall begins or after it melts.

The trails are supposed to stay open and safe for the public, with signs at each trailhead showing when crews are working and whether the trail is open. No work is allowed on Devil's Creek Trail during the Soggy Bottom mountain bike race, and if the Lower Russian trail is included, crews must coordinate with the Forest Service during the Russian River sockeye season, when the trail "can be particularly busy."

The work statement says the trails aren't open to public motorized use, but crews may use ATVs narrower than 50 inches on some stretches to haul supplies, at under 5 mph.

The contract was open only to small businesses and drew seven offers, according to federal spending records.