North Slope comment window opens on Swamp Rider vehicle testing permit

Bailey's Rent-All, Inc., an Anchorage equipment dealer that operates as Alaska Specialty Equipment, has applied for a five-year state land use permit to conduct off-road travel on North Slope state land in the Umiat Meridian. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has opened a public comment window on the application.

The project, identified in the public notice as "North Slope Off-Road Travel," encompasses use of existing roads and off-road travel across the North Slope. The company also intends to test Swamp Rider amphibious off-road vehicles and potentially offer customer test drives if summer approval is granted.

All off-road travel on North Slope state land requires a DNR land use permit to protect fragile tundra soils and vegetation.

The five-year umbrella would not authorize every trip on its own. Individual travel activities and routes under the permit will require separate authorization.

Subsistence users, adjacent landholders, and the general public may submit written comments before DNR adjudicates the application. Written comments are due July 21 to Natural Resource Specialist Becky Baird at [email protected] or by mail to the DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water, Northern Regional Land Office, 3700 Airport Way, Fairbanks, AK 99709-5313.