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 Alaska
Moose Federation E-News
A weekend spent for a good
cause.
by Gary Olson
Joe Meehan, with the Department
of Fish & Game, has pushed for
cleaning up the abandoned
landfill below Kincaid Park for
many years. The Alaska Moose
Federation contacted Joe in
January and
asked if there was a way we
could help ADF&G in this effort
with our Snow Cat dubbed ‘Moose
Force One’. The Snow Cat was
purchased through an Alaska
Legislative grant from 2005. The
plan was put into motion with
the first phone call.
The AMF arrived at Pt. Woronzoff
behind the Anchorage
International Airport early on
Saturday, February 16th. Joe was
there with his son Willem and 2
other ADF&G volunteers Tammy and
Kimberly. The AMF had 2 people
involved with Farley Dean and
Gary Olson. It was cold and very
windy so we were happy we had a
heated cab inside of the Snow
Cat to look out at the weather.
Alaska Extreme Four
 Wheelers
showed up and were a big help in
pulling out frozen tires with
their winches as well as loading
tires into dumpsters as the Snow
Cat brought the tires up from
the landfill. Many other
organizations and concern groups
were involved throughout the
project which are listed at the
end of this article.
Each round trip consisted of the
Snow Cat starting out at the
East end of the Anchorage
International Airport and then
dropping down the hill and onto
the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife
Refuge.
 The old abandoned
landfill is located
approximately 4 miles from the
Refuge’s access point so the
Snow Cat ran about 8 miles round
trip which took about 1 hour to
complete each cycle.
The largest number of tires in
one haul was 74 tires pulled in
one long line. We would use
straps and chains to run through
the center of the tires after
wrapping around the final tires
to secure the entire load. A
total of 800 tires, including
numerous large heavy equipment
tires, were the target for the
weekend.
The team worked 12 hours the
first day and 10 hours the
second. We figured we hauled
about 500+ tires. Joe’s son
Willem even missed a dinner or
two while we were out there. He’s
in the 2nd grade and was the
trail boss in the Snow Cat when
we were pulling out our loads.
It gets kind of lonely driving
the Snow Cat back and forth if
you are by yourself so we were
happy to have Willem hanging out
with us each day.
ADF&G and the Alaska Extreme
Four Wheelers separated the
tires with rims from the tires
without rims so the tires
without rims could be shredded
and recycled. The Anchorage Soil
& Waster Conservation District
was a big supporter by covering
all costs associated with the
effort. Alaska Waste also
donated the dumpsters used to
haul the tires away from the
site. It was definitely a
cooperative effort to accomplish
this task and the Alaska Moose
Federation was thankful to help.
The effort will be completed on
Saturday, March 8th. Throughout
the entire effort, the snow and
ice has allowed us to work in
the Refuge with little to no
impact on the existing habitat.
With such little moose habitat
remaining in the Anchorage Bowl,
every bit of area that the
Alaska Moose Federation can help
stay beneficial for moose is a
good cause.
Identified partners to be
applauded for this effort are as
follows:
Alaska Extreme Four Wheelers
Kincaid Racing Lions
Friends of the Anchorage Coastal
Wildlife Refuge
Sand Lake Community Council
Defenders of Wildlife
Nordic Ski Association of
Anchorage
Municipality of Anchorage,
Department of Parks and
Recreation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Geological Survey
Anchorage International Airport
Anchorage Waterways Council
ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.
Anchorage Audubon Society
Alaska Department of Fish & Game
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