Thank you all who came and voted for the new and renewing Board applicants. We were pleased at the unanimous support for the slate of candidates! Just over 70 people came to share their opinions by voting. I am pleased to present: Linda Oxley, Chair; Dana Hills, Secretary; Roni Widner, NE Rep; Madeline Gocke, NE Alt; George Howard, SW Rep; and Jane Thistle, SW Alt. I am also pleased to report that Linda Anselm has accepted the position of NW Rep for this 2nd year of that term.And a big thanks to Zolari and Slade Avalon who rescued volunteers found stripping and rewaxing the auditoriumfloor. It is once again beautiful, shines as if new!

A very exciting development for Willow: a 4H group is being established and a main focus of their work will be recycling.

May 5 is our next WACO meeting with at least 2 items on the agenda that we need your opinions about:

• First, representatives from ML&P will be presenting their arguments about running a second utility corridor thru Willow. They are state funded and would like to get the work done soon. This will have huge impact on the scenic nature of the drive thru Willow and for the land owners affected, potentially requiring a second 100 foot easement across your land.
• Second, the revised Southeast Susitna Area Management Plan has been received from DNR. They did incorporate some of the requested changes from the last go-round for community’s input, for eg. Settlement land volumes dropped from about 33,000 to 27,000 acres. A couple of important areas that the community had hoped would be spared change were not protected. We need to decide now if we want to appeal any elements in the plan. May 9 is the deadline… Most of Willow is included in this Southeast Susitna area, and the plan affects all the lands north of us to just past the Y.

The revisions of the Fish Creek Management Plan are also rapidly moving thru the process towards adoption. Feedback previously obtained was partially incorporated. There are only a few more hoops to be jumped before it will be reviewed by the Borough Planning Board and then on to review and likely adoption by the Borough Assembly. For those a little fuzzy on boundaries, the Fish Creek area walks up from the south up to and including about ½ the area around Red Shirt Lake, and behind the Big Lake and Nancy Lake area.

At the April WACO meeting, the community voted to write a letter to MSB that the Deception and Rogers Creeks drainage units be designated ‘Resource Management’ with a secondary label ‘Public Recreation/Watershed Lands’ as the Borough finishes the process to update its Forest Management Plan. The deadline for official feedback was over (we did submit a letter requesting protection anticipating the likelihood of such a vote), but this vote of the community may be important as the process continues forward. The areas that seem most impacted are east of the Parks, throughout the Willow area.

With regard to the continuing issue about where the Rail Spur will be located: we have sent a wonderful packet of supportive letters to protect Willow and it’s lifestyle to all the regional, state and federal leaders who will likely be involved in trying to influence the outcome of the EIS process. We will continue to remain very active on this issue on behalf of the community of Willow.

Locally let’s not forget our wonderful Comp Planning group. They continue to define the base of the required chapters, recognizing that as they work thru the parts of each, there will likely be changes to the chapters that went before. The information that becomes available in each of these meetings has been incredible—we have a great group of people invested and learning who will lead us in the direction we need to go! Their next meeting is this Thursday, May 1, 630PM. It is worth your time to go and listen.

And a little word about next year’s Carnival!! The theme chosen at the annual meeting is ‘Alaska Statehood’ to help celebrate Alaska’s 50th birthday!! Pat Madigan and Shirley Wakeman will be co-chairing the event planning—stay tuned for frequent updates. Rumor has it that a big Carnival prize has already been secured…

And last but not least, this Saturday, May 3 is the Blue Tarp and Carhartt Ball at the Community Center. All will have great fun, and all proceeds will be donated to the Food Bank and to our Willow Elementary School.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Comp Planning meeting May 1, the Blue Tarp and Carhartt Ball on May 3 and the WACO meeting May 5! Until then let’s watch spring unfold before our eyes and be grateful that it is coming!

Linda Oxley, Chair